Monthly Archives: December 2016

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Celebrating the Christ of Christmas

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IMAG0206As you celebrate this Christmas let’s not forget the reason for this season of celebration: it is God with us. God became flesh, reaching us with His love, mercy, and grace. It is very easy to get caught up with all of the cultural trappings and commercialism, and miss the real meaning of Christmas.

Hanging the lights, decorating, shopping, giving and receiving of gifts and all the goodies to eat is certainly part of Christmas celebrations in North America. But these are not the reason for Christmas; the Lord Jesus Christ is. If we are not careful, we could celebrate Christ’s birth without Him being present.

How can we make sure we celebrate Jesus?

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Two Words to Help Leaders Succeed

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We frequently hear about the many requirements for being a successful leader. Characteristics such as gifts, talents, and personality are often highlighted. Many books have been written with the intention of guiding leaders and potential leaders in developing these aspects of their lives so that they can succeed as a leader.

A leader could be at the top of her game in gifts, talents, and personality, yet still not succeed. We are familiar with the leader who is smart, motivated and talented but seems unable succeed. For many such leaders, the missing element consists of just two words: THANK YOU!

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Deposits before Withdrawals

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Females talkingOne thing you know about having a checking account is that before you can make withdrawals, you must make deposits. Sometimes you may make a withdrawal for more than you have in the account and with most banks, rather than refuse to honor the withdrawal they will charge you a fee for exceeding the amount in the account. Other banks will refuse to allow you to exceed your balance.

This same concept may be applied to your role as a leader. Leaders who lead well are aware of these principles at work in the relationship with those they are leading.

They know that getting followers to support them and help achieve the goals of the organization, they must first invest in relationships, especially with those she/he works most closely.

Here are some ways you can make deposits into the relationships with those you lead, so they will trust and follow you.

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Qualities of Thermostat Leader

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Business team listening to his leader with emphasis on a problem

Business team listens to suggestions for solving a problem.

Last week we talked about the difference between a thermostat and thermometer. A thermometer merely reflects the temperature while a thermostat can both read the temperature and adjust it. The concepts of how they work can be used to describe the way some leaders lead. Effective leaders would be thermostat leaders who can read and set the temperature of the organization rather than thermometer leaders who only read the environment but do not change it.

This week, let us look at the qualities that a leader should have to be a thermostat leader.