Moving into the next Catalyst Lab session, I have the opportunity to hear Jeff Henderson speak on leading from the land of possibilities. Jeff has quite the resume in this area.
He is the lead pastor of Gwinnett Church, the most recent multi-site location of North Point Ministries. He’s also spent time as the lead pastor of Buckhead Church and has 21 years experience in marketing working with the Atlanta Braves, Callaway Gardens Resorts, Lake Lanier Islands Resorts, and (my favorite) Chick-fil-a.
Leading From The Land Of Possibilities
Whenever you launch a business or organization, launch day is a big day. It’s exciting and possibilities are endless.
During the launch of the new multi-site church, Jeff pitched the idea of having Morgan Freeman narrate the video for their launch video.
The pushback from people was strong. Few people thought they could get in touch with Morgan Freeman. But Jeff pushed forward. After all, we’re all separated from Kevin Bacon by 6 people.
And so the pursuit began…
In the process, they were able to track down Morgan Freeman’s relative. This gave them hope.
How To Live In The Land Of Possibility
What’s the reflection of your leadership? Do you see the possibilities of what can be done?
Let’s begin putting ourselves into a place of awakening the wonder.
Leaders need to own a space in the land of possibility and lease a space in the land of reality
Advancing leaders display a confident humility – We all labor. But how are we laboring?
Are we willing to let God do His work through us? This is how we display a confident humility.
Take the organization to high places while you are taking the low places
Take the opportunity to push someone higher while taking yourself lower. This could look like:
Taking the back of the plane and giving up your first class seat
Cleaning the toilets
Praising others publicly
Ask yourself: Who are you building up? Who are you helping? Who are you believing in?
Someday your platform will go away.
Advancing leaders are persistently resilient – Is it working? Is a good question to ask. It’s also an incredibly dangerous question.
This seems like a contradiction but dig deeper.
Asking Is it working? begins to create a sense of fear. People become defensive and frustrated when they hear this.
Ask another question 2 times more than this question…
What are we learning?
This creates a different culture. When we ask what people are learning, it allows them to live in a land of possibility.
At Coca-Cola, they experiment for 3 months. Then, they pull back and take a look at the project.
From there, they’re able to ask what is working and what are they learning.
A good rule of thumb is to Just try it for a little bit.
If it doesn’t work, kill it or change it. It’s okay to shift while being resilient.
It might not work but you’re going to learn something in the process.
Advancing leaders have courage – It’s easy to live in the land of reality. When you do, people rarely challenge you.
However, when you begin living in the land of possibilities, people begin to question you.
They see your crazy ideas and tell you it can’t be done. They’ll tell you that you failed because you were living in the wrong world.
It takes courage to live in a world where things can happen. It’s possible, but you face opposition.
Face it with confidence!
Most good ideas are stupid at first.
What You Can Do Deliver A Great Experience
Deliver WOW through service – Be an organization that makes the whole experience a WOW. Blow people away.
You do this by thinking of everyone throughout the business.
Gwinnett Church does this by thinking of the parents of kids attending the church. They’ll take the kids on a wagon ride and make the kids comfortable.
It’s all about being intentional.
Create fun – By making things fun, you bring about a joy in the work you do. And that’s important.
Fun brings about an experience people won’t forget.
Leave a lasting impression – Find someone’s name in a non-freaky way. You need to do this in a non-freaky way.
Do this by introducing yourself and having them reciprocate with theirs.
I mean, who doesn’t love hearing their name? When you’re able to recall the names of the people you serve, you create an impression.
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