Tag: Leadership Blog

Which is worse: criticism or indifference?

Breaking down effective feedback: 7 practical steps that can be executed in less than 1 minute.

The world has enough pagans. Even plenty of really nice ones. What we need is kids who fully grasp the reality that they have nothing to offer, but who intimately know a God who has everything they need.

Just add one word — “because” — to make your appreciation of others meaningful.

The best worker in any enterprise is one whom God has called and His Spirit has sent. They are there, not for a paycheck (although that is often necessary) and not for recognition (although they would not mind a pat on the back occasionally), but because “the Lord sent me.”

One simple thing you can say to eliminate 90% of problems when you’re delivering feedback.

How do you deal with disappointment? Some of us hide it away. We deny its reality with fine words. But deep down we become numb. We become afraid to trust God again. “Surviving disappointment” becomes our background story, influencing our response to every interaction. We need to grieve disappointment in a healthy way.

Three crucial questions to ask ourselves before we start giving feedback.

Just as the Christian life is union and fellowship, even so the church is union and fellowship. Its nature is union. Its nature is fellowship. Union and fellowship with Christ, and union and fellowship with each other – in Christ. That is all the church is: union and fellowship with each other, in Him. And every other aspect of church life will come out of that – inevitably and spontaneously. And it will be real. When it comes it will be genuine, and alive.

There are simple, practical things we can do to make feedback more helpful and enjoyable for us, and for other people.

In leading through various seasons of change, here are five steps I encourage you to consider in whatever change you’re facing.

While negative feedback can be destructive, it is an essential part of the mix. Here are three reasons why negative feedback matters.

Suffering is not limited to leaders; we all are called by God to endure adversity.

In response to a negative situation, the lie says, “I can’t do anything about this.” In contrast, the truth says, “I may not be able to change everything, but here’s what I can do about this.” Even if it’s only a small thing at the time, internally taking responsibility, rather than simply resigning in despair, is the path of healthy thinking.

The lie says, “This bad thing will never change and will only get worse.” This is unbelief and fear which, left unchecked, will destroy us. In contrast, the truth says, “God can do all things. There is nothing too hard for Him!”

The lie says, “What just happened is huge. It is the end of the world. Things are hopeless!” This is an overreaction. The truth says, “What just happened is bad but, in reality, it’s only a small thing. It’s not the end of the world. And, from the perspective of eternity, it’s nothing!”

The lie says, “I have failed. I am a failure.” This condemnation is always echoed by the devil’s voice internally and sometimes by the voices of other people around us. The truth, however, says, “I have failed. But I am in Christ and, by His grace, I will overcome!”

Transformation through suffering is not automatic. Sufferings do not automatically change us. It’s how we respond that counts. It is our response to adversity that determines whether it will help us or hurt us.

In Malawi we have a proverb that tells the story of a dog sitting on a warm verandah. He hears the sound of a lion roaring in the distance, but it is so comfortable in the sunshine…. So he stays put. He keeps hearing the roars get closer and closer, until it is too late to move.

If we want to live and lead like Jesus, we know this one thing about betrayal: it will show us more about ourselves than any other leadership experience we face.