Ep 083: Leading Through the Dip, Craig Groeschel & Danielle Strickland

SUMMARY:

All organizations and systems go through inevitable cycles of birth, growth and maturity, decline and even death. We all enjoy leading when things are going “up and to the right,” but how do you lead through a season of decline, or “the dip”? In this important conversation with Danielle Strickland, long-term leader Craig Groeschel dives into what it takes to lead effectively through the dip. When leaders are willing to pivot and think about change in more helpful ways, the dip can actually springboard your organization to new levels of success and engagement.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Whatever you’re leading, it’s not always going to be “up and to the right.”
• Whether you intentionally step into a dip or the dip happens to you, what are the key elements you can pick up as a leader to lead through it and come out on the other side of it?
• There are five cycles of life for organizations and systems: (1) birth, (2) growth, (3) maturity, (4) decline and (5) death.
• In the initial “decline” stage, there is an opportunity for reinvention, if a leader is innovative and courageous enough to try.
• Reinvention may not be possible for all organizations.
• If you wait until you are already in the decline phase, that may be a little too late.
• It can be good leadership to often shut something down and re-prioritize.
• What separates leaders in crisis is the ability to pivot.
• One of the most impactful things that Life.Church was allowed to do as an organization came out of killing something else that did not work.
• Lead with a sense of “healthy skepticism”: be optimistic that we can do more of whatever we care about but at the same time be a little bit skeptical.
• As a leader, people will tend to tell you what you want to hear, and leaders are tempted to hear what they want to hear.
• As a leader, you want to see problems early, and solve them quickly.
• It’s not that people dislike change; they do not like how we are trying to change them. Shift your mindset to one that says people do like change, we just need to lead them to change in a way that matters.
• If I am leading someone that will not change, the first thing I must do as a leader is ask myself, “Have I been clear and compelling in creating the why and the what that needs to happen?” Have I been clear and specific?
• If you have team members that are toxic and are not willing to grow, eventually they are no longer the problem, you (the leader) are the problem.
• When you have to confront, start by saying what’s NOT happening: “You are not losing your job. You are because we care about you, but something’s not going well in your role.”
• If you go more than a day without telling people, “thank you for what you do,” you’re probably not having a good leadership day.
• In any kind of dip we have to know, “We are in a dip; things are tough; here’s what we have to do. We have real data. We can change; we like change.” We’re going to tell people why, the why is going to empower the advocates, it’s going to disarm the critics, and it may engage the bystanders, and then we lead.
• At the end of the day, ask yourself, “How many life-giving conversations did I have today?”
• Culture makes leading through the dip easier.
• As a leader, you just don’t know what will you’ll know 5 or 10 years from now. Don’t bind yourself to promises that can’t change with your strategy. Have the courage to unmake promises.
• Over a five to seven year period, if you’re not changing strategy or redirecting something you thought you’d always do or never do, you’re probably going to let that limit your potential.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. Organizations and systems have life cycles (birth, growth, maturity, decline and death). A critical skill is being able to spot decline (“The Dip”) early, and find opportunities to innovate and reinvigorate our organizations.
2. Think about your ability to pivot in times of crisis. How well do you do at “seeing problems early” and solving them quickly?
3. “It’s not that people don’t like change; it’s that they don’t like the way we try to change them.” How have you seen this play out in your organization? How could it have been different?
4.  In this podcast, Craig suggested that a leader should ask himself at the end of the day, “How many life-giving conversations did I have today?” Think about your own leadership activities today: how did you do today? Are there any adjustments you need to make to your leadership conversations?
5. Are there any leadership promises you need to unmake?

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Life.Church 

YouVersion Bible App 

Crucial Conversations 

RELATED LINKS:

Craig Groeschel 

Danielle Strickland 

2020 GLS Talk, Leading Through the Dip (Video) 

Paula Faris 

Journeys of Faith with Paula Faris 

The Global Leadership Summit