In our society today there is an unwritten belief that leadership and strength are synonymous. While the premise may be true, there is strength in leadership, great leaders have come to understand the needed strength for effective leadership. Many leaders are still seeking.

There are leaders who believe he/she must be dominant in physical strength to keep others in line and productive. Showing off physical strength or prowess does not impress workers, nor will it motivate. Likewise, there are leaders who believe they must possess a mental strength over others in order to keep them in submission. Perhaps similar to an abusive husband over his wife. He does not have to speak to keep her in submission. It does not take a genius to realize this will not motivate people to work.

Others believe a dominant vocal strength will bring about productivity. This can appear in three different ways. 1) Using big “college degree” words, fancy language. Truth is, if you cannot relate to those you lead in words they understand, you’re not going to motivate them to productivity. 2) cursing, using harsh, belittling language. Belittling language never motivated anyone to do anything productive. Neither has cursing. 3) Hard, aggressive, threatening language. This is a military style leadership “Drill Sergeant.” While this type leadership may work in the military with recruits, it rarely gains respect in the corporate world. Without the respect of those you lead, you will not truly lead, only holding a position of leadership.

There is another, a much greater strength to be exercised in leadership. No one can doubt or question the strength of Jesus Christ as He dealt with people, friend and foe during His ministry. Jesus was such a master at leadership strength that He could deliver it with compassion or confrontation. In Matthew 7: 24-25 He said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”

To see the strength of these words and all Jesus had spoken in the previous 3 chapters, The Sermon on the Mount, is to read the final verses of chapter seven: “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, ²⁹ for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” They were astonished/amazed. Why? Because He was teaching them with authority which apparently the Scribes did not. Jesus had an air of compassion and concern about Him. Everyone in His presence could sense His teaching was different. His teaching was for their benefit, not His own.

What can you do this week to improve your leadership and communication with others to be more like this style of Jesus?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

Is prayer dynamic and exciting or dull and dreary in your life? Most believers would say, “dynamic and exciting,” even when it is not. The truth is prayer will be whatever the believer (pray-er) allows God to make it in your life and the life of your church. Prayer can be the most soothing, exhilarating part of a person’s life when you pray with a heart for truly knowing God’s will.

In much of our praying lives today we have turned God into more of a Santa Claus figure. We come with our list of things we want, expecting God to deliver. Prayer is two-way communication between you and God. It is not only about telling God what you want. The expectation of prayer should not be getting God to agree with me. True prayer is me sharing with God and listening for His response, advice, and guidance for my life. Instead of getting God to agree with my wants, prayer is about me aligning my desires with God’s will and His desires for me.

Do you have a vibrant, personal prayer time? Is your prayer life meaningful, fresh, with a fragrance of love and acceptance?

I wrote a piece several years ago stating the time spent in prayer by active church going believers is twenty-seven minutes each week. This included prayers at church, praying at meals, and before bed or in our first waking minutes. I do not remember now where I found that research but this is what we might deem stronger believers.

Let’s break this down and we’ll round it up to 30 minutes. There are 168 hours in a week and two half hours in each hour. Thirty minutes per week is 1/336 of your week. Not ten percent, not 1/100^th, 1/336^th of our time in communication with our God. If we spent 30 minutes each day it would still only be 1/48^th of our time. Just imagine what God could do – God-sized – if each believer would spend 30 minutes each day in true heart-felt prayer discerning God’s Will, desiring to adjust our lives to meet God’s desires.

Martin Luther said, “I have so much to do today I have to spend four hours in prayer just to get everything done.” What a difference in attitude than we carry today. How about you? What is your prayer life like? What can you do today to draw closer to God in true God-seeking, heart-felt prayer?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

I recently read the testimony of a CEO who stated that early on in his role he believed the CEO had to be the smartest person in the room. He now acknowledges that was a mistake. If you have to be the smartest person in the room, you are not leading well. In fact, it is possible if you are leading with this mindset the only thing you may be leading is toward a train wreck.

The need to be the smartest person in the room is not leadership. It is an ego issue. An effective leader understands he/she is not always the smartest person in the room. An effective leader will surround himself with capable, open minded, free thinking individuals who will contribute to the solution and the decisions to be made.

A leader who feels the need to be the smartest person in the room alienates team members and co-workers. This mindset often leads to leadership by criticism. The need to be the smartest person in the room causes the leader to doubt the capability of team members and workers. Therefore, criticism becomes a leadership style. Leadership by criticism has never built any work bridges between a leader and his/her workers. Criticism belittles and therefore stops the flow of creativity and production. That’s right, production will slow even in the best of workers.

Criticism in leadership is nothing more than a lazy attempt at leadership and ineffective. Ineffective leadership always leads to lower productivity than the team is capable of and lowers morale. Lower morale will in turn reduce productivity even more.

As a leader, become a life-long learner. Read, attend conferences, ask and watch others. Learn from peers in similar organizations, and from those you lead. When you open yourself to learning from those you lead, you will be on the road to becoming the best leader possible for your organization and those people you lead.

One way to learn from those you lead is to encourage them to be life-long learners as well. Help them by giving them opportunities and effecting learning (self improvement) as a priority in each of their lives.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

Five of us walked into a busy restaurant. We were told we’d have a 20-30 minute wait. Since we were at a large convention this seemed to be not so bad an option. However, 30 minutes came and went. Then 45, 50, 55 minutes, one hour and five minutes after entering the restaurant, we were seated. It was not only our party of five. Every group was waiting this long. But alas, finally seated we ordered (some of us, me included, had to change our order due to out of stock menu items). We ordered, waited, and waited, and waited. We had submitted our names on the waiting list at 6:28 and received our food at 8:26. It was a late supper, but we did eat.

I share this true story because it has several comparisons to many churches – and other organizations as well. While the restaurant was known for good food and I’m certain they were trying to keep up, there were several issues. The largest of which was there was not enough workers to carry the load. This is all too often the case in churches. Only in churches members (workers) are not getting paid. Therefore, they sit back and expect others to genuinely greet people, clean tables, prepare the meal, serve and take care of others (metaphorically speaking).

Jesus said, “The fields are white unto harvest (there are many people waiting to be seated at the kings table), Pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into the field. He didn’t say recruit workers, bring them in, and send them out to work. We are to do this, but we are not to sit back and wait for others to do the work. The implication is they are already here, send them out. Get to it. People are hungry, not only for bread and burgers, but for love and acceptance. There is an innate desire in each of us to be loved and accepted. This is the level of psychological need where people enter your church.

We stayed and ate at the restaurant that night. But I do not know how eager any of us would be to return anytime soon. The same is true at church. People come in looking to be accepted, seeking a place to belong. Yet, research has recently shown people attending churches for the first time sensed only superficial greetings from church members. Church members greetings were not genuine, authentic.

What can you do personally to move your church to be a more accepting, genuinely authentic, welcoming body to all newcomers?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

Walking down the sidewalk of a non-specific city, I noticed a woman about a half block ahead of me. She raised up from rummaging through a trash can on the sidewalk. Her appearance was not like everyone else on the sidewalks that day. Her hair dirty and oily, her clothing tattered, wrinkled and unclean, everything about her appearance was alien to her surroundings. The reception of the people around her? To ignore, avoid, and avert getting close to her.

Sitting in a restaurant enjoying lunch while on a road trip, I noticed a homeless man, dressed much like the woman in the earlier scenario, enter the restaurant. He walked straight up to the counter, said something (that I could not hear) to the young man preparing sandwiches. In less than a minute the man was handed a wrapped sandwich from behind the counter. He nodded and I believe said thanks and exited the restaurant with his head down. It turns out the restaurant has a policy of feeding the homeless one sandwich a day, if they come in orderly and ask.

The main difference in these two scenarios is one is expected, the other is considered a nuisance. We often go out of our way to avoid those not like us, men and women that we do not expect to interact with or meet. The woman on the sidewalk just happened to show up as we were walking that way. We were not expecting her and did not desire to spend time with her. The restaurant on the other hand expected and prepared for the homeless. The difference is one is a visitor, one is a guest.

Let’s turn this to the church (or other organization). In your church do you have visitors or guests? There is a difference. The difference is how you treat them. A guest is someone you are expecting. You prepare for them and you want them to stay. A visitor is someone who shows up unexpectedly and you hope they do not stay.

A personal example: Let’s say you invite me to your home for a meal. Before I arrive, you spend time cleaning, cooking and preparing for me. You are expecting me to be your guest. You anticipate my arrival and expect me to stay a while.

On the other hand, if you do not invite me, yet I show up on your doorstep one evening and announce, “I’m here for supper.” You are not expecting me. You are likely hoping that I am joking and not planning to stay. In this scenario, I am a visitor.

In your church are newcomers treated as guests or visitors? Are you genuinely planning for their arrival and want them to stay even if they do not look, dress, smell, or talk like you? What can you do to make every newcomer feel like a welcomed guest?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

In any business when you ask employees what benefit or perk would brighten their day as a worker the first thing we expect to hear is – money (bonuses, raise, cash gift). If the question is asked on the spur of the moment, money might be one of the answers you’ll hear. However, when given time to think about it or in lengthier discussions, the number one perk or benefit given is personal growth and development.

The absolute best investment any employer or leader can make for employees/volunteers is time. Invest a little time equipping, training, and encouraging your people in personal development. Personal development can be directly related to his/her job or unrelated. It could be truly personal (raising teenagers, budget management, cooking, family economics). People learn best when we offer personal development in their areas of life pursuit.

First, leaders should invest a little time with each of his/her charges. This can take place in casual momentary conversations. You might be surprised at how much you can learn about someone in a five minute casual conversation. Spend five minutes a week for three weeks with a person and you will find out what is truly important and get to know some of her life goals and desires.

For many, you may find their desire is something you already know and do, part of your job. Fulfilling this requires only a little of your time, perhaps over a period of months spending five minutes each week sharing of your knowledge and experience in a training mode for that person. Never do it in a condescending manner. Show genuine interest in that person’s development.

If you’re a sales manager, look for the warehouse personnel with a desire to be in sales and take him with you on a sales call. If you’re a pastor take others with you as you go to visit outside the church. In each case, you will be training as you fulfill your obligation and do your duties. No extra time required.

When we invest in personal development of those we lead, we build morale and worker/volunteer retention. Spending time with others, getting to know their life goals and desires, then helping them in personal development towards those goals will bring effective returns, through productivity, employee satisfaction, and happier employees (or volunteers).

It even beats out doughnuts and coffee, every time. The number one benefit or perk for those you lead is spending time with them, assisting them in personal development. After all it is their #1 desire. What will you do this week to begin a personal growth and development plan for those you lead?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

I have a friend who pastors a church that hosts a fish fry about 40 Fridays each year. This has been an ongoing practice since the church was founded nearly 20 years ago. At first, the proceeds from the fish fry were to help sustain the church’s operating budget. Still today the fish fry’s proceeds are used to assist in sustaining the church budget. However, at least 30% of the proceeds now go to mission work and other ministries in the community and beyond. The goal: continue raising the percentage used for missions until 100% is being given away in ministry and missions for God’s purposes and his glory.

Last year, while speaking with this young pastor, he mentioned customer count was down for the year. Therefore, income for the fish fry was down. When I inquired his thoughts on the reason for the decline, he stated one reason was pork chop dinners had become a big fundraiser in the area. We spoke some about it. (I can’t help but coach).

This year as I have spoken with him, the pastor tells me “business is up”. The first few months have been a banner year. When I inquired his thoughts on the reasons, he was very quick and assured of himself. “I have gotten back out into the community. I’ve personally made visits to business and factories. We’ve sent out more publications, promoting it (the fish fry)…”

The pork chop dinner fundraisers are still big, perhaps more than last year. The difference: he and his church have gotten back out into the community promoting and inviting. This is a good business lesson to be adhered to. But more than a business lesson…

There is a pretty obvious lesson to be learned here for all churches. It matters not how many pork chop fundraisers, i.e. other churches in the area, how good or bad the economy is, the change in the neighborhood – all those excuses we give why our church is not growing. We cannot rely on the fliers and promotions of yesteryear. If we expect God to move in our churches, we must do what He has called us to. We must get back out into the community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

At the age of 67, Thomas Edison, one of our nation’s greatest inventors, seemingly lost all his life’s work. He stood by and watched all his labs and factory burn to the ground. The buildings, made of concrete, considered fireproof at the time, were only insured for about 10% of the actual worth. It was a multi-million-dollar loss – astronomical in 1914. It has been recorded that looking over the ruins in the daylight, Edison said, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.”

While this disastrous circumstance would bring most people to some level of depression and despondency Edison saw a silver lining. Not only did he speak positively in light of the terrible loss, Edison proceeded in the same manner. Three weeks after the fire, Edison introduced the first battery powered search light to the world. The idea came to him watching the firefighters struggle in low light conditions as his properties burned.

After perhaps his most famous invention, the lightbulb, when it was made known that he had unsuccessfully 1,000 times tried to create a working lightbulb, he supposedly stated, “I did not fail 1,000 times. I found 1,000 ways to not make a lightbulb.” Edison did not let negative set-backs hold him from progress. He was forward thinking and forward moving. His track record proves this about him. First with the lightbulb. And in our story above, only 3 weeks after losing all his working inventory and buildings.

When life throws a set-back your way, what is your reaction? Do you have a pity-party, blame others, walk away defeated? How would your life change if you looked for the silver lining in the tragedy, disaster, or other set-back?

Remember Edison’s statement, “There is great value in disaster.” In his case, “All our mistakes are burned up.” Don’t wait for a fire, and don’t let your mistakes shackle you. Learn from your mistakes. Then bury them and move forward. You might be surprised at the new speed and depth of creativity you’ll experience.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

footnote: Edison introduced the first phonograph in 1877, not 1914 as first written in this article.

While interviewing a potential employee for his company, a businessman ‘s phone began ringing. After the third ring the interviewee asked, Aren’t you going to answer that?” The business glanced at the phone, then looking back to the young lady sitting across from him said, “I do not know if that phone call is important or not. I do know this interview is important to me, my business, and to you.”

With his statement, the businessman made an indelible impression that would remain with this young lady for the rest of her life.

What you pay attention to and how you respond to distractions and interruptions speaks volumes to those in your presence; your employees, volunteers, or constituents. Looking at your cell phone, the log/magazine in your hand gives an undeniable message that you do not value those in your presence. This is true in formal meetings or spontaneous chats.

Beware of what your actions are conveying. It matters not if you are receiving important information in a text or interoffice memo or checking the time, each time you look at your phone, you are conveying a message to those you are with. And it is usually not the message you think. You are sending a devaluing message. In essence you are saying, “I’m not sure what I’m going to see when I look at my hone, but it is more important to me right now than my conversation with you.

When people’s belief is that they are not valued, their trust factor in you diminishes. With diminishing trust, they will stop coming to you with issues or solutions, as in their minds they will not likely get your attention. A consequence of this is disengagement. Disengagement brings lower production and morale.

When you show the people you interact with that you value your time with them, you will experience stronger communication and team engagement. Silence your phone for a time, put it in airplane mode if you must. Who knows, your renewed conversation engagement just might make an indelible impression on someone’s life.

Other than your cell phone, what other distractions are you allowing to relay devaluing those you interact with or lead?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.

A different type of post this week. Perhaps it will bring a smile and warm memories of your father.

It was May 1988. I was living in Ohio and traveled home to Kentucky to visit my Mom, Dad and fiancé, Pam, every time I could get a couple days off. On this particular trip I purchased something I saw first on a lakeshore in Ohio – stunt kites. My purchase was a set of three Tilby stunt kites – a Tilby Trilogy. Each kite in this set carried the traditional diamond shape. With a normal kite you attach a ball of string, launch the kite and let it climb into the air while you hold the ball of string releasing it little by little as the kite climbs. A kite like this will dance and wave in the air a little, but not much.

A stunt kite on the other hands will do much more. It has two lines attached to the front of the first kite. In this case, I had purchased a trilogy or three kites you would fly stacked together. Three kites in a row, one in front of the other about 2 feet apart. Each kite had a different color striped pattern and each had a 50 foot tail of the main color of the kite to which it was attached. Using the two lines (strings) you could get the kite in the air and do tricks and spins, dives and climbs. Whereas a traditional kite stays pretty stationary, a stunt kite will fly all across the skies. By pulling on the left cord you can drive the kite to the left in a strong driving force, then quickly spin it to drive the opposite direction. Starting at 75 feet in the air you can pull one cord and cause the kite(s) to dive straight towards the ground or dive in a series of tight circles. Then reversing your hand position have the kites climb back in similar circular fashion.

I enjoyed those kites over the years as they moved with us in Ohio, to Georgia, and onto California before I sold them to another would-be enthusiast. But, by far, my greatest memory with those kites was the day I bought them. I sat in the living room floor of my parent’s house and put them together. Though I did not do it alone. My father, a heart patient, got down in the floor with me, just like when I was a child, we worked on the kites together. Helping one another, laughing and talking as we worked.

Of course, as soon as they were assembled, I wanted to try them out. I asked my father to go with me. But he was too tired, worn out. It was the last project my father and I would do together. He passed away to his eternal glory two weeks later. It has been 31 years since his passing, I was 31 years old, and yet, I have never forgotten the look on his face and the joy of putting those kites together in the floor; a father and his son.

These are some of my thoughts as we recently celebrated Father’s Day. Cherish the times, cherish the memories. Cherish life.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life.