The festivities at Christmas time bring my heart so much joy.  I look forward to the numerous parties and special events that take place all month long.

Some of my favorites are the things we do together as a staff to celebrate the season.  For church staff, Christmas is crazy busy but we do our best to find some time for fun and frivolity among the chaos.

I thought I would share with you some of our favorites…

1) The “Dirty Santa” gift exchange – you know, the one where the whole premiss is to steal gifts from others?   This game works best when you play it with a group of people you know well and no one is too timid to fight for what they want.  Our team has that down pat!  Every year we look forward to some of the clever and creative things some of our staff will make.  We’ve had the Jarrod Morris calendar, the Plan B Game and this year the Campus Pastor action figures.

2) Christmas movie day.  Many years we’ve taken an afternoon to watch a classic Christmas movie together.  However, be sure you’ve seen the entire movie before watching it with your staff.  A movie you have seen on TBS, may have been edited for TV… I learned that the hard way with Christmas Vacation.  Stick with the TBS version my friends.

3) Serve Together.  Nearly every year we find some way to serve together.  This year we led the 12 Days of Serving initiative which was an amazing way to lead our entire church in serving and giving to others this Christmas season.

4) This year we’re adding a Christmas Tea.  Some of, shall we say, our more cultured staff will be treating our team to an assortment of teas, cookies and scones for a sophisticated afternoon break.

How do you and your staff celebrate the season together?

I’ve been in Dallas yesterday and today with my team at Leadership Network.  Chris, Kevin, Stephen & I are part of a Leadership Development Community where we are focusing on our leadership development plan for Cross Point.  While I love the content and purpose of this trip, I love even more the intentional time with my team.  The conversations that we’re having go broader and deeper than those we’re able to have in the every day pace of the office.  The time away is a break in routine that forces us to think differently and dream bigger together.

We’ve had plenty of laughs together too!

How do you dream with your team?  What do you do to break the routine and focus on the bigger picture?

My friend Ron Edmondson is sharing with us today.  Ron is  a great leader and friend who I am constantly learning from.  Whether you are on a team, lead a team or are building a team, be sure to soak this one in!

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7 Traits of a Healthy Team Member 

We have a great team at Grace Community Church . We balance each other well with skills and interests. We have a wide range of personalities…just enough to be pleasantly aggravating at times to each of us. We challenge one another to greater things. We even like each other (most of the time)!

I was reflecting recently on what makes a good team member…a good staff member of a church. Here are 7 traits I came up with that make a great staff person…especially at Grace Community Church:

Sense of humor – It’s critical in our office that you be able to laugh…at life…at corny jokes…and sometimes at or with each other. We have fun together and that makes us a better team.

Team spirit - We have no lone rangers on our staff. We rebuke struggling alone! We are part of a team and there are no turf wars in our organization and no one should be drowning in a project without some help.

Work ethic - We aren’t great at managing people. We simply rely on people having the sense of responsibility and inner drive needed to complete the work. We like leaders who are passionate about Christ and people and willing to do what it takes to accomplish our vision.

Heathy personal life – We deal with a lot of messiness in other people’s lives. It would make it very difficult to maintain the level of ministry required of us if we were not personally living healthy lives spiritually, emotionally and, as much as it depends on us, physically.

Open spirit – We share burdens with one another. Our people don’t live on an island to themselves. The more we learn to trust each other the greater this process becomes. We are open to challenge the system, the ministry and each other in an attempt to make the organization better.

Loyalty - It is imperative in our organizational structure that a team member be dedicated to the vision, organization, senior leadership and the team.

Servant’s heart – If one cannot approach their position from a point of serving others and Christ then he or she will not work well on our team. It’s the model of our entire ministry and must be represented by our staff first.

Thanks Grace team for your amazing contributions to the Kingdom!

(For clarification, if needed, these are personality traits not spiritual qualifications. Those are Biblically scripted for us and would be covered in another post.)

Do you serve on a healthy team…or wish you did? What would you add to the list?

There are two schools of thought when it comes to hiring and organizational structure.

The relational types subscribe to “first who, then what”

The all business types lean towards “first what, then who”

I don’t agree with either of them.

I believe that one of the most dangerous things we can do as organizational leaders is overly systematize our processes.  It’s reassuring, comforting even, to have a formula for every organizational decision.  But I just don’t think it works.  It’s the easy and safe way out.

Leadership is much more complex.

For example: What if you have an amazing “who” but you have no “what” to place them in?  Meaning, you have a great employee with a great attitude, who understands the organizational culture, embraces your DNA and exemplifies great character – all things that you desire to have in an employee – but you absolutely don’t have a position suited for their gift set.  In a large organization, you may be ok because you have a lot of departments that you can place them in, but if you lead a small organization what do you do, especially when the budget won’t allow you to create a role that caters to this individual’s gifts?

Leaders who subscribe to “first who, then what” are likely to keep the “who” they love and put them in any position to keep them on the team.  In most cases, however that leader eventually gets frustrated with their favorite “who” because “who” is no longer a star performer.  “Who” is working outside of his strengths and doing a terrible job.  Eventually you let the “who” go and no one wins.

Leaders who subscribe to “first what, then who” disconnect themselves emotionally from their “whos” and just focus on the “what”.  They create the “ideal” organizational chart and only look for candidates that meet their specific “what” criteria.  The result is a culture that is cold and sterile with no relational chemistry.

I believe the best leaders do both of these things… and a little more.

First, they evaluate their “whos”.  What are the strengths and weaknesses of their individual team members?  What are their gifts?  Where do they shine?  How are they motivated?  What are their dreams and aspirations?  How well do they support the vision and direction?  Do they reflect the DNA and culture that you desire for your organization?

Second, they determine their “what”.  What does the organization need to continue to grow?  What does the organization structure need to look like to best steward its resources and momentum?  What specific skills are needed for those roles?

Then, the leader starts matching the “whos” with the “whats”.  You might move someone to a totally different role because the process of evaluating “whos” and “whats” separately opened your eyes to a solution you didn’t see when you were focused just on one side of the equation.  You also might discover that some “whats” aren’t as critical as you first thought.  You might be able to give up something so that you don’t lose a good “who”.

The point is that while you need to approach some elements of organizational structure with systematic thinking, your final decisions will come down to more intuitive analysis.  There is a discernment element of navigating this grey leadership issue that you can’t create a system to solve.

Your instincts in leading through the complexity will be what sets you apart as a leader.

How do you recreate, train and develop your team?

What’s the greatest challenge you’ve encountered in managing your organizational chart?

This week in our Leadership at All Levels discussion we’re talking about “Leading Down”.

Right off the bat, I don’t like that phrase “leading down”.  It sounds a little derogatory, but the only other way for me to say it is “leading those who report to you” which is really too many words for a title… so I hope you’ll bear with me as I roll with it.  The heart of the concept is that if you are in leadership, you will likely at some point be leading others who are accountable to you.  And with that influence comes great responsibility.

With that understanding, let me share with you the notes from our staff discussion on this topic. 

Pete led this week of the series, so all the credit for the wisdom shared belongs to him.

1) Invest uniquely in each team member.

Provide growth opportunities for them.

Know their dreams and source of energy.

Be aware of the 3 questions that people have of their leaders:

1. Do they care about me?
2. Can they help me?
3. Can I trust them?

2) Place people in their strength zones.  (Marcus would be so proud of us! )

Seriously, this is one of my greatest passions – helping people understand and operate in their gifts.  There is nothing more fulfilling as a leader than to see people thriving!

3) Model the behavior you desire.

What you do trumps what you say.

Attitude determines atmosphere.

4) Transfer the vision.

Over communicate the vision because the vision always leaks.  (Bill was right.)

5) Reward for results.

What gets rewarded gets repeated.

Give praise privately and publicly.

What else do you think makes someone a great leader at this level?

Other posts in this series:

Leadership at All Levels (overview)

Leading Self

Leading Your Peers

One of my favorite things about my job is building a great team.  I love our amazing staff.  We’re a very small team for a large church, but there is a camaraderie and loyalty to each other that is very special (I might… just might be a little biased ).

I’m excited to share that we have two open positions that we are currently hiring for.  If you or someone you know would be a great fit, please let us know!

Multi-Site Director

This leader will be responsible for managing our 5 campus pastors as well as leading new campus initiatives.  Qualified candidates should have the ability and passion to be a pastor of pastors coupled with strong management/leadership skills.  Candidates must display a competency in effectively leading from all four leadership dimensions.  Preferred candidates will have 5+ years experience in a senior level leadership/pastoral role in a large multi-site church.

Please submit a resume, social media contact, website/blog info (if applicable) and cover letter to me, Jenni Catron at jenni(at)crosspoint(dot)tv.

Kid’s Director

We are excited about a new position that is opening up in our Family Ministries at Cross Point! We are looking for a dynamic Kid’s Director that will not only lead our Nashville Campus Kidz World environment, but also champion the Kid’s Ministry across all of our 5 campuses. If you feel like this could be you, here are a few of the traits we are looking for:

• Passionate about seeing kids from 0-5th grade grow in their relationship with Christ.
• Work and play well with others – staff, parents & volunteers.
• Able to communicate exceptionally well.
• Always looking for new ways to reach kids and parents who are far from God.
• Willing to champion the DNA of Cross Point at every campus.
• Able to commit to the vision and values of Cross Point Church.
• Are a leader of leaders.
• Excel in keeping up with the details.
• Able to lead a team of paid staff and volunteers.
• Experienced in working with kids and adults of various ages and have a management background.
• Like to have fun.

If you think that this could possibly be you, please submit a resume, social media contact, website/blog info (if applicable) and cover letter to Cross Point Ministries Pastor, Chris Surratt at chris(at)crosspoint(dot)tv.

Thanks for helping us spread the word!

As I shared yesterday, planning our Cross Point staff trip is one of my favorite things that I get to do.  I love creating an experience where our team has concentrated time to learn and grow together.

But for as much as I love it, I still make a lot of mistakes.  Here’s some things I’ve learned (by trial and error) that make for a great staff trip:

Get the date on the calendar EARLY and fiercely protect it. There will always be good things that get in the way as your year unfolds, but don’t sacrifice this trip.  Build your calendar around it.

Make it mandatory. Very few things are mandatory in our staff culture, but this is one thing that will now be mandatory for us.  The content and the camaraderie experienced on this trip can’t be reproduced.  Employees who miss the trip miss out on key bonding moments as a team.  Get it on the calendar early, so that everyone can plan appropriately.

Don’t over-program. I have a tendency to try to do too much.  Even this year I was really nervous that I had left too much free time.  Relationships are the most important thing you’ll accomplish on a staff trip, so don’t be afraid to leave good chunks of down time.  Relationships need space, not structure.

Don’t let budget defeat you. It doesn’t have to cost a lot.  Get creative.  One year we rented cabins at a local state park.  They were cheap and I should mention, not exceptionally nice.  But, we themed the trip “Cross Point Goes to Camp” and played to our environment rather than fighting it.  We also cook all our own meals and we keep them simple.  Cold cut sandwiches for lunch, pasta for dinner, etc.  This year we did chili and baked potatoes one night.  Super cheap but still great!

Use other voices.  Your staff hear you all the time and even though you may feel like you have so much you want to say, let someone else say it.  This year we invited another pastor to come and speak to our team.  I also had another one of our staff leaders lead one section of our discussion.  My goals were accomplished and I guarantee the team took more away from it.

Have fun! Throw in some surprises, create little goody bags, have plenty of snacks particularly snacks you know your team likes.  If you know they are gonna wanna watch Monday night football, build it into the schedule.  Watch the energy of the team and observe what they are enjoying and then adjust for it if you can.  Don’t feel bound to the schedule.  Let it breathe and make sure you enjoy yourself too!

What would you add?  What makes a great staff trip for you?

One of my favorite parts of my job is planning and leading our staff trips.

We just got back from two days in the Smokey Mountains.  We piled into a beautiful cabin and tucked ourselves away for some time to laugh, learn and grow together.

Some of my favorite moments this year were:

• Campfire confession – there is something about a campfire that just brings out stories.  We’ve learned a lot about each other over a bonfire and s’mores
• Meal time madness – we make all of our own meals and everyone gets assigned to a team.  Absolute chaos but somehow we all get fed and have fun in the process.
• Vision & Values revisited – when we’re all together remembering why God has called us here, hearing Pete’s heart for the future and being challenged to not give up and not get complacent, there is an energy that is reignited in our team that is powerful.

Staff trip is one of those things that we never have the time (or money) for, but we also can’t afford not to do it.   Ministry requires our whole heart, 100% commitment.  As a leader, I have to give my team space to remember why they have aligned with this vision.  That’s my goal for staff trip – unity among our team of passion for the vision.

You can also catch some more thoughts from the trip at Miranda and Stephen‘s blogs.

Tomorrow I’ll share some of the things I’ve learned about how to plan a staff trip that helps accomplish this vision.

If you were to walk into my home on any given day you would start picking up on some clues about what makes my family tick.  Our family values begin to surface pretty quickly.  Whether it’s the tennis rackets or gym bags indicating a value of fitness, or the stacks of books on shelves throughout the house suggesting a hunger for growth and knowledge, or the bowl of fruit on the counter representing our preference for healthy eating, our family has it’s own set of values.

Values are kind of funny things because they exist whether you have defined them in writing or not.  They are simply things that individuals and groups of people begin to define themselves by.  Within a short time of being in someone’s home or hanging out at an office, you quickly know the values of that environment.

In turn, I think leaders lead from certain values that they esteem most.  I thought I would share mine with you and I would love to hear what values you, well… value.

Accountability – it’s critical for strong teams; be accountable up, down and throughout the organization and you’ll succeed

Communication – or as I like to say “use your blinker”; communication is a powerhouse, when you give it, you usually receive it in return; the most powerful teams communicate well

Development (of myself & others) - good leaders are constantly looking for ways to grow themselves and their teams; great leaders are relentless about developing the people they lead and creating ways to further their growth

Generosity -give, love, empower; don’t hold back; believe the best in others; live generously

Responsibility – “to whom much is given, much is required”; don’t take for granted what you’ve been blessed with; take responsibility for the blessing of influence

Now, let me clarify… I am not actually good at most of these.  In fact, I stink at many of them.  But I intentionally value them because I want to see them developed in my life and in the lives of those I lead.

How about you?  What do you value as a leader?

A few weeks ago we started a discussion about The Floundering Leader.  We talked about how to encourage and support the flounder-er and what to do if you are the one floundering.

That discussion got me processing another side of this issue…

What happens when you are trying to lead someone who is floundering in their leadership?

And if everyone flounders from time to time (which I believe they do), as a leader of leaders you are going to find yourself leading a floundering leader at some point.

And here’s my concern… I think sometimes we give up on floundering leaders too soon.  We think they just can’t cut it.  We think the job’s outgrown them.  We point out everything that is wrong and rationalize why they should have handled it differently.

As leaders of leaders, this is where it gets really tricky.  How do you know if someone is really failing or just floundering?  Floundering can look an awful lot like failing for a season.

Before you give up on someone too quickly, let me challenge you to consider a few things:

• What can you own?
• Where could you have provided better direction?
• Have you been too controlling or too hands off?
• Have you, in your busyness, been ignoring the warning signs that this leader was struggling?
• Is there something that you can do to lead them better?
• Do you understand what they need to succeed?
• Are they willing to try?
• Are you engaging the tough conversations and providing them candid, considerate, honest feedback?
• Does this leader feel safe being vulnerable with you about what they are struggling with?

Before you give up, be sure you’ve done your part.  You set the tone and create the culture that allows leaders to thrive or flounder.  Do your best to give them every opportunity to thrive!

Have you ever given up on someone too quickly?