Tag: leadership

think long-term

Three reasons you need to think long-term

It’s hard to think long-term

There are more variables to consider, more players to factor in, and more potential for things to go in different directions as your team moves forward. Not to mention, if you commit to a long-term strategy, you might block yourself out of a future option that has not yet opened up on your radar.

But just like someone has to manage the big picture in your organization, someone has to think about the long-term plans and goals for your team.

think long-term

Why you need to think long-term, even though it’s hard

1. The urgent will always overpower the important in the short-term. What you see in front of you will clamor for your attention to be accomplished and completed quickly before the impending deadline at the end of the week, or worse, the end of the day. Important things take time and will usually become urgent only when it’s too late to do them well.

2. Three hundred and sixty five days lived one at a time will result in the accomplishment of very little. A year long-term goal set, established, and chopped into 12, 100, or even 365 pieces will be much more likely completed.

3. If you establish a larger focus, small decisions are more easily made. When I know that my kids are more important than material success, I don’t even have to think about whether I take one more client meeting and miss my kids soccer game. Think long-term about your priorities and goals for life.

Think even longer-term

A friend shared with me this quote from Bill Gates that I thought encapsulated this perfectly:

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

Long-term isn’t just a year versus a day. It’s a decade versus a year. It’s an eighty year lifetime versus a decade. It’s thinking generations rather than just for your own lifetime.

 

Three leadership questions

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As a leader, asking questions is a valuable way to steer your team or a specific individual forward. Even though these seem fairly simple, these leadership questions can help you bring a diagnosis (if necessary) or identify potential solutions.

1. What’s the bottom line? When you are navigating a situation or challenge, it’s easy to get caught up in all the details and chaos associated with it. Try to think through it to identify the root of the issue. Then you can work on that. Don’t waste energy working on subsidiary problems.

2. What’s the question here? Team members often bring me an extended summary of a particular matter with multiple levels of challenge or concern to be navigated. Identifying the main question will make it easier to weigh it out and provide direction.

3. What’s the next step? Every journey to a destination begins with a single step. Rather than getting caught up in thinking through a whole project, I find it helpful when there are multiple projects swirling around to identify the next step in each. Then I decide which of these steps I can take now and how to begin moving forward. Maybe a simple phone call or email would move the ball “down the field”.

Any useful questions that you have identified in your leadership?

Wisdom from the ant and other unlikely sources

I sometimes regard myself as a “wisdom junkie”. I try to pickup principles and insights in all kinds of circumstances and situations. I pray often for God to give me wisdom for the matters which He brings across my plate. So when I come across a Scripture that calls attention to things that are “exceedingly wise”, I take special note. Proverbs 30:24-28 describes four things in this way; here’s a rundown, plus my top takeaway from each.

  1. Ants who gather food in summer – Planning in times of plenty will pay off in times of lack.
  2. Badgers who make their homes in rocks – Choose your base of operations wisely; it will protect you from challenges in the future.
  3. Locusts go out in ranks, with no leader – A crowd of wise people can organize itself around a goal, even without someone being in charge.
  4. Lizard can be caught by the hand, but makes it’s home in king’s palaces – Even if something is a weakness, you can use it to your advantage and engage it as a strength, as the lizard does with his size.
I could delve deeper into each of these principles another time, but if you’re interested, here’s a quick suggestion I wrote for a new way to try planning for a coming season. To learn from the ant, try this exercise with a focus on resources. What resources are you currently enjoying plenty, that you should potentially prepare for a season to come when they may not be available? Money, staff, volunteers, etc. – all could change in the future. How should you plan to be ready if they did?