Author: wes

Your Growth Matters

Take steps today that will provide benefit for you tomorrow, next week, next year, and five years down the road. You’ll be better for it, trust me. Or trust John Maxwell.

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If you’ve been reading my thoughts for very long, you’ve probably figured out I’m a fan of a little known leadership guy named John Maxwell. Have you heard of him?

I try to listen to his leadership podcast regularly, but find myself listening in spurts. I checked in last week for one that was, in my opinion, top notch. And I want to share it with you.

But before I share the information, let me share a quick word.

Your growth matters.

Your personal growth, your professional growth, your leadership growth, your relational growth, and your spiritual growth all matter immensely to who you are as a person. The people around are blessed or hindered by your growth. And growth is not a short term process. Healthy growth requires a long game mentality.

Take steps today that will provide benefit for you tomorrow, next week, next year, and five years down the road. You’ll be better for it, trust me. Or trust John Maxwell.

Okay, now here you go. You can search for The John Maxwell Leadership Podcast in your podcast player, or here’s a link to his show page where you can watch a YouTube version of the podcast and download a worksheet to go along with John’s talk.

What step are you going to take today to grow? What are you waiting for?

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Happy New Year

I love the New Year. “Resolutions” are usually hit or miss as to what people think of them. I don’t know that I set actual resolutions, but I do try to lean into the rhythm and energy that comes with a new year.

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If you haven’t noticed, I’ve taken a bit of a hiatus the last few months. But I didn’t want to let the New Year pass without a post, mostly because I love the New Year.

“Resolutions” are usually hit or miss as to what people think of them. I don’t know that I set actual resolutions, but I do try to lean into the rhythm and energy that comes with a new year.

A few years ago I worked up a sheet to review a year, and it made an incredible difference for the next year. I’d like to share that worksheet with you. There’s nothing magical about it, other than the time you take to put into it.

I remember hearing John Maxwell say “Experience isn’t the best teacher. Evaluated experience is.” That is incredibly true. It’s not enough to have an experience and expect to grow. If we truly want to grow, we have to evaluate. I almost erased that last line, but I think it’s incredibly true.

I’m going to spend the rest of this week evaluating and preparing for 2022. I’ve already done quite a bit of that, but I want the energy of the new year to continue to carry me. Will you do the same?

As for the worksheet I mentioned, I’ll send it out to subscribers on Thursday, but you have to be subscribed. So, if you don’t get these posts in your inbox, go here to subscribe!

And if you want a little more of my thoughts on the worksheet and some reflections pre-pandemic, you can go here.

Let’s make 2022 the best yet.

You Guessed It, Redundancy

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I’m going to take a pause from the series I’ve been going through to share a real time thought.

Leadership requires redundancy. I’ve said this over and over, and I’ll keep saying it. Here are three reasons why:

  1. Vision requires reminding. Everyone in an organization needs to be reminded why they do what they do. Otherwise, the work overcomes the goal. Put another way, if vision is not clearly repeated, the work becomes the goal. Answering the three questions is not the goal–leadership is the goal, but if we don’t clearly repeat the vision, the questions in and of themselves (or any framework to teach leadership) are not enough to maintain momentum.
  2. People forget. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been working on something only to be reminded of why I started in the first place. My memory is terrible, so I cannot expect everyone around me to remember something the first time I say it. You can’t either.
  3. A clear goal provides energy. The middle of any sports season is usually the most difficult. The excitement of the new season has worn off, and the prospect of the momentum of post-season play has yet to ramp up significantly. The same is true of your leadership. Eventually the newness of what you’re doing is going to wear off, and you’re going to find yourself just far enough away from the goal you’re working towards that you’re ready to quit. But reminding yourself of a clear goal can help you push through. And reminding those you lead of that goal will do the same.

So, look around you. What do you need to say again? What do you feel has been said enough? Say it again, and again. The results will speak loud and clear.

Developing a Student Leadership Team: Know Your Who

My job is not to build great leaders. My job is to maximize the leadership potential in front of me.

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Welcome to a new series titled: Questions to help you start a student leadership team. My goal with these posts is to provide some thoughts and questions to work through as you start a student leadership team. Makes sense, right? You may not agree, and that’s okay! Leave a comment and let me know.

“I just don’t have any leader quality students.” 

“I don’t think they would get it.”

“I don’t have any seniors, how can I start a leadership team?”

At one point or another, all of these thoughts have crossed my mind when trying to decide whether or not to start a leadership team. Then I had a break through.

My job is not to build great leaders. My job is to maximize the leadership potential in front of me.

Do you see the difference?

If I think my job is to build great leaders, then I naturally want to start with highly capable students. Students who are leading already, or are popular, or mature. Eventually the checklist of what we’re looking for grows cumbersome.

If I think my job is to maximize the leadership potential of the students in front of me, then I want to start at a different place-with students who are willing.

Oops, spoiler alert. But let me say it again in a different way so you can catch it.

When it comes to developing leaders, willingness beats talent.

If a student has a natural inclination towards leadership but is unwilling to grow, guess what? You’re going to beat your head against the wall trying to help them grow. You can provide opportunities, but at the end of the day, we do not get to make decisions for those around us. We are not puppet masters. 

If a student, however, is willing to grow as a leader, then the game changes. Their willing desire to grow and to make the most of a situation will repeatedly result in progress you cannot imagine. With a willing student, you can provide opportunities and watch them respond in ways you cannot imagine. 

I cannot overstate this enough. If you’re looking to start a leadership team, or even help a few students grow in their understanding of leadership, look for willingness to make a difference (not willingness to have a title).

There’s an implied understanding here: everyone can be a leader. The degree of influence we have on people around us will vary from person to person, but everyone has the potential.

One last word: of course, a student who has both willingness and a natural inclination to leadership is the ideal. I would never argue against talent, but I will always argue against talent alone. 

My name is Wes, and this is my leadership hot take.

Developing a Student Leadership Team: Know Your Why

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Why do we need to learn this? When will I ever use this in real life? 

And so goes the familiar refrain in math classes all over the country. The core question being asked reveals an innate desire in each of us: we want to understand why?

As we learn to pour into and develop leaders around us, whether students or adults, understanding why we are setting out on this journey sets the guardrails for our process.  

What follows are three answers I’ve used to the question of why:

  1. To lighten the load. One church where I served had very little adult involvement, and even less interest in serving. As the student ministry began growing, I realized there was a significant need to help get simple tasks accomplished, so we established a student leadership team. Students on this team led worship, set up the room, prayed over requests and chairs, greeted, ran media, and filled gaps as needed. This was a remarkable team that met a specific need in that season.
  2. To bless others. Sometimes, establishing a leadership team isn’t about what it does for us, but what it provides for others. Some people (students included) are simply waiting to be invited to serve. Then, once the invitation has been extended, they find incredible joy in jumping in and finding their role and their place with all that’s happening. Having this why changes our approach—we are not inviting people to join just so they can serve us, but because it serves them. This is true for students, as well. Providing a student an opportunity and place to serve is an incredible way to help them discover the purpose God has for their life!
  3. To grow ourselves. The most intentional I ever became about developing a student leadership team was when I started to become intentional about growing myself. As I started to explore what it meant to grow in leadership, I invited students along for the journey. We embarked on a process that led all of us to new heights, and something for which I’ve been incredibly grateful all along the way.

Now, obviously the best why is a mix of the three reasons listed above, or maybe even something you’re going to develop on your own. The importance is coming up with your why and sticking to it.

If we have no vision and no direction, we will wander aimlessly. Discover your why.

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