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Beware of the Yeabut!
Have you seen em? I know you’ve heard them! These are nasty little creatures. They start off by getting into your ministry, usually through a door left open by a leader that’s too tired or careless to keep the door shut. If they’re not taken care of right away they’ll quickly eat at the foundation of your ministry. Not only that- they also spread like lice on a longhaired alpaca. Next thing you know the entire place will be infested with Yeabuts. If you haven’t heard or seen them yet…just wait! You will!
Here’s what they sound like:
Leader: “We need to think about relocating the 2nd grade room this next week.”
Yeabut: “Yea But, if we do that we’re going to have parents upset…”
Leader: “This was probably the best camp we’ve done!”
Yeabut: “Yea But, we really need to be sure we’re on this months earlier next year”
Leader: Let’s be sure we connect with parents better this year!”
Yeabut: Yea But, we know they really don’t care so why waist our time?”
Yeabuts are not big in fact they’re very tiny! One doesn’t do too much damage on its own. The problem is that they usually travel in swarms. They swarm around individuals that are:
Negative
Overwhelmed
Overworked
Lacking vision
How to exterminate YEABUTS!
Active
Remove the Yeabut immediately.
This can be painful at times, but is a necessity. As a leader you’re called to lead. This means lovingly confronting your team from time to time and discussing attitudes.
Maybe your team member needs some time off. Maybe they need more answers or maybe their missing part of the vision. Find out and address the issue head on.
Stop the spreading
Have a team meeting that explains how our ministry is one that will seize the moment and rise to meet any challenge! We’re doers…we’re team players…we’re positive influences!
***Preventive***
Have a compelling vision
Usually Yeabuts exists when a team member is wavering from the vision. For this reason, be sure that your vision is understood, it’s compelling and it’s been sold well. When people buy into a vision there’s no room for Yeabuts
Create an atmosphere where challenges are opportunities
Yeabuts can’t exist in an environment that values change and creates opportunities. When a leader creates an environment that sees difficult challenges as “opportunities”, they’re also proactively attacking Yeabuts before they can do any damage.
Yeabuts are nasty little creatures that can erode the foundation of any ministry and suck the life out of any leader. They need to be stopped!
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Tags: Church, Leadership, Volunteers
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