Barnabas File

The Gallup organization did a meta-analysis of 100 million employee interviews to identify what makes a highly engaged team.  The key factor is the manager, but one with a particular style of leading.  In a recent blog post , Jim Clifton reported, “ Gallup has discovered -- through studying what the best managers do differently -- that great managing is an act of coaching, not one of directing and administrating.”   At the center of compassionate accountability is coaching.  Good managers engage in regular coaching conversations to encourage, develop, and support team members.  In the blog, Clifton suggests several ways to implement this game changing strategy in an organization.   1.        Recognize that Millennials and Generation Z individuals want to learn and grow.  Coaching provides this opportunity. 2.       Announce to your organization that your leaders will move f...

The term “performance review” elicits many reactions.     One colleague shared with me, “The first time my supervisor came to do my annual performance review, I got sick at my stomach.”     One of my own frustrating experience came when my supervisor took the occasion of our annual review to let me know he was not happy about something that happened six months earlier!     He had never mentioned the occurrence to me before then.      For many of us, the annual performance review or evaluation has been a “come to Jesus moment” that we would rather avoid.  We need a new approach to employee performance review that involves not simply evaluation of the individual’s activities during a period of time.  We need to find a way to encourage personal development, assess the support the person is receiving, and consider his or her role in the success of the organization.  Churches should be leading this effort, but they us...

In his book Good to Great , Jim Collins argues that those who build great organizations make sure they have “the right people on the bus and the right people in the key seats before they figure out where to drive bus.”  We need the right people on board to accomplish our mission.  He goes on to say, “When facing chaos and uncertainty, and you cannot possible predict what’s coming around the corner, your best ‘strategy’ is have a busload of people who can adapt and perform brilliantly no matter what comes next.”   Let’s consider a model for getting the right church staff “on the bus.”  First, we must be very clear about the need that we intend to meet and the resources available.  Generally, we define the area of responsibility and identify how an additional staff member might help the church meet that need. We also consider the resources we have available.  This may determine if we will meet this need through a volunteer/volunteers ...

Accountability is a difficult concept for many to accept.   The willingness to give to another the ability to call us to account is never easy.   But accountability is not limited to giving another individual the ability to keep us on task.   Accountability can be provided by a supportive group or even to ourselves.   Accountability and the motivation to achieve a goal go hand in hand. In a recent blog , David Maxfield points out the sources of influence that drive individuals to do the things they do.   Based on ideas in Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, these are:     Personal Motivation, Personal Ability, Social Motivation, Social Ability, Structural Motivation, and Structural Ability.   Each influencer points out appropriate means of accountability—both individual and corporately. First, Personal Motivation— Are you ready to do this?   How does this task or goal tie into your long-term vision for yourself? ...

On Saturday, I attended a Celebration of Life for friend and former colleague, Stan Braley. During the service, a person who had served on staff with Stan at a church he pastored told of the positive relationship they had as co-workers and the wonderful way their families got along. This was a good word. Healthy relationships among co-workers, especially in a church staff where one is the supervisor of the other, are a blessing.  This happens only when both persons are committed and willing to make the relationship worked.  It was clear that Stan and his fellow minister were willing to do this. I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to be in such situations.  When you like the persons with whom you work, you are more productive, supportive, and creative.  How does this happen? First, you have to trust one another. The leader is the one who must model this behavior.  He or she must be trustworthy, a person of in...

As I have learned more about coaching, I have wished that I had acquired sound coaching skills when I was a denominational person. In the role of a denominational worker, I interacted with many clergy and lay leaders on a personal basis.   They felt they could talk freely with me because I was not part of their local environment or supervisory structure.   Certainly, there were times when I listened and asked good questions, but most of the time I felt that I needed to be a problem-solver and provide a solution for the person with whom I was interacting.  When I could not generate a good solution, I often came away from those conversations feeling that I had failed that person.    One of the important things I have learned as a coach is that the person being coached is the real expert on their challenge.  They know themselves, their abilities, and their situation better than anyone else.  Most people have never really attemp...

The final step in the CHANGE process for a church is encouragement.   Accountability structures provide encouragement as we pursue a goal and they keep us on track.   In individual coaching, the coach is NOT the accountability structure.   The client designs his or her own accountability structures or identifies those already in place—family, friends, coworkers—who can come alongside and help. As we work with a church to change, we can call upon structures already in place or create some to help move toward the goal.  Some accountability structures already exist.  These may be staff meetings, leadership teams (elders, session, etc.), or church business meetings.  These provide times to not only report what is being achieved but to celebrate as well.  For example, when a goal is developed, steps to achieve that goal are outlined.  We might see these not only as steps in a process but milestones toward achievement....