Josh Levitt left a comment on “How To Get An Interview” that lead me to write this post.
I do a lot of speaking to around the country on both our financial message and our business message. When speaking on the financial message, many times I will get someone who comes up to me to tell me that they can’t get their pastor involved.
They say that they’ve tried everything they could think of but the pastor just won’t budge. It’s not because they’re against it, they just don’t think they need to be a part of it. They have people running it and it’s not necessary for them to get involved. Or, they feel they’re just too busy.
When they ask what should they do, I always answer the same way. In Josh’s comment, he had the same great idea:
“…I used a similar approach to help get some leaders at our church “on board” with Financial Peace University. It’s been a little bit of a struggle to get leadership support. Even though we’ve had FPU for about two years now, there is little promotion allowed and never any mention from stage on Sunday. The church is somewhat typical in the fact that we don’t like to talk about money often.
My wife and I decided to give our leadership team and their spouse tickets to the Live Event a few weeks ago (KC). It got their attention. They loved the event, and I anticipate that it will lead to more support of FPU.”
If a Live Event isn’t a possibility, I tell them to get into a FPU class. Either way, as you can see with Josh’s comment, they will be on fire for helping their people get the help they need. The problem is, you gotta get them there. Leadership MUST be involved! It’s the same with any initiative that you are trying to accomplish where you are. If leadership isn’t behind it completely, it will fail.
Why? There’s a certain amount of energy that leaders bring that the team feeds off of. When it’s there, things just get done! People get involved! A pastor in Florida had 400 families signed up for FPU. He got up that Sunday and announced he and his wife would be taking the class, 1000 people signed up that day!
When a team is trying to complete a project, but there’s no energy from leadership, it falls to the wayside. Why? Because it appears that nobody really cares if it happens or not. And the worst stance a leader can take is the, “I’m delegating that, so I’m going to leave them alone to accomplish it.” Seriously?! That’s your plan? It will fail. You have to at least inspect what you expect. And if you’re not there to make sure that person is being successful, then you can’t be surprised when they’re not.
As a leader, realize that your team operates off of your energy. Get in there and make it happen! Ask what they need from you. Ask if they have all the information they need. And ask if there’s anything you can do to make them successful.
Resources:
“If a Live Event isn’t a possibility,” there’s always simulcast.
Question: how do you help a client who doesn’t want to lead? who doesn’t want to handle problems of their own staff? who appreciates your help, but doesn’t want to “get involved”? how do you effectively help when they lack the desire to be a leader? how do you show them in a nice way what is missing?