by Josh Chumley: I was a psych major in college and any good or bad psych major knows the infamous Sigmund Freud.

One of the staples of a good Freudian theorist is the concept of projection.

Basically, how you feel (anger, sadness, etc.) about your parents, authorities, other people in life, you will eventually project any trauma or feelings on people that have nothing to do with those that have traumatized you or had a deep impact.

I counseled youth for my first few years out of college. I saw projection first hand.

A couple of years later, I started working in a corporate environment and I began to see the same tendencies from people. If you had a bad experience with a leader (or shall we call them managers, since they were managing people rather than leading them), you would project those thoughts and feelings onto other leaders. Mistrust or trust was left in the wake of good leaders, or immature people that had gotten promoted for political purposes or because they were good at their entry level job.

It got me thinking.

What about positive projection?

If I truly wanted to make an impact on people and develop future leaders, how was I projecting my leadership? 

Projected Leadership. This is not the “fake it till you make it” blog post. This is “are you authentic and willing to always grow” blog post. Once you take that promotion or you are honing your leadership skills, how are you spreading your influence? How are you making better leaders around you? What do you spend your time thinking about as a leader? Are you intentional in every interaction with people that work for you, with you, and that you work for?

Iron sharpens Iron. When we project solid leadership, people learn and develop merely by how we operate and behave in a consistent manner. We show our values and what we believe about people day in and day out of being a leader.

Projected leadership takes the time to be self-aware of our faults and take extra measures to show humility in how we focus on strengthening areas of weakness. 

This leadership focus will increase performance through authentic (real, genuine) interactions that are accountable to results and cultivate a solid relationship through healthy conversations and behaviors, even when things get heated or confrontational (it’s ok to confront behaviors and be accountable to one another).

Projected leadership means you…

Lead from the “Back”

This takes place through coaching, accountability, and being present in each moment with people. It doesn’t stop there, projected leadership means that you also…

Lead from the “Front”

Leading from the front employs practices such as vision setting, execution and clear communication.

At the end of your career, what do you want to be known for?

As a CEO, as a pastor, as an entry level manager, as a small business owner…what do you want to be known for?

Projecting healthy leadership onto others will make your work, church, and home healthier, more accountable, and will create more opportunities for selfless activities. It will drive production and deeper satisfaction in life for you and your teams.

Does all of this seem like A LOT?

It actually is a lot. Frankly, it’s too much to do alone. That’s why at CourageToLead we believe, “Every Leader Needs a Coach”…because no leader can do it all alone!

Let’s set up a call with one of our coaches to talk through leading your team and organization through re-entry.

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Too many organizations stay stuck because they presume on growth, but never prepare for growth. Too many leaders have zero peace because every small decision and question lands in their lap every day. Truth is, every organization is perfectly structured for the growth it’s getting.

That’s why I am providing the FREE TRAINING as a solution to restructuring in a way that best positions your organization to grow and best positions your life for peace.

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Source: Projected Leadership

The post Projected Leadership appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: Leadership is hard. I totally get that, because I’ve been in it for over two decades.

But to be perfectly honest, leadership never gets easy. The reason it’s never easy is because what’s hard keeps changing. You solve one problem, and now a new, likely larger on appears. That’s true when things are declining when they’re stagnant. And surprisingly, it’s even more trying when things are growing.

And in all scenarios, your next task as a leader is to tackle what’s ahead, which, of course, you’ve often never done before. Which is why it stays hard.

Naturally, that can get tiring. As a result, it’s remarkably easy for a once inspiring leader to descend into to stop leading, to stop leading into new vistas, and as a result, to stop inspiring their team.

Your team will put up with that for a while, but inevitably, they’ll lose motivation too. Keep it up, and any leader with options, especially the best ones, will leave. If you won’t lead your team with passion and purpose, your best leaders will leave. They’ll simply find someone who will.

I’ve had seasons where I know my leadership hasn’t been as inspirational as it should be, and over the years I’ve made it a point to start recognizing the signs that it’s happening. If I know the signs, it’s easier to snap back and begin leading and inspiring again.

If you won’t lead your team with passion and purpose, your best leaders will leave. They’ll simply find someone who will.Click To Tweet

1. You Don’t Feel Inspired

So let’s start with an obvious one. It’s hard to inspire others when you’re not inspired.

I’ll the first to admit that passion waxes and wanes in season. Sometimes you’re tired or you’ve been running hard, but if you’re the leader, you’re supposed to be inspired by the mission you’re on.

One of the key principles of leadership is this: the passion of your team will rarely exceed your passion as a leader.

Do whatever you need to do to stay inspired. Revisit the mission, daily. Spend time alone, pray and meditate about why you’re not inspired. Talk to a friend, or a counselor.

Sometimes (not always, but sometimes), the reason you’re not inspired is that your vision is too small. If your mission doesn’t inspire you, get a bigger or better mission. Personally, I think it’s great to be fueled by somethign that’s bigger than you are, and that seems almost impossible to pull off.

When you have something that big, it’s also impossible for you to take the credit if it happens.

It’s hard to inspire others when you’re not inspired. The passion of your team will rarely exceed your passion as a leader. Click To Tweet

2. You’re Showing Very Little Gratitude

When you’re no longer inspiring your team, check your gratitude. Gratitude is usually one of the first things to go when you’re not in a good season, and it’s one of the most devastating things for team members to lose.

Lose gratitude, and you’ll soon discover it gets replaced by its nemesis: expectation.

Not only are you not grateful, you begin to tell yourself things like:

I pay these people for more than that.

Sure, she’s volunteering, but her effort doesn’t even come close to the pressure I’m facing.

What do you mean you want to go home? There’s work to do.

The more tired you are, the more likely you expect things from people rather than be grateful for them.

And that’s a great way to lose good people.

The more tired you are, the more likely you expect things from people rather than be grateful for them. And that’s a great way to lose good people. Click To Tweet

3. Your Vision is Fuzzy

It’s hard to rally people around a fuzzy vision for the future.

When casting vision, clarity is your friend.

It’s hard to rally people around a fuzzy vision for the future. Click To Tweet

If your vision is clear, you’ll have a compelling answer to questions like these:

What hill are you taking next?

Why are you taking it?

What happens after that?

Who are you helping?

What difference is it making?

Why is your mission so critical?

If you can’t answer those questions, don’t expect your team to rally or throw their whole heart behind the mission.

Clarity is your best friend when it comes to vision.

If you don’t have it and feel things might be slipping away, you might start to want to control people.

Poor leaders substitute control for clarity.

Here’s why. If you don’t know with absolute clarity what your organization is, where it’s going and how it’s going to get there (in other words, if you’re fuzzy about your mission, vision and strategy), you can never truly align a team.

And as a result, you will always want to control it.

Clarity around the vision is a far better alternative.

Poor leaders substitute control for clarity.Click To Tweet

4. You’re managing, not leading

Management is a good thing in the right measure. I agree with some of the voices of late who say we’ve overfocused on leadership and underfocused on management. Good point.

Leadership without good management usually results in chaos instead of progress.

But no matter how well managed an organization is, every organizaiton still needs leadership.

Management oversees what what needs to be done today. Leadership moves people into tomorrow.

Because leadership takes energy, passion and clarity, a lot of leaders default to managing. The bold new idea is to make next year incrementally better than this year. To tweak, not to reboot. To improve, but not to challenge or rethink.

Leadership inspires in a way management doesn’t.

Management oversees what what needs to be done today. Leadership moves people into tomorrow. Leadership inspires in a way management doesn’t.Click To Tweet

5. You’re out of new ideas

One sure what to inspire a team is to have new ideas for the future. The longer you’ve been in leadership, the harder this can feel.

We live in an exceptional disruptive age. How we communicated two decades ago is not how we communicate today.

The same is true of

Shopping
Transporation
Accommodation
Music
Journalism
Entertainment
Photography

I’m not saying you have to come up with disruptive ideas, but I am saying that unless you have some new ideas, about how to accomplish your mission, it’s difficult to keep mobilizing people.

I’ve seen so many leaders who run out of vision cling to old methods—doing the same thing over and over again hoping for better results.

If there’s no plan for the future, there’s usually no future.

If there’s no plan for the future, there’s usually no future. Click To Tweet

3 Tips For Regaining Your Inspiration

It’s great to point out the problem, but how do you move toward a solution.

Well, in some cases, it might be that you’re burned out (here are some signs of that), or that you need some counselling, or perhaps that it’s time to move on (here are 7 signs it’s time to leave.)

But if it’s just a season, what do you do to get inspired?

Here are a few things that have helped me.

Revisit the mission. Reminding yourself why you do what you do can go a long way to keeping your passion strong.
Study industry leaders. Who do you know that’s crushing it? Go hang out with them and take your notebook.
Get out of your echo chamber. Chances are you need some fresh influences, so go learn from some leaders and people who are different than you are.

I wrote some more on how to renew your leadership here (something that I think has to happen every 5-7 years regardless of how you feel).

Stoke Your Passion Over the Long Haul

How do you stay inspired year after year?

It’s more possible than you think. And it starts with how you lead yourself and others each day.

My High Impact Leader course, is my online, on-demand course designed to help you get time, energy and priorities working in your favour.

It’s perfect for leaders who feel like they never have enough time in the day to get it all done.

Many leaders who have taken it are recovering 3 productive hours a day.  That’s about 1000 hours of found time each year. That’s a lot of time for what matters most.

Here are what some alumni are saying about The High Impact Leader Course”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you for providing the course again. It has absolutely made an impact in my life and family already that I can’t even describe.” – Joel Rowland, Clayton County, North Carolina

“Just wow.  Thank you, thank you.” Dave Campbell,  Sioux Falls South Dakota

“A game-changer.” Pam Perkins,  Colorado Springs, Colorado

Curious? Want to beat overwhelm and have the time to reflect, rest and reinvent yourself?

Click here to learn more or get instant access.

What Are Some Other Signs?

Any other signs you see that maybe you’re no longer inspiring your team?

Scroll down and leave a comment!

The post 5 Signs You’re No Longer Inspiring Your Team appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: 5 Signs You’re No Longer Inspiring Your Team

The post 5 Signs You’re No Longer Inspiring Your Team appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: See if you recognize this. There are some kinds of leaders (often in churches and not-for-profits) who are wonderful with people, but whose organizations don’t produce great results. Often there’s little accountability, a general drift, poor metrics and just a lack of overall excellence. But the leader’s a really nice person.

There are other leaders (often in rapidly growing churches and businesses) who are not so great with people, but there’s tight accountability, laser-like focus, clear results and tremendous progress.

You probably already recognize your own style in the above descriptions.

Maybe you just love people, but it’s just hard to see progress in your mission. Deadlines mean almost nothing. Most people show up for an event both under-prepared and unclear about what’s really going on. The quality of people’s work is mediocre at best, but most people just shrug it off anyway.

But at least you somewhat enjoy being together. Except there are no new people to join the party because the party just isn’t that great.

Or maybe you’re driven. Results are everywhere. All your graphs go up and to the right. You’re gaining a reputation for quality and excellence. Sharp thinkers and bright leaders are attracted to your organization. Unlike so many of your peers, you get it done. You’re crushing it.

…

The post The Single Best Way To Fully Motivate Your Team appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: The Single Best Way To Fully Motivate Your Team

The post The Single Best Way To Fully Motivate Your Team appeared first on Passion for Planting.