Posts Tagged team
Creating Margin in your Leadership
Posted by Dr. Bill Donahue in Business, community, Group Life, Leadership on May 17, 2013
Carving out space for refreshment and renewal is essential for lasting leadership. Here is a great way to monitor your life and create space in your schedule.
Creating Margin in your Leadership – Transcribed
Are You Ready for Shared Leadership?
Posted by Dr. Bill Donahue in Business, community, Leadership on May 16, 2013
I am a proponent of a flatter leadership culture. I believe in teamwork, shared responsibility, very little hierarchy and a more collaborative approach. Not only does it work – it works better. While a number of leadership “gurus” continue to act and teach like the Big Dog Leader model is a given (most then are well over age 50), a rising groundswell of leaders are opting out of the model. They are dropping like flies from organizations that thrive on hierarchy and the Command and Control model espoused at most Leadership Conferences.
So I am thrilled to see the changes that are coming. But here’s the question…
Are we – are YOU — ready for shared leadership?
Here are a few things that shared leadership implies. And you might have a few more so join the conversation.
1) Shared leadership means shared blame. Ok, I know that you intellectually agree, but are you willing to take your share of the heat when things get hot? Or even more than your share? When I coach organizations building a flatter leadership structure, the “underlings” are thrilled to be handed an oar or two, to row with the crew. But I wonder if they are just as willing to grab a bucket when the boat takes on water in the storm? Are you willing to take the criticism, the blame for the loss or the downturn, or be confronted about the misfire?
2) Shared leadership means deeper communication more often. The more people involved in a process the more talking you need to do. That might mean more emails, more updates, more quick “check-in” meetings like Lencioni advocates in Death by Meeting. You ready for that?
3) Shared Leadership means longer decision-making. I think this is generally good, but it takes some getting used to. I would advocate that, in the long run, you get better decisions and have less “clean up” to do when the solo leader goes rogue and makes a lousy hire or a bad decision “from the gut” (which is often code for “Let’s do it my way because I’m always right and I am in control). But decisions by a team take longer than solo leadership decisions.
4) Shared Leadership means giving in and sometimes giving up. Of course, “real leaders” NEVER give up. Mandela is a great one to speak to this. In his book “Mandela’s Way” he has a chapter entitled, “Leading from the Back.” You need to read it. It comes after “Leading from the Front” so he is not opposed to being our front at times. But a willingness to step back and let other leaders have their way is an art that requires patience, trust and humility – a quality lacking in many “Big Dog” leaders. Are you ready to play second fiddle…or no fiddle at all?
5) Share Leadership means shared success. Are you ready to share the glory, the rewards, the perks, the status symbols, and the “corner” office(s)? Many are not. If you have worked in a place where many people work longer and harder than the “point leader” but they get the special trips, income, organizational resources, power, freedom, vacation time, public recognition, and “benefit of the doubt” when stuff goes wrong, you know how that feels. It is a real demoralizing situation, especially when they pretend to be “a leader among equals” which again is code for “let’s share the problems but I get the goodies.” So are you willing to share the goodies equally among the leadership team? Even bonuses, and other rewards? We’ll see.
Shared leadership is more than an ideal. It is a commitment to becoming a real community of leaders with mutual accountability, vision, goals, trust, responsibility, blame and rewards.
It takes work, but it is really worth it. The team is stronger, the cause is more compelling, the results last longer and the process of “leadership succession” is virtually seamless, because there is no “mega-leader” to replace with another one. Instead, the team grows, changes, and new leaders are added as others move on. It is driven by much more than a person.
Are you ready for that?
Leadership Transitions – 4 Realities to Navigate
Posted by Dr. Bill Donahue in Business, Leadership on March 15, 2013
I’d like to talk to you today about leadership transitions.
Leadership Transitions – 4 Realities to Navigate - Transcribed
I’d like to talk to you today about leadership transitions. Even as I speak three major ones have taken place in my world and in our world even in the last two weeks. We have had a president of our university announced his resignation, a transition that will be happening in leadership up here. The second one is a global and huge one and that is the election of a new pope which is a great and huge transition for the Roman Catholic Church. And finally, a friend of mine just moved from one nonprofit organization that’s quite substantive to leading an even larger global nonprofit organization and is in the process of that transition. Transitions happen and there are things that affect us, affect our teams, affect our groups, and affect our leadership. So I’ll make a few comments about this and then I’d like to do a little more writing and blogging about this over the perhaps weeks and months ahead from time to time because I think it’s such a huge and essential area to understand in your leadership.
First of all transitions our normal they occur in everyday life both in family and in relationships as well of course in organizations and institutions and that’s the first thing for leaders to do is name that reality that this transition is normal. It’s not odd it’s going to happen again at some point in time so let’s learn from it now. I’ve learned a lot from William Bridges in his book Transitions, Making Sense of Life’s Changes. Bridges advocates kind of a process through which transitions go and that sort of my second team it’s not just that they are normal, they have sort of a pattern to them and they have an ending, a period of uncertainty and a new beginning. That’s how Bridges describes it. There’s this sense of what is the ending how do we process that what is this transition time of awkwardness that he calls the neutral zone and then what about going into the future into the new beginning? Sometimes these things overlap sometimes there’s great distance between the ending and the new beginning. The point is to recognize that there’s a pattern to change and transitions. So let’s process ending’s well, do the relational work we need to do, make sure things are closed out, let’s not leave a lot of loose cannons. Make sure things are as best as we can leave them as we leave and not leave things in a mess, it’s really awkward in an organizational when a leader just takes off and leaves a mess behind. To have integrity in this is the process the ending well but also to live in the ambiguity of the uncertainty before the new fully gets functioning. It’s an awkward time so we need a name that reality as well.
Another thing about transitions is they can be highly emotional in an organization or relationship. That can create anger, frustration, sadness, disappointment and some people don’t understand why the leader is leaving even if it’s for great and legitimate reasons. Sometimes a leader leaves under darker circumstances that create a lot. Sometimes it’s a very positive change even for the leader but that’s emotional too even the joy and the enthusiasm can create some awkwardness. So it’s important for you to allow your people or people in the process to process the emotion, journal it down, create a meeting or retreat or environment to sort of get things off your chest. Don’t ignore the emotional components, don’t try to stuff all that, you’ll just simply create tension in the organization that you do not need.
And finally, when transitions are processed well they’re great times for personal growth and change even though it doesn’t feel that way in the moment. Those periods of ambiguity and frustration challenge our leadership. We are required to step forward. Just talked to a friend yesterday where a leader was leaving a small organization. His comment was, “Everyone in the organization has stepped up to a new level to make that organization work well until the next leader comes in. I think that’s healthy, we get new responsibilities we take new ownership. So if we process transitions well we can learn from them, grow in them and help our groups, our institutions, our teams function more effectively.
Even as I speak three major ones have taken place in my world and in our world even in the last two weeks. We have had a president of our university announced his resignation, a transition that will be happening in leadership up here. The second one is a global and huge one and that is the election of a new pope which is a great and huge transition for the Roman Catholic Church. And finally, a friend of mine just moved from one nonprofit organization that’s quite substantive to leading an even larger global nonprofit organization and is in the process of that transition. Transitions happen and there are things that affect us, affect our teams, affect our groups, and affect our leadership. So I’ll make a few comments about this and then I’d like to do a little more writing and blogging about this over the perhaps weeks and months ahead from time to time because I think it’s such a huge and essential area to understand in your leadership.
First of all transitions our normal they occur in everyday life both in family and in relationships as well of course in organizations and institutions and that’s the first thing for leaders to do is name that reality that this transition is normal. It’s not odd it’s going to happen again at some point in time so let’s learn from it now. I’ve learned a lot from William Bridges in his book Transitions, Making Sense of Life’s Changes. Bridges advocates kind of a process through which transitions go and that sort of my second team it’s not just that they are normal they have sort of a pattern to them and they have an ending, a period of uncertainty and a new beginning. That’s how Bridges describes it. There’s this sense of what is the ending how do we process that what is this transition time of awkwardness that he calls the neutral zone and then what about going into the future into the new beginning? Sometimes these things overlap sometimes there’s great distance between the ending and the new beginning. The point is to recognize that there’s a pattern to change and transitions. So let’s process ending’s well, do the relational work we need to do, make sure things are closed out, let’s not leave a lot of loose cannons. Make sure things are as best as we can leave them as we leave and not leave things in a mess, it’s really awkward in an organizational when a leader just takes off and leaves a mess behind. To have integrity in this is the process the ending well but also to live in the ambiguity of the uncertainty before the new fully gets functioning. It’s an awkward time so we need a name that reality as well.
Another thing about transitions is they can be highly emotional in an organization or relationship. That can create anger, frustration, sadness, disappointment and some people don’t understand why the leader is leaving even if it’s for great and legitimate reasons. Sometimes a leader leaves under darker circumstances that create a lot. Sometimes it’s a very positive change even for the leader but that’s emotional too even the joy and the enthusiasm can create some awkwardness. So it’s important for you to allow your people or people in the process to process the emotion, journal it down, create a meeting or retreat or environment to sort of get things off your chest. Don’t ignore the emotional components, don’t try to stuff all that, you’ll just simply create tension in the organization that you do not need.
And finally, when transitions are processed well they’re great times for personal growth and change even though it doesn’t feel that way in the moment. Those periods of ambiguity and frustration challenge our leadership. We are required to step forward. Just talked to a friend yesterday where a leader was leaving a small organization. His comment was, “Everyone in the organization has stepped up to a new level to make that organization work well until the next leader comes in. I think that’s healthy, we get new responsibilities we take new ownership. So if we process transitions well we can learn from them, grow in them and help our groups, our institutions, our teams function more effectively.
We would like to encourage your feedback as it helps us to identify the issues that are important to you. It also helps others who are searching to develop new creative ways of leading. Thank you in advance for your comments.
Expectation Management
Posted by Dr. Bill Donahue in Business, community, Group Life, Leadership on February 14, 2013
One of the challenges common to all leaders, I think, is in the area Expectation Management.
I mean we manage resources, we manage time, we manage energy, we do some self-management, we manage people. But one of the things I think we need to pay attention to is expectation management. Not every day is it that the expectations for us and others are put on the table in our organization or on our team, or our relationship with a supervisor or even someone were supervising and I think there’s a few things we need to get focused on around this.
Transcribed:
One of the challenges common to all leaders, I think, is in the area Expectation Management. I mean we manage resources, we manage time, we manage energy, we do some self-management, we manage people. But one of the things I think we need to pay attention to is expectation management. Not every day is it that the expectations for us and others are put on the table in our organization or on our team, or our relationship with a supervisor or even someone were supervising and I think there’s a few things we need to get focused on around this.
First is, are expectations clear? I’ve been in settings where probably like many of you sometimes that’s been true, sometimes it has not been true. I remember working in a banking situation I was new out of the sort of the training department, in commercial lending, and I was down on the lending floor, in a corporate area, new business development, meeting with my supervisor after being there six months. And he said, “Bill I’m kind of frustrated with you because I expected you to be … do more relationship building with CPAs and other financial professionals in the area.” Well I’d only been a year or so at college had just, you know, come through sort of the training program had done very well, but this was never talked about in the training program and those expectations were never placed on the by him. There were a lot of other things I was doing but no one ever told me to go out and have regular lunches with CPAs meet financial professionals in other areas within the city. So I didn’t know what the expectations were so naturally I didn’t meet them. So we had to get clear about that, it’s frustrating when you’re not clear.
The second thing is do the right people know who or do the right kinds of people know what the expectations are for you. Certainly your supervisor needs to know and you need to know, but sometimes there’s others in the organization that need to know. You don’t want to have the conversation with a key board member or a key senior leader who says, “By the way what you do around here?” Now maybe in a very large institution or organization that’s appropriate. But if it’s smaller or if you’re kind of a person that around the organization quite a bit and key people don’t know what you do, why you do it, how you contribute, that some things you need to work on because maybe they don’t know how you make them successful or help make the organization successful.
Another area and probably a final one is just how are the expectations managed or measured? In the sense of how do I know I’m meeting the expectations and when do I know? What kind of rubric is there, what kind of way to know that not just my job description but sort of those the subtle expectations about how I carry myself, how I am in the organization with new people things like that. I just recently had to have a meeting with someone and have kind of a heart to heart about how they carry themselves because they’re an emerging young leader and I wanted them to know that how they present themselves in public and how they engage with people in a public settings says a lot about their leadership, at least as a first impression. Now that’s not written in any documents somewhere but it was one of those things I thought hey that’s an expectation you need to know that’s for me but also from others that are looking at you as a rising young potential leader.
So expectation management .. key thing. Hope this helps you think a little bit more about it and to manage it more effectively with yourself, with others in your team, group or organization.
Do you and and those you lead know what is expected of them?
How can you manage the expectations others have for you and you have for your team?
We would like to encourage your feedback as it helps us to identify the issues that are important to you. It also helps others who are searching to develop new creative ways of leading. Thank you in advance for your comments.
Competitive VS Cooperative Groups or Teams
Posted by Dr. Bill Donahue in Group Life, Leadership, relationships on February 6, 2013
What is the environment like in your core groups or teams? You can make it function better if you understand the dynamics involved when members are more competitive than cooperative.
Transcription:
I do a lot of work helping organizations with their groups and teams. How they function together, how they work effectively, how people relate within them and I’ve been looking again at some work by Johnson and Johnson who wrote the book Joining Together, which the book is a lot about group theory, group communication, group skills in the context of groups and teams. They had a great section on whether or not the environment in a given group or teams is competitive or cooperative. Competitive versus cooperative and I think it’s a good distinction. They actually refer to some behavioral studies by Jack Gibb in nineteen sixty one who sort of unpacked this a little more. He said there’s a series of cooperative types of behavior, behavior and a series of competitive behaviors in groups and teams and he outlined six of them and puts them in contrast, I’ll touch them briefly. In the competitive environment people are more evaluative and in the cooperative environment more descriptive, in other words you get defensive in your behavior because you’re constantly evaluating others, evaluating ideas, you have the sense that you are right, and they are wrong, So you’re constantly scrutinizing verses describing what you see, describing an idea and letting others in the engaged in it. Competitive environments are more about control. Because I’m right, I want to control the conversation, I want to control the tactics and strategies versus having a problem orientation. A group that’s more cooperative says there’s a problem or issue let’s unpack it, let’s look at it, let’s look at a variety of opinions ideas, ways to solve it. The competitive group is strategically focused verses being open to any spontaneity at all. A cooperative group would have more of a sense of spontaneity and say okay let’s try that or let’s discuss that or let’s put that on the table and really wrestle with it. Versus saying, “No, I’ve got the strategy, it’s right, I know where I’m going, why do we need to brainstorm right now?” You may not say that publicly but team members who communicate bad are basically saying, “I’m right, you’re wrong, why are we having this discussion?” The competitive versus cooperative tension also comes out when we’re looking at neutrality verses empathy. Gibb says that neutrality is something that communicates indifference and indifference creates defensiveness in people in other words your acting like I don’t care, I don’t care how you feel, I don’t care what you think, I’m neutral, I’m placid, I’m calm, I’m straight faced, I show no empathy about you, your idea, your situation, or problem. Because of that it makes people defensive in groups make some posture that way and hold on to control, that kind of thing. Also says that some people in groups see themselves as superior to others verses as equals. See in the competitive environment we see ourselves as above others, and we’re trying to win, and we’re always right, we don’t see people on an equal plain as in the cooperative type group environment I think most teams should strive for. So the idea that my opinion is right, I’m better, I’m higher up the food chain, whatever it is, the sense of superiority starts to have a great impact on the group or team. And finally, they say there’s a comparison between centrality and uh… or I shouldn’t say centrality, it’s more spread out certainty, there’s a sense of certainty in the competitive environment. Again, I know, I had the answer, let’s move ahead with my idea. Versus the sense of what they call, and it’s kind of a more technical were provincia, provincialism in the sense of I can say, hmm that’s an interesting idea let’s talk about that I’m open, I have a point of view, but I’m open to discussion. So I’d ask you to ask your groups and teams, are they more focused on a competitive environment who wins he’s right, what ideas are supreme, who’s in charge, or is it a more cooperative environment where yes we recognize the differences in roles but we want to create an environment where there’s empathy, interaction, a sense of equality, a sense of engagement. How’s your team doing? How are your teams doing where you work? You might want to reflect on that today.
Small Group Advanced Training / Saddleback Church
Posted by Dr. Bill Donahue in Business, community, Group Life on January 23, 2013
Hey I am excited about heading out to Saddleback Church on the 24th for the day working with some point leaders and their teams on some Small Group Advanced Training. Helping them develop strategic plans around point leadership, their roll, the ministry strategy, how to connect people to groups, leader development of all the things that were looking for to build an effective transformational type of small group ministry, whether you’re using small groups or initial communities we basically take people to strategic planning process that helps you gear up and target for the year where you are headed in the next season of ministry.
And tagging on to that for a couple days I get to hang out with Dallas Willard was very small group of people talking about theology and economics and the global economy. It will be kind of fun to have my brain stretched by Dallas and spend time with him. So look forward to that!
If I can ever help your church with small group advanced training or you would like to host one, the HOST CHURCH IS FREE, we’ll pull some churches around you together and get some folks some help building their Small Group Ministry.
Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Dr. Bill Donahue – Small Group Training
Posted by Dr. Bill Donahue in Business, community, Group Life, Leadership, relationships, Vision on January 7, 2013
Join us at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Dr. Bill Donahue.
Small Group Advanced Training with Dr. Bill Donahue Based on Building a Life-Changing Small Group Ministry
Dr. Bill Donahue will be giving an in-depth workshop on Leading Your Small Group Ministry, and create a solid plan for group life in your church. Dr. Bill Donahue spent almost 20 years as the Director of Leader Development & Group Life for the Willow Creek Church & Association where he created leadership strategies and events for over 10,000 leaders on 6 continents in over 30 countries. Bill now spends his time teaching, speaking and writing on leadership essentials. His new release, Building a Life-Changing Small Group Ministry, paired with his other best selling resources Leading Life-Changing Small Groups, Coaching Life-Changing Small Group Leaders, and the DVD Series Equipping Life-Changing Leaders will develop leaders at every level in your church.
Click Image to see full size PDF
EVENT DETAILS
When: Thursday, January 24, 2013
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Host: Saddleback Church Rm 404
1 Saddleback Parkway
Lake Forest, CA 92630
Karen Fera 949-609-8136
Cost: $599 per church team(2 – 5 people), $699 up to 7people.
Bring strategic leaders from your group staff, core volunteers,
and key decision makers who will shape this ministry. Cost
includes lunch and a copy of Building A Life- Changing Small
Group Ministry.
To Register:
1. Email bill@drbilldonahue.com your church name, and
number of people attend- ing the event.
2. Mail check payable to:
LeaderSync Group, Inc.
35W528 Parsons Road
Dundee, IL 60118
Questions?
Email Bill@DrBillDonahue.com or call 847.642.6381
“Effective point leadership for a life-changing small group ministry requires positioning yourself for success and then doing the right things. That is what this training is all about — getting clarity about your leadership, your team, your direction, your strategy and your definition of success, so that group life flourishes, authentic community is established and lives are transformed to the image of Christ!” – Dr. Bill Donahue
(For more on Bill’s books, visit http:// drbilldonahue.com/books-resources/ )
The Voices of Leadership
Posted by Dr. Bill Donahue in Business, community, Group Life, Leadership, relationships, Vision on October 26, 2012
Great leaders are engaged listeners – but to whom?
To what voices should they pay heed?
Make no mistake…Voices matter! Here are a few that compete for your attention.
The Client’s Voice
Everyone who wants to be successful listens to the people in their target audience. What do they want? What do they need to be effective? How can you provide this? Should you provide it?
While the customer’s voice matters, don’t let it rule over you. I have seen too many businesses, schools and churches reshape everything they did because of a loud, clamoring customer base. In the process they compromised their identity, values and core mission. A smart leader knows what they do well – and what they DO NOT do well.
The Staff’s Voice
Your people matter. Employees, teams, top staff, core members of your non-profit, key volunteers in churches – each of them has a voice worth listening to. Many senior leaders are poor listeners here. But we have to change. We must discern the difference between a complaint and a concern; a creative idea and a series of random thoughts; between fear-filled hesitancy and legitimate warnings and cautions.
If you get these wrong, you will make bad decisions, curtail performance and likely alienate the staff. The staff needs a place to process, dialogue and engage. Top-down management structures that simply “communicate and delegate” tend to view resistance as rebellion, and caution as confrontation. You must not bow to these misinterpretations.
Listen to your staff and core volunteers, but do not fear leading them. This really can be a “both/and” venture.
The Owner’s Voice
If you are not at the top of the organization or if you have to please outside owners (shareholders, boards, large donors, founding pastors, business owners and – yikes – family members of business owners!), you have some listening to do. And you have to be wise and shrewd when engaging the conversation.
7 Myths About Effective Teams
Posted by Dr. Bill Donahue in Business, community, Group Life, Leadership, relationships on October 23, 2012
Great leaders build effective teams.
But if you look at the research about team effectiveness you’ll discover that your conventional wisdom and assumptions fall short. What makes a great team may buck the conventional wisdom and shatter false assumptions.
The following are 7 myths about effective teams.
1) Like-minded people make better team players.
As they say, you don’t get harmony when everyone is singing the same note. So it is with teams. Variety is the spice of teams, and the fuel that makes them run well. Group think and unanimity are the enemies of effective teams.
2) The leader should facilitate process but never take a position.
There is a difference between a leader and a facilitator. A facilitator seeks consensus; a leader expresses conviction. A facilitator guides the process; a leader moves people. Leaders must share their convictions and navigate decisions.
3) The best people produce the best results.
Not always. “Best” is a relative term – and you’d better make sure you know who your relatives are! Best at what? Negotiation, communication and researching the problem? Best at implementing a solution? Best in their field of expertise? Best when working alone, or at their best when working with others?
None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful. Mother Teresa
4) Conflicts between members will destroy the team.
This is true only if conflict is not navigated with respect, trust, listening, truth telling and patience. Processing a conflict with integrity will actually bond a team together. Teams that never fight, rarely win. Debate and appropriate confrontation – about relational breakdown and difficult organizational realities – strengthens high performance teams.
5) The most crucial factor in team success is having the right leader.
You have heard it often: “Speed of the leader, speed of the team.” Not always. Look at the Chicago Bears defense. Who is really the leader? If you say Urlacher, you are wrong. While his presence can be powerful, he admits the team often does not “need” him. And sometimes he is out with injuries. But they are the most effective team defense in the league. A great team is not one person or one thing – it is three “things.” Effective teams have a clear mission, focused outcomes, and shared processes that make members effective and interdependent. In such an environment a leader can walk away and the team will keep performing well.
6) When leading teams, remember that volunteers have limited time and should thus be given limited responsibilities.
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships. - Michael Jordan
Actually, because they have limited time to invest, volunteers want to deliver the most impact from the least input. No time to waste, no bureaucratic committees to deliberate with, no sitting around the water cooler for an extra hour after lunch. Just real, focused, honest engagement.
7) The key to an effective team is frequent interaction.
While frequent interaction can facilitate team progress and a sense of relationship, the quality and content of the interaction have more to do with success rather than having lots of meetings. Meeting with individuals on the team about certain parts of the project often gets more done. It does not follow that success is a direct by-product of mere interaction.
What other myths about teams do we need to debunk?
Does Your Team Have Motion Sickness?
Posted by Dr. Bill Donahue in Business, community, Group Life, Leadership, relationships on September 21, 2012
The closest I ever got to a POW camp experience was three-a-day practices in 95-degree heat and 90% humidity at a New Jersey football camp in 1974. After filing complaints about the dining hall at the camp, the Board of Health arrived and promptly condemned it. Unfortunately, we still had several days before returning home. Sleepless nights in mosquito-infested, humidity-drenched cabins, rancid food and scorching days on the field made us desperate for relief. We needed to cancel practice and get the coaches’ attention. But how?
Motion sickness—the perfect illness. Jack was the first to “get it.” It spread faster than the black plague and players were dropping from the practice field like paratroopers on D-Day. Short of an all-out mutiny it was a last ditch effort to prove that we were not just complaining—we were coming apart at the seams. The combined effect of bad food, record heat and sleep deprivation were taking a heavy physical and psychological toll.
It worked. The rapid spread of motion sickness brought everything to a standstill. Someone was sent to buy real food, practices were shortened and we started doing to two-a-days. We made it through, but it took weeks to return to full strength. (The average weight loss was 11 pounds and upon retuning home scores of guys needed treatment for maladies primarily involving the digestive system. You fill in the details.)
Sometimes I wonder if leadership teams and groups suffer from a kind of motion sickness. And I wonder if it is contagious. Whatever the cause, it strikes quickly and soon reaches epidemic proportions. Willing volunteers in non-profits and hard-working employees soon feel overworked and undervalued, and start heading to the sidelines in droves. Too much change; too much action; too much motion.
They say they are dropping out, sitting down or stepping back because of work commitments, family obligations or personal needs. Sick days increase, volunteers call in with “I have a conflict and cannot make it today” and soon the organization loses momentum. Perhaps they have legitimate challenges, but maybe it’s an infectious strain of motion sickness. There’s just too much activity; too many events; too many requests. And not much soul care or support from supervisors and leaders. When this happens passion is lost, hearts shrivel and the work falters. Scary stuff.
The cure? Rhythms. It is simple but hard to maintain, especially in the fall when it seems everything is launching. Rest, space, reflection, variety and fun are all needed in the mix. But you have to fight for it or soon you will be dizzy, nauseas and headed for the locker room.
Carve out the rhythm now—while you have perspective. Cool off for a few minutes. And then head back onto the field refreshed and ready to move forward. It’s a winning formula.
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