American Reset

Yesterday's post was a brief introduction to Dr. Frank Luntz's latest book: "What Americans Really Want...Really." It is a fascinating journey into the minds of our neighbors, bosses, employees, politicians, and friends - a snapshot of what is going on in the American psyche.

The research, stories, and findings provide a wealth of knowledge that any leader in any organization ought to know - and put into practice. Based on his research, Luntz closes the book with a list of nine priorities of what America really needs.

1. Resetting our expectations about life, opportunity, and the American dream - most Americans aren't asking for "everything I can get." All they are asking for is the "opportunity to succeed" and "the good life" if and when they get there. Rather than fixating on what we want, we need to appreciate everything that we have.



2. Renewing our celebration of the American family - the American family is broken. Not entirely shattered, but certainly broken. Americans realize the importance of the family even as they struggle to protect it. The essential familial ingredients of time and attention are increasingly rare.



3. Reestablishing the respect for religion in America - From the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock in 1620 to the writings of the Founding Fathers in Philadelphia 150 years later, the early American experiment with democracy and opportunity has its origins deeply rooted in religion. In recent years, America is trending toward a new and more troubling experiment. We may soon find out what happens when we unlink our freedoms from our faith.



4. Rebuilding the mutual commitment between employer and employee - too many Americans are unhappy in their current jobs. Considering we spend more time at work than we do at anything other than sleeping, this is particularly troubling. Workers need a few more dollars, but even more important, more satisfaction, more fulfillment, and more excitement from their jobs.



5. Reinstilling accountability in American government - what American people need from government is elected officials who say what the mean and mean what they say. We will continue to lower our expectations about how much government can do while raising expectations about how well government delivers on what it promises.



6. Restoring personal responsibility and empowering creativity among America's youth - what America's younger generation needs is both a firm hand and a gentle guide to channel their creativity and raise them from near economic ruin. Generation 2020 (Luntz's term for those born 1980-1991) can and should be the most successful, dynamic, and diversely talented cohort in American history.



7. Respecting the accomplishments, experience, and continuing resources of America's seniors - it is by their labor that the foundations for our success were laid. It is their dreams that we must remember to embrace, live out, and enjoy. There is no longer a clear line between "retired" and "unretired." Businesses, schools, community groups, and churches can all benefit from the vast resources American seniors have at their disposal.



8. Investing time and commitment into mentorship - young people need the foundation of a supportive family to survive and thrive, but many also need the capstone of an accomplished mentor to strive and achieve. America's greatest need for mentorship is in the communities where broken schools and broken families are breaking the dreams of America's youth.



9. Remembering to have some fun along the way - we have too many challenges, too many problems, and too many worries to give up on life and forget to have fun. You can't make it a better tomorrow if you don't take the time to enjoy life today.

"What Americans Really Want...Really" is powerful and sobering glimpse into what we collectively are thinking, hoping, dreaming - and fearing. If your passion is about people, then this book really ought to be your next reading assignment.

We all share a continuing responsibility to better understand one another. Understanding is an essential underpinning for our community. The more we have of it, the better - especially when our public institutions are wavering.

Knowledge is Wealth

You've heard the phrase "time is money?" Maybe it's time for a stronger principle to replace it: Knowledge is wealth.

Let's say you are the owner of a business, the head of a marketing department, someone who sells things to customers - or a leader in a church.

Wouldn't you like to know what people are thinking?

Frank Luntz has conducted thousands of hours of research to discover the answer to that question, and his latest book "What Americans Really Want...Really" is a fascinating journey into the mind and actions of people in America.

It's a book about understanding priorities, not trivialities or frivolities. It's about the contradictions, large and small, between what we want and what we really need.

Luntz discovers what we are thinking in diverse areas from corporate policy to what we eat to our religious views - and everything in between. His major conclusion? We are a nation of well-meaning hypocrites:

• We want smaller, less intrusive government, yet we want more oversight of the economy and oppose specific budget cuts.


• We want taxes lowered, but we won't accept a decline in the quantity and quality of services and we aren't eager to pay for stuff ourselves.


• We say we eat healthy, but just look at what we actually consume.


• We say we care about the environment, but we won't give up our pickups or SUVs.

If you're looking for a real discussion of our public hopes and private fears, wants, and needs, you've come to the right place.

Tomorrow: Luntz's nine priorities on what America really needs.

Thirty Day Plan to End Homelessness

Ron Hall, who along with former street bum Denver Moore wrote "Same Kind of Different as Me" and "What Difference Do It Make" makes a strong case for churches - ALL churches - to get involved in eliminating homelessness.

Hall believes that the problem of homelessness will never be solved by government. He states "government can neither love a man nor lovingly hold him accountable. The chronically homeless need love, compassion, accountability, and someone to come alongside them and hold them steady as the limp along the winding, pitted road to wholeness."

In his travels, Ron proposes a "Thirty Day Plan to End Homelessness". It works like this: the local pastor or priest or rabbi motivates his or her congregation to adopt one chronically homeless person. Each body of believers, whether it's fifty or a thousand strong, would assume collective responsibility for taking in one person and loving that person back into society.

What the church is offering is unconditional love - part of which recognizes that real love includes loving a person from dependence to independece. The result is up to God.

We are judged by our compassion, how we live our lives, not by how that person we help ultimately lives his. God commands us to love, not to calculate the end game.

What about it, church?

What Difference Do It Make?

Ron Hall and Denver Moore - international art dealer and street bum, respectively - have done it again. The tale of their most improbable friendship, begun in the book "Same Kind of Different as Me", continues in "What Kind of Difference Do It Make."

Denver Moore is a homeless street bum, living on the streets of Ft. Worth. He is wary at first of the efforts by Ron and Debbie Hall to help the homeless in the Union Gospel Mission. Over time, though, Ron and Debbie break through his tough exterior and discover a heart of gold.

Shortly after this, Debbie begins a year-long, losing battle with cancer. Throughout the painful loss, Denver and Ron weave a story of how God uses us all - even when we think the differences are too great.

After the publication of the first book, Ron and Denver's friendship begins to grow and impact people all over the country. They decide to continue their story and write another book. Struggling over the title one day, Ron asked Denver for his opinion. Denver's response: "What difference do it make?

The title is so appropriate because that's their story, told over and over in ways that will grip your heart: one person can make a difference.

Throughout the book, the focus is about homelessness. Over and over, Denver patiently teaches Ron and others about what life on the street is - and how we can see the homeless as real people. Here's a sample story when Ron is hesitant to give money to a homeless man:

Maybe you is right. The thing about it is, though, gifts is free. When you give a person a gift, you is also givin that person the freedom to do whatever they want with it. When you give a homeless man a dollar, you ain't saying, "Here-go b yourself a chicken." If you really wanted him to have some food, you'd take him in the McDonald's and buy him a Big Mac and a apple pie.

No, when you give a homeless man a dollar, what you really saying is, "I see you. You ain't invisible. You is a person." I tells folks to look at what's written on all that money they be givn away: it says "In God We Trust." You just be the blessin. Let God worry about the rest.

More powerful one-liners from Denver:

I notice a lotta folks doin more lookin at the Bible than doin what it says

You got to go inside 'cause that's where God is - in the deepest place inside you

Put a heart in your body where a stone used to be

If you gon' walk these streets with me, you gon' have to learn how to serve these people without judgin 'em. Let the judgin' be up to God

The most personally impacting comment for me was when Denver challenges the reader to be both a blessing and a help:

Blessin means you give a person a little gift to show 'em you think they matters on this earth, and helpin is when you stoop down with a person and stay there till they can climb on your shoulder to get up

God, help us all to stoop down this week.

The Question of the Week...

The same question, coming from 3 different conversations with 3 different pastors over the course of 3 different days prompted this series of posts.



Q: How do you put together a team of leaders to guide a church through a building project?

My reply is that you don't just want a team, you need a high-performing team. The foundational work that I have used for several years is based on what Pat MacMillian, author of "The Performance Factor", has described as six characteristics of a high-performing team. The first characteristic was a common purpose. The second was crystal clear roles. Here are the remaining four characteristics.

High performance teams need - no, demand - accepted leadership capable of calling out the levels of initiative and creativity that motivate exceptional levels of both individual and collective performance.



High performance teams have effective processes. They identify, map, and then master their key team processes. They constantly evaluate the effectiveness of key processes, asking: How are we doing? What are we learning? How can we do it better?


High performance teams must work out of a foundation of solid relationships. The relational qualities of trust, acceptance, respect, courtesy, and a liberal dose of understanding are needed for high levels of team effectiveness.



High performance teams have excellent communication. No team can move faster than it communicates; fast, clear, and accurate communication is the key to thinking and acting collectively.

It's a short list - only six characteristics. But each characteristic plays a specific and vital role in making the team effective. Notice the arrangement of the characteristics - a wheel shape. In a sense, each one is equal and necessary. If one of these six characteristics is missing or inadequate, the team is limping at best. Think of the wheel on your car: if it is out of balance or alignment, the performance is affected. What starts out as a distraction can turn into a disaster.

The same is true for your team: if two or three are missing, your group is probably not a team at all.

Here's my quick answer for the question above.

A: You start by bringing together a group of people who effectively demonstrate the six characteristics of a high-performing team. Once the team is together, the work begins.

TEAM + WORK = TEAMWORK

Now the fun begins...

Crystal Clear Roles

A continuing discussion coming from 3 different conversations with 3 different pastors over the course of 3 different days, but all having the same question:

Q: How do you put together a team of leaders to guide a church through a building project?

The first characteristic was a common purpose.

High performance teams are also characterized by crystal clear roles. Every team member is clear about his or her particular role, as well as those of other team members. Roles are about how we design, divide, and deploy the work of the team. While the concept is compellingly logical, many teams find it very challenging to implement in practice.When they get it right, though, team members discover that making their combination more effective and leveraging their collective efforts is an important part to synergistic results.

Broadly speaking, there are three types of team roles:

1. Functional (technical) expertise team roles - qualities and knowledge each member brings to the team
2. Formal team roles - skills needed for a specific role like team leader or facilitator
3. General team roles - the expectations placed on any member of the team so that objectives are met

Role Design Criteria

• Clear - everyone must have role clarity or you will have role confusion
• Complete - cover the whole task - no gaps
• Compatible - match tasks to individual strengths and skills
• Complementary - configure roles so that one person's accomplishment doesn't hinder or block someone else from their task
• Consensual - agree on who is to do what and how

This is my part of our job and no one is done until everyone is done

A: Defining the common purpose of the team is the first step of creating a building team; that common purpose is the reason for cooperation. Following that, the church must develop an appropriate division of labor and create clear roles for team members. This is the strategy for cooperation.

Common Purpose

3 different conversations with 3 different pastors over the course of 3 different days, but all having the same question:

Q: How do you put together a team of leaders to guide a church through a building project?

As with all great questions, the answer begins with another question. One of the first I would ask is Why does this group exist? How that question is answered will determine, to a great measure, the success of the building team. Pat MacMillan, author of "The High Performance Factor", and Seth Godin, author of "Tribes", have been a great resource for me in working with church building teams. Here is the first of several posts on the topic.

The single most important ingredient in a team's success is a clear, common, compelling task. The power of a team flows out of each team member's alignment to its purpose. The task of any team is to accomplish an objective and to do so at exceptional levels of performance. Teams are not ends in themselves, but rather a means to an end.

The power of teamwork flows out of alignment between the interests of individual team members and the mission of the team. To achieve such alignment, team members must see the task as:

• Clear - I see it.
• Relevant - I want it.
• Significant - It's worth it.
• Urgent - I want it...now!
• Achievable - I believe it.

So you want to put together a building team (or any kind of leadership team, for that matter)? There really is an "I" in team - if the individual members aren't committed to a clear, common, and compelling task as individuals first, then you really won't have much of a team.

A: First, the church needs to have a clear understanding of what the team is expected to accomplish. That clear purpose will serve as a guide to seeking individuals who will bring their collective wisdom together to form, over time, a team to accomplish the task.