Leadership

Keep Calm and Carrion: Practical Ways to Destress

Within the first two weeks of January, I was asked numerous times by numerous people how I can appear so calm through a storm. What do I do to destress? What are some practical ways to destress yourself? They wanted to know how I can be so calm with so much to do in so little time. One of my coworkers says it’s just my personality, she says that I have a calming effect. I’m just naturally destressed, maybe.

Although when I think about it, I haven’t always been able to find practical ways to destress during crazy times. There were times in my life when I felt overwhelmed, desperate, and anxious. I’ve done things over the years and have developed “coping mechanisms” that allow me to keep calm and carry on.

I’d like to share with you 9 Practical Ways to Destress.

5 Practical Ways to Determine the Right Ministry Fit

By Pedro 2 Comments

Have you ever had a pair of shoes that felt like they were custom made for your feet? Maybe they weren’t even that expensive, but they were so comfortable, you could’ve worn them every day. Maybe you did wear them every day.

Fit is a strange thing. It’s malleable, not rigid. Over the years, I’ve had numerous pairs of shoes that fit me like a glove. Rarely, though, did it start off like that. Most of the time, the shoes started off fitting somewhat average or a little above average. Over time, the more I wore them, the more comfortable they got.

Things adjusted. The shoes adjust and I believe our preferences adjust.

10 Ways To Make Meetings with Your Volunteers Productive (and bearable)

By Pedro 1 Comment

I have a confession, I love meetings. I love real meetings. Real meetings are when things are discussed, dissected, torn down, built up, and planned. Real meetings lead to great outcomes. I have no problem attending meetings all day long. I enjoy it, if they’re real. I’m in the minority, though. Most people don’t like meetings, even if the meetings are productive. Most people are tired of having to meet over every little thing. Therefore, the last thing one of your volunteers wants to do after being at work in pointless meetings all day is then go to a ministry meeting at your church.

These 10 ways to make meetings better are specific to your volunteers. After-hours meetings with volunteers have specific needs. People will come to your meetings at work because they’re being paid to do so. So don’t think that just because employees attend meetings all day at with you at work means you know what makes a meeting with volunteers bearable. On the contrary, I often find the opposite true. The more accustomed you are to work meetings, the more likely you are to think that everyone is accustomed to (often pointless) meetings. Still, if you have a large amount of volunteers, organized meetings are necessary.

20 Simple Ways to Show Gratitude to Your Volunteers

By Pedro Leave a Comment

65% of volunteers say they haven’t heard the words, “thank you” in the last year. I don’t think that’s that big of a deal if you follow these rules. Still, showing gratitude to your volunteers is a big deal. Here are 20 simple ways to show your volunteers that you appreciate them!

American Presidents are Pretty Bad Hombres

By Pedro Leave a Comment

Much has been said lately about how vile our Presidential Candidates are this year. While I do agree that our candidates this year are pretty vile, I would like to remind you that our Presidents aren’t exactly Boy Scouts. Although this note from President George H.W. Bush was extremely thoughtful and caring, this act is one of the exceptions to the American Presidents as Bad Hombres rule.

Here’s a list of US Presidents for the last 100 years and at least one bad thing they’ve done. I admit, most of these acts are foreign military escapades that could have been argued were done as preemptive strikes to keep ourselves or our allies safe, but they still didn’t end well.

5 Characteristics of Strategic Resources

By Pedro 2 Comments

What are the characteristics of strategic resources? Having strategic resources ensures that your organization will stay competitive for the long term. How do you know what makes these resources strategic?

There are 5 characteristics that I want to share with you.

There’s a reason I used a picture of the F-15 Eagle. The F-15 was first flown in 1972. It’s responsible for over 100 air to air kills with not one single Eagle lost. It’s dominance is unparalleled and is credited with American air superiority for over 40 years.

Strategic Resources? Nothing like the F-15 Eagle

It may not be what you have in mind when thinking of characteristics of strategic resources, but it is! Don’t think of strategic resources only as large endowments, a franchise player, or proprietary software.

This book by John Maxwell, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader is the quintessential book of leadership. I highly recommend it and in it he talks in depth about what gives a person strategic advantage. Note, this is an Amazon affiliate link and if you buy it, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Click on the image to see it in Amazon.

A strategic resource is only a strategic resource if it fits all five of these characteristics.

1. It’s hard to copy

Uniqueness is at the heart of value creation because it limits competition. If you have a resource that can’t be copied or can’t easily copied, then it’s going to give you an advantage over your competitors. This advantage is sustainable until your competitors can copy it, if ever. That’s what makes it a strategic resource. Think of everything Apple has accomplished over the last 10 years or so, iPhones, iPads, Macbook Pros, etc. There are plenty of touchscreen phones and tablets, still, none have the responsiveness and intuitiveness that Apple has managed to engineer. From another point of view, processes and programs can be copied but people can’t. If you manage to get great people on your team, or make those people great, it can be impossible to copy and ends up being a strategic resource.

2. It depreciates slowly

How long does it last? The longer your resource lasts, the more strategic it is. The F-15 has been around since 1972. I’d say we got our money’s worth. When thinking of your people, do they stick around? If you count your people as one of your strategic resources, but you keep losing them, you’re seriously just losing overall. Keep them around and make them High Performance, and watch your strategic advantage stay up.

3. Your organization controls its value

The organization doesn’t always control it’s resources. If your employees leave and give away your resources, those resources are not strategic. This is a common occurrence in high technology fields and also in organizations with donors.

I know of a nonprofit abroad who had an admin person quit, and this individual took the entire contact list with them to their next job. These are fields in which the main resource is knowledge. When that’s the case, the resource to be taken care of is not the blueprints, it’s the individuals who created and currently guards the blueprints.

4. It can’t be easily substituted

We don’t have Coke, will Pepsi do? For most people, sure. Some things are easily substituted, some are not. Pizza is easily substituted. Chicago style pizza is not. It doesn’t matter if there are hundreds of pizzerias in your town, there may only be a handful with Chicago style pizza. These are strategic resources that can’t be easily substituted.

It goes further than that. Your organization’s facilities, your staff, your leadership, none of it is easily substituted. Most employees won’t leave your organization on a whim, they leave because they find something they believe is better for them or they leave because they believe something is wrong.

5. It’s more effective than competitors’ similar resources

Are your resources more effective than your competitors’ resources? If you’re an organization, then your greatest resource is your people. Are your people more effective than your competitors’ people? You may be able to hire a great project manager or a great developer, but competent people alone don’t make up the company. You must build a great team with a great culture from the ground up.

Start 2018 off STRATEGIC

January 2018 we’re launching an email course that will walk you through first 15 days of the year and put you in a position to strategically lead teams.

In this 15 day course, you’ll receive an email every morning with a Leadership Tip and an action item. At the end of the course, you’ll receive a free eBook on Building Teams.

If you’re interested, sign up here.

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11 Rules for Killing It at Company Parties and Events

By Pedro Leave a Comment

Photo Credit to https://twitter.com/TheRoyalButler

Congratulations! You were just invited to that work party/event/BBQ/Christmas gathering. Whatever it is, you’re expecting to have a relaxing evening, sipping on some champagne, making friendly small talk with your coworkers. You’re hoping to have some fun. If that’s the case, I’m about to bust your bubble…

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