Don't Handcuff Your Brain or Heart!
Mark Cuban invests three hours every day—not in shooting hoops with his Dallas Mavericks, not in sizing up Shark Tank deals, and not in other typical entrepreneurial endeavors—
but in reading! According to
Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t (
read my review), the most important routine/habit you can develop is reading.
And John Baillie (1886–1960) shares this wisdom in
A Diary of Private Prayer (31 morning prayers and 31 evening prayers):
“Leave me not, O gracious Presence, in such hours as I may today devote to the reading of books or of newspapers. Guide my mind to choose the right books and, having chosen them, to read them in the right way. When I read for profit, grant that all I read may lead me nearer to Thyself. When I read for recreation, grant that what I read may not lead away from Thee. Let all my reading so refresh my mind that I may the more eagerly seek after whatsoever things are pure and fair and true.”So…this issue encourages you to keep reading—to keep “refreshing” your mind by reading; to honor God in your reading. And so here’s a StrengthsFinder niche book that you might have missed, written by the father of the strengths movement and two others:
Living Your Strengths: Discover Your God-Given Talents and Inspire Your Community, by Albert L. Winseman, Donald O. Clifton, and Curt Liesveld
“Our coauthor, Don Clifton [1924-2003], was always fond of saying that each person can do something better than 10,000 other people. The key is for individuals to discover what that something is, and then do it.” Winseman and Liesveld add, “
Indeed, developing our talents into strengths requires risk. We must step out, try new things, or take a chance by doing something we may fail at—at first. But if we do not take some risks—emotionally, physically, and spiritually—we will never grow. God expects no less from us and from the Church.”
How’s this for a “before and after” testimonial from a church board member?“After serving almost four years on the church board, I had yet to fully know or understand those with whom I was working. The extent of our personal knowledge about one another went little beyond being asked to ‘share your favorite movie.’
“At the initiation of a new church board chair and a new executive pastor, we underwent strengths coaching, both individual and team. Everyone engaged in the process, and I learned more about my teammates in one evening than in all my previous years on the board.
It was the most meaningful and significant times we’ve spent together.”
If you work or volunteer in a faith-based organization, you will deeply appreciate how
Living Your Strengths integrates the StrengthsFinder assessment with biblical insights. Example: my Top-5 strengths according to the Gallup assessment are: Focus, Responsibility, Significance, Belief, and Maximizer. So
Living Your Strengths suggests three Scriptures that relate to the Focus theme:
• Luke 9:51 (“…he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”)
• Philippians 3:12-14 (“…I press on toward the goal…”)
• Hebrews 12:1-2 (“…let us lay aside every weight…”)
Similar to the other StrengthsFinder books,
Living Your Strengths includes two- and three-page summaries of all 34 talent themes—plus Scriptures for each theme. The book also includes chapters on “The Power of the Right Fit,” “Creating Strengths-Based Congregations,” and “Discovering a Calling.” Each book also includes one unique access code to the Clifton StrengthsFinder online assessment.
I
f you’re leading a team of staff or volunteers in a faith-based ministry or church—and blindly leading without understanding strengths—you have handcuffed half your brain and half your heart. Delegate your reading today and invite a team member to check this out.
To order from Amazon, click on the title for
Living Your Strengths: Discover Your God-Given Talents and Inspire Your Community, by Albert L. Winseman, Donald O. Clifton, and Curt Liesveld.
Read more abut strengths in my book,
Mastering 100 Must-Read Books, or order Strengths Based Leadership from Amazon.
Click here to order
StrengthsFinder 2.0, from Gallup and Tom Rath (Discover Your CliftonStrengths).
Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) Why strengths? The authors of Strengths Based Leadership write, “The odds of an employee being engaged are a dismal one in 11 (9%). But when an organization’s leadership focuses on the strengths of its employees, the odds soar to almost three in four (73%).” What’s our level of staff (or volunteer) engagement here?
2) Rath and Conchie note that “While the best leaders are not well-rounded, the best teams are.” Here’s a Starbucks card for the first person who shares how a team member has helped you leverage your strengths recently (which requires, of course—that both of you know your strengths!).
Visualize Your Strengths!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook (2nd Edition with 17% Fewer Typos!)
The Team Bucket chapter in Mastering the Management Buckets encourages you to “laminate your strengths” with wallet-size cards listing your Top-5 strengths from the StrengthsFinder assessment.
High performing teams go one step further: tent cards. My son, Jason, the creative guru at Pearpod Media, loves working with clients that leverage and visualize their strengths by bringing their strengths tent cards to every meeting. Try it!
In addition to strengths, learn how to leverage the four social styles when communicating with your team (and with your customers). Check out the 57-page eBook on ministry branding, by Jason Pearson.
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