By Carey Nieuwhof: Just when you thought the world couldn’t get any more turbulent or surprising, the opening moments of 2021 still have everyone trying to catch their breath.

So what are the leadership trends you should be tracking in 2021?

For years I’ve done a series of church trends posts. You can read the 2021 Disruptive Church Trends post here (along with backlinks to the trends series over the last five years). While those trends are aimed at church leaders, the implications are broader than that.

Last year, I added a more general Leadership Trends post, focusing on a broader swath of issues facing all leaders, business, entrepreneurs, non-profit, professional—essentially all of us who lead.

5 Disruptive Leadership Trends That Will Rule 2020

Despite the insanity that became 2020, those trends outlined in January of 2020 continue to play out right into today.

Which leads us to 2021.

In all likelihood, this year will take us into the post-pandemic world. It won’t be the light switch you hope for (and suddenly, we’re all back!). Instead, it will be a gradual emergence into whatever our normalized future looks like. But at some point in 2021 you’ll look back and realize most of the pandemic is behind you and the future is ahead of you.

The question is, what kind of new reality will emerge? What should you expect as a leader?

So, in the hopes of helping every leader lead more effectively, here are seven disruptive trends every leader needs to watch in 2021.

1. Super-High Turnover (Far More People Than Usual Will Quit, Move and Leave)

As hard as this is to hear, every leader should brace themselves for higher than usual turnover in the next twelve months.

In 2021, far more people—staff, volunteers, team members, and tribe—will quit, move and leave than typical. There’s a lot of lag in the system, and more options than ever as the world reopens.

This is a short term trend, but a real one. Some of the turnover will be natural and healthy. Some of it won’t be.

In 2021, far more people—staff, volunteers, team members, and tribe—will quit, move and leave than typical. There’s a lot of lag in the system, and more options than ever as the world reopens.

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I discussed this trend with the CEO of a staffing search firm who said that some of it is due to a storm surge in the system. Very few people moved or quit in 2020 given what was going on. (If you want more, check out Episode 382 of my Leadership Podcast with William Vanderbloemen.)

As the post-pandemic world emerges, many employees will rethink their future—from what they want to do,  what they want their life to look like and where they want to live (witness the exit from NYC, California and other major cities/states).

In addition, in light of the stress levels, many leaders who were contemplating retirement or succession may end up accelerating the time line.

The point in all this is both to nurture your current team (especially your top people) and to prepare.

If you value your team, now’s the time to let them know and the time to show them you’d love to keep them.

Also, be sure to read to Trend  5. In 2021, the good news for employers and employees is that changing cities doesn’t have to involve changing jobs.

In 2021, the good news for employers and employees is that changing cities doesn’t have to involve changing jobs.

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2. Nothing and No One Will Quite Go Back to Normal

They say it takes 21 days (or 66 days, depending on who you read) to form a habit.

The pandemic will easily pass 365 days before its resolved. That means a lot of new habits have been formed.

Think about how much your patterns have shifted in the last year. From work, to schooling, to shopping and eating habits, to travel and vacationing, to how you entertain yourself and your family, to your work out routine—so much has shifted.

Personally, as a public speaker who was flying over 100,000 miles a year leading into the pandemic, I’ve decided not to be on the road as much in the future.  It’s better for me, my company and the people I love.

Multiply the new and shifted habits by millions of people and you’ll quickly realize that normal has changed a lot in the last year.

That said, many leaders are still counting on things ‘going back to normal’ in the post-pandemic era and they’ve aligned their strategy around it.

Going back to normal only works if normal still exists. And leaders, normal as you knew it, appears to have died.

Going back to normal only works if normal still exists. And leaders, normal as you knew it appears to have died.

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That’s because crisis is an accelerator.

Trends that might have taken years to materialize have embedded themselves more permanently in the last year (like, for example, the remote work, take out, delivery and drive-thru in the food industry, or the much deeper adoption of online shopping).

As much as you may wish that weren’t true (depending on your industry), ignoring it, arguing against it, pretending it’s not happening and arguing it shouldn’t be the case will not reverse it.

For sure, there will be some snap back (I’d love to go to a concert too and sit on a beach somewhere warm).

The world we left in 2019 has morphed into something new and different in 2021 and beyond.

Denial is not a strategy (or at least not a very good one).

The world we left in 2019 has morphed into something new and different in 2021 and beyond. Denial is not a strategy (or at least not a very good one).

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3. Loyalties Will Shift…Significantly

When everything’s changing, people change.

As a result, when culture moves into the post-pandemic era and the dust settles enough to see clearly, leaders will realize people’s loyalties have shifted— in some cases, dramatically.

In light of Trend #2, the question the becomes how many of your existing clients, customers or congregation will still be with you in the post-pandemic era?

For most leaders, it’s been almost impossible to track who your customers are, who you’ve gained and who you’ve lost.

You see overall numbers, but knowing exactly who those people are can be challenging.

When things normalize, you’ll get a much clearer picture or who has left, who’s still here and who you’ve picked up.

When everything’s changing, people change. As a result, when culture moves into the post-pandemic era and the dust settles enough to see clearly, leaders will realize people’s loyalties have shifted— in some cases, dramatically.

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It’s obvious that if you’ve grown, you have new people on board in 2021. But even if the last year has been a flat or declining year for you, there will in all likelihood be people who came for the first time who are now part of what you’re doing.

Naturally, you may want to focus on who you’ve lost and try to bring them back. That’s worth a bit of time and energy.  But it’s important to remember, they left for a reason…and multiple attempts on your part might feel desperate and end up being futile.

It’s probably wiser to focus the majority of your time, energy and resources nurturing the people you’ve kept and the people you’ve picked up.

People who are on mission with you will create a better future that people people who are off-mission or have left the mission.

People who are on mission with you will create a better future that people people who are off-mission or have left the mission.

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4. Home Will Emerge As The New Hub

As much as people are longing to get out of their homes and back into culture, the home will never be quite what it was before COVID.

In 2021 and beyond, home will emerge as the new hub.

Since the crisis began, home became the new hub for six things that more usually happened outside the home: fitness, schooling, work, shopping, entertainment and church.

Some of that will snap back, but not all of it.

In 2021 and beyond, home will emerge as the new hub.

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The world we left in 2019 was still a ‘come to us’ world: Amazon was making major inroads and malls were already struggling (as were churches, theatres and other sectors).

Many people have already reconfigured their homes from fitness, offices, entertainment and (when it’s okay again) better hospitality (so many people have rediscovered or discovered cooking).

In the post-pandemic world, leaders who are waiting for people to come to them will realize it’s much smarter to go to people instead.

And if your organization is designed to have people come to you (live events, restaurants, gyms, theatres, churches) you will likely need better experiences to lure people away from their redesigned homes and new habits.

In the post-pandemic world, leaders who are waiting for people to come to them will realize it’s much smarter to go to people instead.

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5. Remote Work Will Move from An Emergency or Luxury to A Necessity

Remote work has been accelerated at a rapid pace.

Some predictions are that in 2021, the number of people working permanently from home will double over even 2020 levels.

As DropBox explains here, most companies are never going back to how it was. That’s even more true in the for-profit world than in the non-profit world.

Long before COVID,  many employers were already frustrated with (youngish) team members who want to work from home, from coffee shops and have flex hours.

Now, many workers have discovered they love working from home and will insist on it moving into the future.

If you want to attract and keep highly talented team members, remote work options have become a necessity, not just an emergency measure or a luxury.

The future workplace is a flexible workplace, at least if you want to compete.

Having led a virtual team for years, I agree it can be challenging but it’s immensely rewarding, far more rewarding in fact than it is challenging.

If you want more, here are my top 7 practices for leading a digital team. I also offer an online course on how to coach top performance from your team remote or hybrid team here.

The future workplace is a flexible workplace, at least if you want to compete.

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 6. Instability Combined With Rapid Change Will Require Even More Agility 

2021 will also bring two things no leader is hoping for: instability coupled with rapid change.

The externally imposed rapid changed in 2020 caused by the pandemic and global shut down will be replaced by the rapid change demanded by to a newly reopened and different world.

And as much as you won’t likely see the same level of cataclysmic change you saw in 2020, the future will likely be both volatile and unstable.

The combination of prolonged instability and rapid change will create new leadership challenges in 2021.

The combination of prolonged instability and rapid change will create new leadership challenges in 2021.

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Agile leadership will help you tackle that challenge exceptionally well.

Agile leadership is flexible leadership, the ability to pivot and change not just once, but as often as changing conditions warrant.

In a crisis, agility is ability. Flexibility is a superpower.

In a crisis, agility is ability. Flexibility is a superpower.

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7.  A Sustainable Pace (For Everyone) Will Become Non-Negotiable

I know. The last year and the challenges ahead are exhausting.

Leading through a crisis is one thing. Leading through a prolonged crisis is another.

Even in the post-pandemic world, things will be far from stable or predictable for a while to come.

So how will you and your team make it through all that’s ahead?

In 2020, many leaders naturally looked to time off to heal them: a week in the summer, a year-end break, time at the beach.

All that is great, except you know what exactly happens when you return: you’re exhausted by 11 a.m. and silently weeping at your desk by 4.

The vacation solved nothing.

Here’s why that happens: time off won’t heal you when the problem is how you spend time on. When every day grinds you into the dust with long hours and extra effort, you may not even make it to your next vacation.

Time off won’t heal you when the problem is how you spend time on.

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The cure for an unsustainable pace is to create a sustainable pace.

For me, that means mastering the art of saying no, clearing my calendar, deciding to quit doing the things that aren’t working and building in margin to the every day.

If you think you can’t afford to do that, you’re wrong. You can’t afford not to do that.

Having burned out years ago, I know the pain burnout causes. Since then, I’ve not only developed a very sustainable pace (it works even in crisis), I’ve also trained thousands of leaders on how to find their ideal pace.

So here’s to deepening your personal reserves.

If you have deep reserves, tackling everything else in this post becomes not just easier, but doable.

The cure for an unsustainable pace is to create a sustainable pace.

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What Do You See? 

What trends are you seeing for 2021?

Scroll down and leave a comment!

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Source: 7 Disruptive Leadership Trends That Will Rule 2021

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By Stan Rodda: In what is arguably the craziest year many people have experienced in their lifetimes, 2020 is finally coming to a close. We are days away from a new year! That said: Congrats! You made it!

Let’s look back on some of 4Gen’s most popular content in 2020 and look forward to what God has in store for 2021.

Looking Back | 2020

Most read blog posts:

A Simple Tool to Stop Reading the Bible like a Self-Help Book

Five Distinguishing Factors of a Kingdom Worker

Baptism and the Disciple Maker

The Core of a Disciple Maker

Disciple Making and the Person of Peace

Most popular Youtube videos:

Master Plan of Surrender

How to Tell Your Story

How to Share the Gospel

Disciple making:

15 disciples trained in reproducible tools

4 house churches started

Looking Forward | 2021

Disciple making cohorts:

Tuesdays, January 12-March 2 @ 2p EST

Thursdays, February 25-April 15 @ 2p EST

Tuesdays, May 4-June 22 @ 2p EST

Tuesdays, August 10-September 28 @ 2p EST

Tuesdays, October 5-November 23 @ 2p EST

Reserve your seat for FREE!

Reserve Your Seat

Three pastors retreats coming:

April 27-30 – Massanutten, VA (add name to waitlist)

August 4-8 – Jefferson City, MO

November 2-5 – Massanutten, VA (add name to wait list)

Learn More About Retreats

Thanks for being a part of the 4Gen family through 2020. While Christmas is over, there is one late gift you could get for me if you are in a giving mood. Share this blog and ministry with three people you know. That would be a HUGE gift to me.Thanks for helping spread the word about what God is up to at 4Gen.Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! And I will see you in 2021!Stan Rodda4Gen Executive Director

ps. What disciple making content would support your disciple making efforts the most in 2021? Leave us a comment and let us know.

Source: Look Back. Look Forward.

The post Look Back. Look Forward. appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By NewChurches.com: In Episode 554 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Todd discuss how the church should multiply in the midst of a culture continuing to grapple with COVID.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

Some of the challenges the church will continue to face in 2021
How you grow in micro-ways and a macro-way

 Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“How in the midst of all of that should we multiply as a church?” – @danielsangi
“Jesus never said to go and make disciples until you have COVID.”  – @danielsangi
“Part of being a disciple is making other disciples.” – @toddadkins
“Perhaps in 2021, your vision for multiplication is actually a downward sort of root-focused based multiplication.” – @danielsangi
“Perhaps you need to grow in depth before you can be sent out and send others out.” – @danielsangi
“What does it look like for you as a church to be on the offense as it relates to multiplying and being a blessing?” – @danielsangi
“Your church is strategically positioned to bring the gospel to that subdivision, to that community through where people live, work, and play.” – @toddadkins

Recommended Resources:

Read Multiplication Today, Movements Tomorrow
Read 1,000 Churches

Help us Multiply the Mission:

Please subscribe
Leave a rating and review on iTunes
Ask a question by clicking Send Voicemail on the right hand side of NewChurches.com
If you’re on a phone or a tablet, then go to www.speakpipe.com/newchurches to download the app and record your message
When you’re recording, introduce yourself and your context in about 15 seconds and then record your question for 30 seconds

The post Episode 554: A 2021 Vision for Multiplication appeared first on NewChurches.com – Church Planting, Multisite, and Multiplication.

Source: Episode 554: A 2021 Vision for Multiplication

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By Carey Nieuwhof: You’re so anxious to get 2020 over with. I get it. I feel that too.

it would be amazing if somebody  returned everything to some semblance of normalcy right about now, wouldn’t it?

Sitting here in December 2020 at the end of a long year, it’s tempting to paint 2021 as a relief to all our problems.

Trust me, I feel the urge to do that too. Deeply.

But that would be a mistake.

For some leaders,  it would be a fatal one. Either because it could take you out or your organization down…or both.

Before you dismiss the post or quickly move on to something else more ‘positive’, let me drop some promises in. (Which is actually the point of this post: to help you make it through the end of 2021 and well beyond.)

Lowering your expectations for 2021 now will lead to greater joy, a far more resilient organization, and a much healthier you later.

As they say, the secret to happiness is low expectations. One of the reasons you’re so frustrated and exhausted right now is because you expected things would be better.

Humans do that. Christmas is disappointing because your picture of how your family will behave is different from how they actually behave.

The frustration you feel with your team emerges from the gap between the ideal person you thought you hired and the real person you actually hired.

Lowering your expectations increases both your resilience and your happiness almost every time.

Here are 5 ways that lowering your expectations for 2021 is a really good idea.

Lowering your expectations for 2021 now will lead to greater joy, a far more resilient organization, and a much healthier you later.

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1. The Shut Down Happened Overnight. The Reopening Will Be Far More Gradual and Intermittent.

It’s slowly dawning on most of us that there may not be a reopening ‘day’ or season where everyone floods back in and everything is at it was.

For most organizations, the shut down happened overnight. You were open for business as usual March 9th 2020, and were shut down completely or radically impacted by March 15th.

It’s easy to imagine that the reopening would happen exactly the same way.

There’s incredible news with a vaccine on the way, but both the roll out and its impact on the spread of COVID-19 is going to take a while.

While nobody wants it, we’ll likely have months ahead of the virus surging and retreating, and with that, regulations that move you in and out of degrees of lockdown.

The restrictions themselves will take a while to lift completely.

Government regulations are one thing: human behaviour is quite another.

It might take a while longer for most people to feel comfortable being in crowded public spaces, and some of the pattern changes people have adopted during COVID will likely be permanent.

I think the metaphor of having green light, yellow light and red light people is sound.

Green light people are those who will rush back and be perfectly comfortable.

Yellow light people will be more cautious for months, or maybe longer.

And red light people, made so either by disposition or medical condition, might change how they operate in the public sphere for a much longer time.

Simple realize that this will be a longer, gradual process will help you plan for a longer, gradual re-entry and make you more effective as a result.

For most organizations, the shut down caused by COVID happened overnight. The reopening will be be far more gradual and intermittent.

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2. Normal Is Being Redefined As We Speak

You long for normal. I long for normal.

I also understand every is oh-so-tired of hearing about “the new normal”.

So what can you actually expect?

Emerging out of the pandemic in all likelihood won’t be the return to normal you hope for.

That’s because normal is being redefined as we speak.

Emerging out of the pandemic in all likelihood won’t be the return to normal you hope for. That’s because normal is being redefined as we speak.

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The longer the disruption goes on, the longer temporary habits become permanent ones. And the longer current behavioural norms carry on, the more likely it is that some will become habits.

We will eventually settle into some kind of normalcy, and that’s likely to have a strange and unpredictable mix of familiar and new patterns.

So sure, people will return to live events.  Schools, gyms, restaurant and churches will one day be open without restrictions. (Cheer now).

And to be sure, offices will reopen and traffic jams will happen and people will vacation and airplanes and resorts will operate at capacity again.

But don’t miss the nuance underneath all this.

Will company offices return to exactly where they were pre-pandemic? There is zero indication that’s going to happen. Of course, some offices will reopen as they used to be, but most will change their patterns. As this Harvard survey shows,  remote work will in all likelihood become much more prevalent than it was pre-COVID. Many companies have already downsized and hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions?) of people have already sold their homes and moved to more remote places now where they can easily work from home.

It will be interesting to see what happens with shopping (more home delivery?), school (more home schooling?), fitness (fewer gym memberships now that people bought their own Peleton?) entertainment (are direct-to-home movie releases more of the future after 2021?) Will in-person church attendance take months or years to go back to pre-pandemic levels?

So post-pandemic, whenever we get there, will definitely feel more normal than things to do day. But normal will have shifted. And even a 10-30% variation in patterns is massive disruption, and something every leader needs to plan for starting now.

Post-pandemic will definitely feel more normal than things do today. But normal will have shifted. Even a 10-30% variation in patterns is massive disruption, and something every leader needs to plan for.

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3. The Biggest Certainty Is Unpredictability

Every leader longs for certainty. I do. But even long before the crisis hit, you didn’t really have certainty.

What you had was some form of predictability.  The crisis, of course, took that away.

The unpredictability and uncertainty are like to continue for a while longer. Months for sure. Perhaps longer.

Even long before the crisis hit, you didn’t really have certainty. What you had was some form of predictability. The crisis, of course, took that away.

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A good way to look at 2020 is that it helped build some skills that are essential in unpredictable times: agility, flexibility and the ability to move fast and change again.

Those will likely be even more important in the future.

The last few decades are filled with companies, organizations and churches that died because things changed and they didn’t.

When the post-mortem is done on those organizations, you usually discover they lacked not only the vision to see that change was necessary, but the flexibility and agility needed to change.

You’re developing agility and flexibility as a result of everything you’ve been through. Keep developing them, and don’t let those muscles atrophy.

Organizations that fail lack not only the vision to see that change was necessary, but the flexibility and agility needed to change.

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4. An Unhealthy Rhythm Now Means You Might Not Make It To Then

I recently asked over 75,000 leaders (over email….you can sign up here to join my list) what they’re struggling with. By far, the #1 challenge is exhaustion: their exhaustion and the fatigue of their teams.

The thing I’m most worried about for leaders who see 2021 as a panacea or a finish line of sorts is that they’re not going to make it into 2022. (I explain more on that in Point 5, below.)

Imagining that 2021 is going to give you rest is kind of like thinking you’ll be fine after the tornado, only realizing too late that you now have to rebuild everything.

Yes, things will eventually be better. No, we’re not there yet.

Finding a healthy rhythm during the crisis is essential to being okay after the crisis.

In the same way that so many leaders looked to time off to save them during 2020, only to discover that a week or two off didn’t solve anything, looking to 2021 to save you will just be an exercise in disappointment.

Time off won’t save you from an unsustainable pace when the problem is how you spend your time on.

And if 2021 won’t bring instant relief, it’s critical for you to find a sustainable pace now.

I have a lot of free resources on how to manage your time, energy and priorities to stay healthy, and I have a session in the free 2021 Church Leader Toolkit if you want to learn more (non-church leaders are welcome to the Toolkit as well).

Time off isn’t going to heal this one. How you spend your time on is.

Finding a healthy rhythm during the crisis is essential to being okay after the crisis.

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5. The Greatest Confront the Brutal Facts (But Never Lose Hope)

Let’s finish up by going back to what Jim Collins calls Stockdale Paradox, one of the the principles that a lot of leaders talked about at the early on in the crisis.

As you may remember, Jim Stockdale was an American general captured and imprisoned during the Vietnam war. He was held and tortured for seven years.

Stockdale said the first people to die in captivity were the optimists, who kept thinking things would get better quickly and they’d be released. “They died of a broken heart,” Stockdale said.

Intead, Stockdale argued, the key to survival was to combine realism and hope.  In Stockdale’s words:

“This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end–-which you can never afford to lose–-with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

That essentially is your job in crisis leadership.

And sadly for you and me, the crisis and instability will soon drag into their second year.

You will prevail in the end, but there’s some brutal stuff you and I need to get through before things get better.

Crisis leadership falls apart when leaders embrace the extremes: pessimists only see the real, and naive optimists only see the ideal.

When you embrace both, you discover true leadership. You’ll also emerge out of the crisis stronger and into a much stronger tomorrow.

Crisis leadership falls apart when leaders embrace the extremes: pessimists only see the real, and naive optimists only see the ideal. When you embrace both, you discover true leadership.

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Get The Tools You Need In 2021 (A Free Toolkit)

As hard as it might be, what if 2021 could be a year of real growth for you and your church?

You know that in 2020, some organizations grew while others struggled. I’d love to help your church thrive in 2021.

I know, that sounds crazy (especially after a post like this), but like most things, it’s crazy until it’s not.

I believe 2021 can be a great year for you and your team, and I’d love to help you make it happen.

That’s why I created the 2021 Church Leader Toolkit.

Inside, I cover:

How To Produce Content That Actually Gets Read & Watched
5 Keys To Better Digital Preaching
How To Keep You And Your Team Out Of Burnout
7 Strategies To Deepen Digital Engagement
3 Key Pivots For Every Organization In 2021

I’ll be releasing 5 parts of the toolkit throughout December. And it’s free.

You can get access and share these skills with your team here!

What Do You See?

Any thoughts on the challenges you’ll be facing in 2021? How will you battle them?

Scroll down and leave a comment.

The post Why You Should Lower Your Expectations for 2021 Starting Now appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: Why You Should Lower Your Expectations for 2021 Starting Now

The post Why You Should Lower Your Expectations for 2021 Starting Now appeared first on Passion for Planting.