Did you know that you can use a question to make almost any statement you desire? I just did it, didn’t I? Well now that was two in a row, wasn’t it? And that was the third one, don’t you see? I could go on all day, right? Each of the first five sentences in this paragraph are questions that make a statement. I refer to these as “statement questions”. However, they go farther than making a statement.

A statement question is one that causes the listener to think. Reading the first sentence in this article your brain automatically kicked into thought processing. Your likely first response was, “You can?” Notice your response is a question. Then you read the second question, brain still engaged, you realize, “He really did”. Then as you read the next three sentences, you begin to see the pattern and a slight smile came across your face.

When people read or hear a statement their mind continues on to what is coming next. However, when a question is posed, verbally or in writing, your mind kicks into thought processing. When used properly, questions will produce great lasting learning. Unfortunately, most of our questions today are not engaging the mind for learning. We’re asking the wrong questions. Properly formulated questions will not only cause the listener to pause but will engage his/her higher lever thought processes.

As a forty plus year student of the question and one who has written numerous articles and several book chapters on questions, I receive calls frequently to assist in developing questions for situations or projects. I enjoy this as it is a challenge to me and causes my higher order thought processes to engage for the assistance of the organization or individual. Yet, I am still a student of the question, desiring to learn more. I believe the question is one of God’s greatest gifts to us as leaders.

Back to the statement question. Jesus used statement questions in his ministry. In Matthew 18:33 in His parable of the unforgiving servant, Jesus says, “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had on you?” Is there a statement inside that question? Certainly. He is invoking something greater than a yes or no answer.

Earlier in the same chapter of Matthew, Jesus shares the parable of the lost sheep. Jesus first sets the stage with a question, then forms the parable into a question.  “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hill and go to look for the one that wandered off?”

Do not miss the impact on the learning process of Jesus’ delivery. His opening question is much more than a question. “What do you think?” Is it a question or a decree? Is He not verbally directing his listeners to think? Jesus is telling His listeners that to fully understand what I am about to say you must go beyond surface level thinking. You must engage deeper level thinking. He knew His listeners could have given a superficial surface answer. His intent was a learning experience, not a rote yes or no.

What will you do this week to engage your brain to lead with higher quality questions?

Resources: Teaching That Bears Fruit, chapter 4, The Art of the Question. Coaching: A Way of Leadership, A Way of Life, chapters 7-10.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

It is said that Garry Ridge, CEO of WD-40 Company, once fire a manager for not helping one of his employees improve performance. Take note he did not terminate the under performing employee. The person terminated was the manager. Personally, I believe that shows higher level leadership. Too often in today’s world we have bought in to the concept of “look out for number 1” – take care of yourself at the expense of others.

I would venture to say that Ridge’s actions spoke volumes to all levels of employees at WD-40. The company had implemented one of Ken Blanchard’s concepts titled, “Don’t Mark my paper, Help Me get an A”. In the incident mentioned above, Ridge terminated the manager rather than the poor performer when he realized the manager did nothing to help the employee improve performance (get an A).

What if more businesses, churches, and other organizations operated with a similar philosophy? Help the people under your direction, your direct reports improve their skillsets, or you will be looking for another job. Sounds rough does it not? Yet, if I as a leader am not improving myself and not assisting everyone around me in improving, am I not hurting the organization – keeping it from its full potential?

Hang with me here, I realize some leaders/managers have already turned me off. Others who may not like their leader want to read on to find ways to get their leader dismissed. That is not what this is about. It is about growing as individuals, as a team and effectively affecting the organization’s bottom line – be it money, people, or other bottom line.

I believe what CEO Ridge understands is that as people increase their skillsets, they become not only more beneficial to the organization, they also become more endeared to the organizational cause. Whether that is water displacement products (WD-40), better pancakes, or engaged church members. Passion is increased in people growing in their skillset and that passion is revealed through organizational action. It is hard to beat against passion. When my passion level is being raised, it is not likely that I will slow progress down.

In the church I have often said, “People will serve out of their passion.” The leadership role in the church should be to assist all members and attenders in discovering their God-given passion and match that to a passion-driven, gift-oriented ministry. There are resources available to help any church or organization in endeavor.

The most popular leadership style practiced today is Top-down leadership. Believe it or not most top-down leadership organizations operate as fault-finding, critical models. Moving your organization away from a fault-finding rebuking manner of leadership requires commitment and some hard work. Breaking an old habit is never easy.

For more information on Blanchard’s philosophy, “Don’t Mark My Paper, Hep Me get an A”, contact The Blanchard group, or contact me and I will help you find the right resources for your church or organization. Don’t procrastinate, set your mind and heart to begin today to help every member of your organization or church to get an A!

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Resources

Blanchard Group | Master Plan Architecture

Leading at a Higher Level – Pearson Education, Inc.

Have you ever heard an employer say, “We need to hire a few more slackers.” Or “We need a few more quitters to replace the ones who left during the pandemic never to return.”? Of course not. Businesses do not intentionally recruit slackers or quitters. As a recruiter or business owner you always want to find prospective winners. You want people with capacity to “do the job” needed. Your desire is for people passionate about the work to be done.

In the church we should be following a similar pattern, though often times we don’t. When filling a position in the church (especially volunteer position) we generally look for the first person who will say yes to the position. We’re not looking for potential, passion or giftedness. What we’re looking for, and I’ve had many people tell me the same, is a warm body to fill an empty slot.

My friend Allan Taylor has said, “We recruit most of our failures.” In other words, one reason our ministries do not flourish and produce desired fruit is often due to our own negligence in properly recruiting the best people for a given position.

People will serve out of their passion. As leaders we must assist church members and attenders in finding their God-given passion and link that passion to service in His kingdom. A person’s passion will always have correlation to their giftedness (spiritual gifts) and natural God-given abilities. Every person wants to utilize his/her talents and gifts. Using them for God’s glory in His service is what we were created for and where we will find our greatest satisfaction.

When it comes to recruiting for new members and attenders, we do not go hunting like the corporate world, although that brings up some interesting thoughts for future discussions. While we do not recruit like the business world, our best recruiting is done by word of mouth from existing members. Therefore, every member serving out of his/her passion will likely share with others. Why? Because serving this way brings joy and satisfaction that cannot be found any other place.

If you are passionate about something you enjoy sharing about it. You desire to tell others. Why do we have so many sourpuss Christians today? Hmm! Perhaps, we need to implement passion driven, gift-oriented ministry in our churches. What will you undertake this week, beginning today, to implement passion-driven ministry in your church?

Contact George Yates today for complimentary surveys, assessments and other information on moving to a passion driven, gift-oriented ministry in your church.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

One portion of Webster’s definition of learn is “to master”, or “mastery of.” To have mastery of is to have full command of a subject. It is to have a consummate skill or knowledge of the subject. In the Asian arts of self defense such as karate, the lead teacher has earned the title of Master. This title signifies he knows more of and about the skills of the art being practiced than any other person in his dojo (school).

One who has mastery over something is considered an artist of great and exemplary skill. It is no accident the word skill keeps appearing in the exegesis of this definition. Skill is an applied ability. The only way to know your level of skill is to apply it or put it into practice, to apply what you have learned. Application not only brings about behavioral or life change. Application is life-change.

Think about that statement. If someone is applying a truth or principle that he has learned, he is changing the way he practices or perceives it. The first time you sat in the driver’s seat of a car and drove away you were actually applying what you had learned about driving. You were no longer confined to being a passenger. You had taken the necessary steps to bring about change.

Someone had to show you how to drive. Your first time out may not have been the most graceful, yet you were willing to apply what you had learned. From that point forward, you practiced those skills increasing your ability and improving those learned skills.

Though we have a supernatural edge, Christian education must follow the same natural laws of learning. We must not only give our learners facts, information, and material, we must equip them with wisdom to transform and mature them. You do not learn to drive a car by listening to a lecture on facts, figures, and history of cars. Facts, figures, and history do not teach you how to drive.

The “how to” presents the skills you need to drive. In the how to process you acquire the wisdom for transformation from passenger to driver. Second, there must be some physical action that allows you to interact with the car (practice) and demonstrate your newly acquired knowledge, wisdom, and skills. This is application.

Often in churches we teach the facts, figures, and history of scripture yet never move to the ever-important life-changing how to. The definition for teach and for the Greek word didasko includes “The act of causing someone to learn. to learn is to gain mastery of. When we fail to give someone the how to, opportunities to apply, what are we causing them to master? Are we perhaps creating masters of trivia? Unfortunately, many people walk out of churches each week without any true learning. There is no life-change.

Whether you are a pastor, teacher, congregant, or parent will you, right now, identify your next step to creating application of scripture learned for you and those in your circle of influence? Write me and tell me of your decision to apply.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Over the years I have written a few posts about Empowering Leadership. Today, I want to address a topic often left out of the empowering leadership conversation. Successful organizations draw and develop self-initiators, people who do not need to be told what, when, or how to accomplish tasks. One reason fruitful organizations attract good talent, including self-initiators is often these organizations engage an empowering leadership structure.

High level leaders understand the role of hiring self-initiators with the skillset to build others inside the workforce. Self-initiators with this mindset will 1) attract other likeminded self-initiators and 2) tend to instill in others a similar mindset. Thus, you are building an empowered organization.

A much better facet is to build self-initiators from within the current workforce. This is the main option for the church. People need to be trained and equipped to take on this type of leadership – self-initiative. Fruitful organizations, including churches, understand the value of building self-initiators.

How do you train people to be self-initiators? Ask yourself. “What causes you to do the things that you do without having to be told that it needs to be done?” People who make their beds each morning before leaving the house are self-initiators. Pastors, bosses, CEO’s who bend over to pick up a candy wrapper are self-initiators – or OCD.

Here are three ideas to assist in training all the people in your organization to become self-initiators.

1. One by one or in small groups take a tour of your facilities asking these types of questions: a) What do you see in this area that could use some improvements? B) What would be your first suggestion to make that improvement? c) If you were empowered to make those adjustments, what timeframe do you think you would need? d) Great, then you have my blessing. I stand ready to assist you in making those adjustments.

Not all conversations are going to go that easy or so quickly. Neither are you going to be ready to empower people to make major changes which could be costly – financially or to personnel. However, many people in your organization will have some ideas for improvement of their own performance if they were empowered to be self-initiators.

2. Leaders are learners. Leaders are readers. One of the best ways to equip self-initiators is to encourage self-learning. Offer special incentives or greater encouragement for people to read books and periodicals that may focus on self-initiative leadership. Volunteer organizations such as the church can offer group studies on certain books or study courses where individuals read a chapter and come together regularly to discuss and encourage one another in the virtues of each chapter.

Even in corporate America fruitful organizations offer these type of study groups, often at lunch or other times, during work or after hours. Those organizations realize the added value to the organization by allowing time “on the clock” for such self-improvement.

3. Formal training is always available. This can be classroom training or a mentor-apprentice type environment. Why not plan for some type of structured training for building self-initiators? Twice each year have a one-day event for training or a series of short courses to build these leaders.

Will you take the initiative to build self-initiators in your organization?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

God’s Word is truth – the only truth. Today, society will tell you that you make your own truth. “What you believe to be truth is truth.” This is so far removed from actual truth that it is more than sorrowful. A read through history will show other societies that went the same path. Not one of those societies lasted. False truths always lead to destruction of a society.

For decades, the church has not done very well at instilling truth into churchgoers. Ours has become a Christianity of comfort and relativity. This relativity is determined by each individual’s own comfort level. Not that we have taught this relativity in the church, but the world has had a stronger influence over our teaching in the lives of our members than has the church. More than truth, religion today is dependent on whether it feels good or is within our comfort zone.

We live as, “If I am not comfortable with any part of the Bible, then I need not adhere to that portion.” This is not living the truth, neither is it the Christianity of the New Testament book of Acts. Heartfelt deep prayer is needed! God’s Word is truth – the only truth.

Jesus, nor the church brow beat people into understanding truth, but it was taught in the temple and in homes daily. It was demonstrated daily in the lives of believers. Apparently, we are not living the same type lives today. After all God was “adding to their number daily.” That happens not in the temple (church) but in the market, in the workplace, in the neighborhood. Why is God not adding to our number daily? I believe it is due to the fact that we are living a different Christianity. It is what I call the westernization of Christianity.

Without a repentant heart from our Pastors, teachers, and other leaders we will not see the return of the true church in our nation. Not only a repentant heart, but also a rejuvenated committed drive to bring back into our churches the level of commitment found in the book of Acts.

This will take time, and it must begin with prayer, a concerted prayer effort in each church and from church to church, praying earnestly for one another. Our prayer lives must accelerate beyond our normal practice. We must learn again to pray not from the head, but from the heart. When was the last time you poured out your heart and soul to God in prayer? This type of prayer often is accompanied by weeping and trembling. Can you remember your last prayer time like this?

Out of this prayer effort must follow a transformed Spirit filled preaching and teaching in our churches of God’s whole truth, bringing people to their knees in repentant forgiveness producing a new generation of biblical Christianity – The Truth, The Way. This will only happen as we; the leaders – and members – of the church fall on our faces before the Lord Almighty allowing His Holy Spirit to transform us and our teaching, preaching, our own lifestyle into His full truth.

God’s Word is truth, and we must return to a Christ-like delivery and life. When did you last pour your heart out with weeping and trembling before God? Praying for a congregation living Truth Activated!

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Trust is defined as the firm belief in the ability, reliability, or strength of someone or something. Trust inside our churches has been waning for several years. Perhaps this stems from the lack of trust from outside the church towards churches. Yet, the failings inside the church have certainly contributed as well. Moral failure of church leaders, infighting amongst church members, and congregation against congregation has taken its toll on trust in and of the church.

Whether you want to believe it or not, there is broken trust in your church. It may be from something a pastor twenty years ago did or did not do. It may not have anything to do with the Pastor. There is quite possibly broken trust within your congregation.

How do we regain trust within the church? Regaining trust is not something that is granted overnight. Regaining trust is more difficult than originally gaining someone’s trust. Once you break the trust of any relationship, it may take years before that trust is completely restored. Regaining trust is a very slow process requiring an openness further than prior acknowledgement.

In the church we must go out of our way, sacrificially give of ourselves to restore and rebuild trust. The key word in that statement is sacrificially. If we are not willingly giving up more of ourselves for the relationship, we are relaying a message that is not building trust.

As leaders in the church, we must be trustworthy to our members and to the community around us to be lampstands for Christ. As church members, we owe it to our pastor, the leadership, and all other members present and future, and most importantly to Christ our Lord, to build the highest level of trust possible. As a church member it is your responsibility, your obligation to Christ to build and rebuild the trust factors inside your church.

If the community believes there is reason not to trust the pastor or church leaders, even if the reason is from false hearsay, your church’s trust factor in the community is trampled to nothing. God placed your church in that community to reach it for His Kingdom. The necessity for you and all members of your church is to begin with a repentant and forgiving heart. Then it is imperative as a church to get out into the community with humility sharing the love of Jesus Christ in ways you’ve never dreamed of before now. (Contact me. We’ll discuss some possibilities specific for your church.)

Prayer is the beginning point and must remain a daily interface with God for our personal trust factor and that of the church as well. Trust is more than a physical battle. All our congregants live in the flesh. Therefore, we all are prone to the wiles of the adversary. Trust is a spiritual battle and regaining trust will require extra time on our knees before God and His throne.

Our ministry must become Trust oriented.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

Whether you serve in a church, an office, manufacturing plant, or any other organization, if you want highly productive people there is one major key factor, empowerment. Empowering people is not turning over the reins of the organization. However, a congregation or workforce that is properly empowered will be motivated to strive for the organization’s goals and will serve at a higher level.

In much of the United States of America the practice of top down or hierarchal leadership is the norm. This is a common practice because it is what is known and taught both in schools and in the workplace (and in churches). Ken Blanchard and his associates in Leading at a Higher Level state, “Empowerment means letting people bring their brains to work and allowing them to use their knowledge, experience, and motivation…”

While humorous, there is great truth in their statement. Business researcher Edward Lawler found that companies that give more freedom and responsibility in operational issues concerning their workplace showed a 10+ percent more productive workforce. When people are empowered to lead out in their work, they will excel and rise to meet the organization’s goals. In this culture new leaders are being raised and trained, not only by the leaders, but by their peers and co-laborers.

Creating a culture of empowerment is not as easy as it may sound. Empowerment is the practice of releasing the knowledge and experience of the people in all levels of an organization, yet it is not turning over all control. Borders must be set. Major decisions are still in the hands of the leadership. However, the rank-and-file employees or congregants can be part of operational decision making.

While for the leaders, the toughest portions of moving to an empowering culture include letting go and not interceding, employees or congregants also find difficulties in such adjustments. Hierarchical leadership is so ingrained in our culture that employees (congregants) will enter this new empowering culture with timidity and hesitation. Making decisions is not part of the almost robotic nature of today’s organizational structure.

Any organization that so desires can move to an empowering culture. A caution is to move forward slowly. People are hesitant to change. Too much change too fast can cause damage in the production of the organization. When this happens, in addition to the change, damage restoration must also take place.

An empowering culture is more than entrusting the members of the organization with decision making power. Empowering leadership builds in responsibility and accountability as well as a teaching/learning configuration. People become more of a team and want to share and teach others to be more effective and efficient. Productivity and reaching organizational objectives becomes an all-in practice.

Each person has his/her own life’s experiences. These experiences have left us with knowledge and insight. Our experiences, knowledge and insight build a motivation within us. What better way to unleash all this than empowering the people of your organization? What can you do to assist in turning your organization into an effective forward moving organism complete with people motivated to fulfilling your organization’s objectives? For more information contact George Yates.

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

The last church I served in Ohio (1993-99) realized an average growth rate above ten percent each year. It was not because of me, we, the staff, had instilled principles and practices that would out last me or the other staff members in the church. Indeed it did. The church continued its climb at a similar rate for several years after my and other staff departures. While serving at that church I would have people see me at conferences or other events and query, “So, you’re George Yates” (or something similar).

I never really knew how to respond to that. At least not until they explained what they meant. Usually, it was someone who had attended my former church and heard my name attached to some biblically based practice we had set up while I was on staff. Or it was someone who had heard my name from another person who had attended a conference. It was never about me, but about the health and spiritual growth of the church(es) involved. That is never from man, but always from God.

While in California, Associational Missionary, Mike Stewart and I were blessed to have a similar mindset for building a healthy organization to assist New Testament churches. When strategically developing any process or ideal these two thoughts guided our thinking and discussion. 1) How will this lead to better effectiveness in churches. And 2) We know we can live with this, but how can we implement something that will outlive both of us. It was never about the Mike & George show. It was always about the current and future health of the organization and helping churches.

God moved me from that work twelve years and 16 days ago. That association is, in my estimation, one of the strongest associations in the nation. Mike Stewart is still there, having celebrated twenty years in 2018. I can guarantee you Mike’s mindset is still to build something to grow beyond him and anyone working with him today.

Fruitful organizations that last, do not build an organization around a charismatic leader. On the contrary, effective leaders build healthy organizations that continue beyond him/herself. In each of the churches and organizations listed above I can still to this day name emergent leaders who rose from the ranks of membership. I began to list them, but realized I would leave some out and the list is long.

Leaders who try to manage every part of the organization as if he is the only one who can make a decision, that leader is setting himself and the organization up for failure. Building a church or any organization around a leader and his/her personality or past experience will set the course for a downhill spiral.

When a leader strives to build an organization that is above and beyond the leader, one that will outlive the leader, emerging leaders will begin to arise from all rank and file within the organization. What needs to change in your thinking to build such an organization?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.

The story is told of a man horseback riding one day when he happened upon a group of soldiers attempting to move a heavy piece of timber. With each attempt they failed. The timber was too much for the men. There was another man on the scene a corporal, barking orders to heave and roll the large and heavy timber. The man on horseback asked, “Why aren’t you helping them?” The man retorted, “Me? Why I’m a corporal, sir.” Some versions add, “If you want, why don’t you help them?”

The rider dismounted walked over joined the men and moved the timber in place. Before leaving he turned to the men with whom he had co-labored and said, “The next time you need assistance, send for me, your Commander in Chief.” The man on horseback was George Washington.

I have often wondered what that corporal was feeling and thinking as Washington rode away. Certainly, there was a great lesson to be learned that day about leadership. Not only servant leadership, but higher-level leadership. Over and over again in his life, George Washington demonstrated integrity and other traits of higher-level leaders. While every leader aspires to be a higher-level leader, few ever make it.

Whether you have studied five, seven, or even ten levels of leadership, most leaders settle in at one of the two lower levels of leading. I concur with five levels of leadership and realize very few men or women ever reach level five. I work quite consistently with pastors and other church and denomination leaders. I have also served in the corporate world and have studied and observed leaders throughout my teen and adult life.

Most pastors (and many other leaders) reside at level one or two for their entire career though they believe themselves to be higher-level leaders. Level one is known as positional leadership. Like the corporal in the above story, level one leaders lead from their position which they assume gives them authority to “bark orders” and command others to obey. Level one leaders never gain the respect of their reports and constituents.

Level two leaders in the church operate in the permission arena. These leaders will never take their church (organization) beyond where they (the leader) believe the church will allow. I had a pastor once ask me, “George, why are we stuck here? We’ve done…” and he named three to four outside resources and processes the church had undertaken. He listed events and activities. Yet, the church had plateaued and declined for several years.

At the very moment he was sharing this with me in front of some of his church members, it occurred to me. The reason was not about processes, events, and activities. The real reason was, this pastor, like many others I have worked and interacted with over the years are permissional leaders, not willing to risk moving to higher levels of leadership. Not wiling to risk losing members or drawing conflict.

Moving to higher level leadership is linked to building other leaders. Before you can bring others along into higher levels of leadership, we must first be willing to be built into higher-level leaders ourselves. What will you do today to commit to learning and building yourself into a higher-level leader? Whom can you ask to lead, coach and guide you to greater heights in leadership?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.