Your church/business/organization is a reflection of the person/people that they are following.
"You said that twice, Ioannis."
I can't say it enough. In fact - STOP! Reread that sentence at least two more times… because in it is the human answer to almost every problem that you have in your church.
“Ioannis, my church/business/organization is NOTHING like me.”
Then, you are either totally out of touch with who you really are, or you are totally correct.
"Wait, you are conceding that I may be totally correct?”
Yes. And it wouldn't be a good thing AT ALL.
Just because you have the title of a leader doesn’t mean that anyone is actually following you. (If that does happen to be you, finish reading this post and then click here for a little more on what to do when no one is following you). I have seen many leaders whose people only tolerate their presence; but certainly not follow them. In fact, I have seen good people have to endure leaders that repeatedly function in bad, and even destructive, ways. In fact, I will bet you have seen that too.
“Are you trying to beat me up, Ioannis?”
No. I am trying to give you a stark truth encounter… because truth sets you free. You have so much power and authority at your disposal to bring about such incredible change in the lives of all those around you. But you have to step into truth to access that power and authority, starting with the changes that need to happen in you.
In fact, that is the major point of this post. You have the authority and power to drive change. If you didn’t, the Lord would have moved you on by now. But again, you have to step into that authority and power, in a healthy way, before the changes that you desire will begin to happen.
“How do I step into authority and power in a healthy way?”
Truly submit your heart to the Lord and open yourself fully to Him, allowing Him to take you to the places in your soul that you don’t want to go, but where He does want to go... owning the things that the Lord wants to change in you, including reaching out for help when and where you need it.
“WHAT? Why does it have to start with me?”
Because you are the leader. It always starts with the leader! In fact, that is a central message of the Bible. It all started with Jesus and His many examples to us. He led the way in all things, even into death. And so, you lead your people best by following Him, including starting deep changes within you.
Ready to start the change process right now?
Let me give you this short evaluation framework (answer these questions in written form):
1. Where is my church/business/organization at? (Organization moving forward.)
a. You need to be BRUTALLY honest answering this question. And you need to answer it in great detail. And list out ALL of the unsolved problems.
2. Where is the Lord calling my organization to go?
a. If you have a built vision statement(s), this is a great time to prayerfully re-evaluate it.
3. What are ALL of the roadblocks to my organization arriving at the destination above?
a. Don’t leave any roadblock out, no matter how big or small.
4. What have I done (or not done), that reinforces those roadblocks?
a. Prayerfully and slowly work through answering this question with the Lord.
5. What happened in my organization that is NOT on me, but reinforced those roadblocks?
a. Prayerfully and slowly work through answering this question with the Lord.
6. Describe your time with Jesus.
a. Prayer - Bible - Worship - etc. - Frequency - Length - Potency.
7. What changes do I need to make, to lead healthy change in my organization?
(All of the other questions are really lead-ins to help you accurately answer that last question. That last question is the most important!)
Then, once you are done with this exercise, set it aside for two days. Don't look at it at all. These two days would be a GREAT time to listen/read more about healthy leadership here: Articles and Podcasts)
Then, in a prayerful place two days later, return to what you wrote and prayerfully work through it again with the Lord. Let Him guide you and speak to you through what you wrote. (At this point, if you know you would like our help to begin to make these changes, click here: Transformational Coaching Contact Page)
Why should you do the exercise above?
Because you need help diagnosing the core problems and challenges that your organization faces, how you play into them, and how to solve them starting with you first.
"What? Ioannis, I don't need help with this!"
No? If you didn't need help with this, your organization would be a problem-solving machine... because you would be leading them as a problem-solving machine. Instead, your organization is functioning more like it keeps repeatedly ingesting poison. Why? Because your organization is repeatedly ingesting poison. Look, almost every great treatment will actually cause your body harm if the disease is misdiagnosed. In other words, your treatments for problems in your organization either cure the problem, or because of misdiagnosis, are actually poisoning your organization as you all continue to struggle through the original problem(s).
(Pastors, you can click here to listen to Ioannis dive deeper into the subject of properly diagnosing church health: https://www.gratsllc.com/post/diagnosing-church-health. And this article of ours should also help: https://www.gratsllc.com/post/focusing-on-growing-your-church-is-probably-why-you-aren-t-growing-his-church)
Ok, once you have the problem(s) diagnosed, begin to prayerfully work through with Jesus what the best treatment(s) is. (Building a treatment plan may need to include ministry/business coaching. Click here to reach out to us if it does: Transformational Coaching Contact Page.)
And then once a treatment plan has been built, be accountable to fearlessly implement that plan in full. (Implementing the treatment plan may need to include ministry/business coaching. Click here to reach out to us if it does: Transformational Coaching Contact Page.)
Choose wisely the people who will help you build/administer your treatment plan.
You wouldn't want a brand-new surgeon doing open heart surgery on you.
You wouldn't try doing open heart surgery on yourself.
You wouldn't choose a surgeon who has only lost 40% of their patients.
Final Thoughts:
There are two types of leaders who fail to make healthy change in their organization:
1. The leaders who skip, minimize, fight against, and/or rebel against walking fully through this process.
2. The leaders who know that they need assistance through this process (whether all or part of it), but don’t reach out to get that assistance.
Are you ready to make the necessary changes and want help? Click here to let us know: Transformational Coaching Contact Page.
"Ioannis, do I have to be a Christian to make some of these leadership changes or to do coaching with you/Grats?"
No. But you now understand more of what coaching with us will be like. We won't hold back truth.
On that note, though you don't need to be a Christian to make some of these changes or to coach with us, your soul does need to accept that:
Jesus is real.
He is God and created all things, including you. He created us to have deep, intimate relationship with us.
He also has a standard of conduct.
All humans have sinned and broken that standard of conduct. As a result, we are not in right standing, nor are we in relationship with Him.
We can't earn our way back to right standing (nor relationship) with Him, AND the penalty for not being in right standing with Him is REALLY bad.
Knowing all of this, Jesus himself came to Earth as a man and displayed His great love for us by taking our punishment upon himself. Now right standing and relationship with Him are gifts that He freely gives us!
If we believe that this is all true (which it is), then we need only to accept this free gift and begin to open ourselves again to relationship to Him. (I usually recommend people get a Bible and begin reading in Luke as a starting point to their relationship with Him.)
Are you ready to accept His gift? If so, click here to let us know: Transformational Coaching Contact Page. (I know it is the coaching contact page. No worries. In the message portion at the bottom of the contact page, just let us know that you are contacting us because you are ready to accept Him and His free gift.)
Whatever you choose, I bless you in Jesus' name.
Ioannis
PS – For some of you reading this, you know that some translations of the Bible in Matthew 23, talk about not calling anyone but Jesus your leader. Other translations say master, instructor, and teacher. I hesitantly use the word leader in this post because that is what most people understand. But let me take a moment to biblically define that. The point is, you as the person that God has called to care for His people (tend His sheep), should be pointing those sheep towards Him. Sometimes you do that verbally. Sometimes you do that by example, by the life that you live. Sometimes you do that by being Him extended. In all things, point them towards Him. This is what we are calling leadership, because it is the word that most people know and use.
PPS – No, I did not write this with any one person in mind. I wrote this about what I have seen over my many years of coaching.
PPPS - Still not sure about Transformational Ministry Coaching - read this article about its purpose and then read this testimonial from a former pastoral client.