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Zach and Stephen both made professional transitions in the last year and both have found themselves in new leadership roles. This week in part 2 of a 2-part series, they join forces on the podcast to discuss the last 6 of 12 lessons they've learned over the last year in their new leadership roles.
Show Notes
Zach and Stephen both made professional transitions in the last year and both have found themselves in new leadership roles. This week in part 2 of a 2-part series, they join forces on the podcast to discuss the last 6 of 12 lessons they've learned over the last year in their new leadership roles.
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:Hey. If you didn't know, I, Zach Garza, have teamed up with the Mentoring Alliance. It's our vision to mobilize godly people into the lives of kids and family to do 2 things, provide tangible help and eternal hope. Currently, we are in East Texas and Central Texas, but we want to grow. We have full time jobs available.
Speaker 2:So if you're looking for a job in the mentoring field, please reach out to us. We also have part time staff jobs available. If you're a college student or know of any college students who are looking for summertime jobs, we're doing these summer camps down in East Texas. They're amazing. Come on down to Tyler, spend a summer with us, help kids, get to know our organization, find some friends.
Speaker 2:It's a great thing. So full time jobs for anyone, part time jobs, specifically kinda for college students. But go to our website, thementoringalliance.com. Go to the upper right hand corner, click that working with you tab, and all the information that you need is there. Feel free to reach out to me or go to our website, social media, all that good stuff to learn more about the Mentoring Alliance.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much. You can mentor. Mentors and mentoring leaders, Zach Arce here with the You Can Mentor podcast. I got 3 things that I would like to ask of you today. Number 1, if you are a mentoring organization and you would like like to be on our podcast or learn more about the best practices of mentoring, please reach out to us, www.youcanmentor.com.
Speaker 2:You can send us an email, zach, zach, at you canmentor.com, or stephen, it's with a p h, at you canmentor dot com. Can also find us on social media, give us that DM, and we'll get back to you. We just wanna get to know you and we wanna learn more about what you're doing in your communities to advance mentoring. And we believe that interaction leads to innovation. So let's work together and advance the kingdom through mentoring.
Speaker 2:Number 2, if you know of someone who would benefit from the You Can Mentor podcast, please share our podcast, share our information with them. That would be super helpful. And then lastly, if you could rate our podcast on Apple Podcasts, give us that 5 star. It will help spread the word about mentoring. And, you can mentor podcast.
Speaker 2:Because we really do want every mentoring org in America who is trying to make disciples through mentoring to know about us. We wanna get to know about them so we can learn from them and work together to help kids reach their full potential. So that's what I got. Please do those things. Reach out to us.
Speaker 2:Share and rate. Appreciate you. You can mentor. Welcome back to the You Can Mentor podcast. My name is Zach, and I'm back this week with Steven for part 2 of our 12 leadership lessons that we have learned over this past year.
Speaker 2:Last week, we talked about a number of leadership lessons. We talked about passivity and leadership and how those two things don't mix. We talked about Jesus overall. We talked about just a lot of really good stuff. If you want to learn more, go back to last week's episode.
Speaker 2:But this week, we're talking about the other 6 lessons that we've learned. And the first lesson that we are talking about today is all about balance. So, as a leader, you have to balance these these extremes, right? It's like the balance of when do I give full authority and when do I kind of take the wheel? When do I confront, hey, you need to get better here, or when do you hold your tongue?
Speaker 2:It's like when do you use consequences, and when do you use encouragement? When do you delegate? When do you take the wheel? When do you rely on the Holy Spirit? That might not make a ton of sense.
Speaker 2:And when do you rely on truth and experience and logic? When do you go with speed? Hey, we got to get this done quick. And when do you fall on patience? And it's really Holy Spirit wisdom that tells you which one to do at what time because there isn't really a right or wrong there.
Speaker 2:It's a it's up to you as a leader to be discerning enough to figure out what is right at that moment, in in that situation for that person. And I think that, I think that that's a big deal, is being wise enough to know what to do when. So
Speaker 3:That's good.
Speaker 2:But I think that what you just said and what I just said brings up the next leadership lesson that I want to talk about, which is raising up your successor. Raising up the next leader. Investing and creating leaders because you don't know how long you've got at the org that you're in. Steven, what happens if you get sick tomorrow, and you can't come into work for a year? What happens if you feel called to go to China?
Speaker 2:What happens if there's a 1,000 things that could happen? But who are you investing into? And let me also ask that question by stating whether they stay at your organization or not, because we're in the kingdom business. Yeah. Of course, I would want everyone who I invest into to stay at the org that I'm with and provide value there.
Speaker 2:But if you, in 20 years, you look back and no one is still with you from today, but you've sent out 6 directors or executive directors or CEOs, I think that's a win. So just being intentional about raising up the next leader, about the the next generation of people who can who can be discipled by you, who can be mentored by you, who can be invested into so that you can advance the kingdom that way.
Speaker 3:And those those people are looking for it. They probably don't know how to ask for it. From my from my experience, even just in relationship with you, Zach, you pursued me over and over again. There there were a few times I came to you with questions. I came to you as something I wanted to learn.
Speaker 3:But more than anything, you invited me into the room to learn. You coached me on what I needed to learn, and it and didn't didn't necessarily wait for me to ask the right question or pull it out of you. It was like and every leader wants that. Every leader wants somebody to come alongside them and be like, hey, man. I just wanna pull, glean, take everything from you, and and would you please pour into me?
Speaker 3:But more often than not, the the leader has to condescend, has to humble themselves and be like, can I lead you on this journey? Can I show you what I've learned? Can I invite you in? Rather than expecting you to to to be the one that that goes across the aisle.
Speaker 2:That's so good. Making yourself available, asking questions. Hey. Do you need some help here? Do you know what you're doing?
Speaker 2:Not in, like, a rude way, but which this leads me to number 9, which is true leaders make everyone better. Yeah. And just, you are the coach, you are the shepherd, you are the leader, and you're doing your job if everyone on your team is flourishing. And Flourishing looks different for each and every person, and each and every person needs something different. That's why being a leader and managing people is so difficult because everyone's different.
Speaker 2:Everyone has different histories. Everyone has different needs. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and it's up to you to truly be a servant. If you guys haven't read the book by Patrick Lencioni called The Motive, it's really good. It talks about the motive of wanting to be in charge because the ultimate motive should be to serve, and to build other people up and to encourage other people and help them fulfill their full potential.
Speaker 2:And if you do that, if you make that your life's aim, you're gonna be fulfilled. And your organization's probably gonna kill it, in a good way. Not like in a bad way. But y'all are gonna have success because people love our projects, relationships change lives. If people feel filled up and invested and cared for and empowered, they're gonna do a good job.
Speaker 3:So Yeah. That's good, man.
Speaker 2:And I think that as we, as leaders, do that to our employees, this brings up our next point, don't go at it alone. And we have kind of talked about this, you know. You should be investing into the next generation of leaders, but you also need to be submitting and asking for help and asking for wisdom and asking for advice and surrounding yourself with mentors who have been there, done that. And who are you going to for help, for advice, for wisdom, for encouragement, just event, just to have fun. I'm all for having fun with our em employees and our staff and things like that, but every leader knows you shouldn't talk about some things with your staff.
Speaker 2:You can only talk about that with people who are a little bit ahead of you, or are in the same position as you. So don't go at it alone. Find godly people, find older people, find peers, and share your life with them. Because, yes, the Lord needs to fill you up daily, but you also need that relational fill up and fit sessions and things like that with your professional and non professional community. So Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Why don't why don't you speak to that some just I
Speaker 3:mean yeah. I mean, like, my friend Craig, I I just started playing golf with him more recently. I'm probably, on average, shooting about a 180, which is about twice as much as the normal golfer.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's not good. Hey. You've got elbow in.
Speaker 3:Always be growing. And I mean, we're we're we just made it a practice to get out and connect. And I've just been very intentional pursuing him about the pressures that I'm facing as a leader, how he can help me practically, but also just be a sounding board for for the things that I'm experiencing and and I mean, help connect me to other people who can help as well. Having having people outside of your organization to to speak with and just to be in your corner, I think I think is huge. And finding regular times where where you're bringing people into issues you're facing within confidence and and acknowledging that.
Speaker 3:Like, hey. I I want you to understand where I'm at, what I'm feeling, what I'm sensing, where I need to grow, and I need your help. And, I mean, if you're if you're the leader of a nonprofit, there should be board members that you're reaching out to. You're ask like, you're being vulnerable with. I know they can fire you.
Speaker 3:Yes. But they're going to be blessed by you being real, not just presenting some, I guess, some narrative of how great the organization is or how great you're doing. That's not going to be helpful for you or the organization if you're not real with them.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think that's awesome, Stephen. Having people in your org, your board, or outside of the org is vital, and I just can't stress enough the importance of good, godly board members who are for you. They're also for the organization, but they're also for you. And I think what you just talked about, Steven, is kind of our next point, which is if I refuse to look at my failures, it will create a culture of excuses.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Why don't you speak to that a little bit?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I I mean, I think that that was something that I've just realized. As the leader, I'm picking up when someone's making an excuse, but I'm more I'm more quick to pick up other people's excuses than my own excuses and realize maybe the reason people are making excuses about their work and not being accountable to the things they committed to is a reflection of myself and and the way I am I'm operating. If I'm, you know, letting meetings run late and people constantly tell me that I don't come to meetings with an agenda and I don't give them a heads up where when we're having a strategic meeting, what the plan is, what we're gonna talk about, and I'll realize that I'll I'll come up with an excuse. Well, Zach, I'm late because I was meeting with Bill.
Speaker 3:My computer was out of battery. The the the cable for the podcast equipment was in the other room. The SD card, like, I can come up with a list. The the spinning wheel of death was there, and it sounds like I'm telling you why I was late to this meeting.
Speaker 2:Which is exactly what you are doing because you were late to this meeting, but I love you.
Speaker 3:But if I if I don't own that, then what I do is I I promote that kind of culture, a culture of making excuses. So, and that's not what you wanna promote?
Speaker 2:No. It's not. And we as leaders, we have to be the kind of people, and create the culture that we want. And so being humble enough to admit failures is big.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well, I we had we had one this is a practical example. We just, as a staff, we had a meeting where we're talking about how do we how do we make good decisions? So So we talked about how are our decisions tactical, how are they ethical, how are they relevant, and how are they aligned with our vision. And so any decision we're trying to make, if it's if it's an important decision or it's gonna require a lot of resources, does it pass all 4 of those tests?
Speaker 3:And if not, maybe we should reconsider. Well, someone was like, well, let's play a game, and let's, you know, let's let's think about some example. And all the examples that were brought up were all these fake, like, so you're the wizard of Oz and yada yada so and so happens. And I just stopped everyone, and I was like, how about how about we use a real decision or something real that we did? And I brought up something that I did that I knew was wrong, and I had everybody in the room tear it apart.
Speaker 3:And and so they're like, that was not tactical. Honestly, I I'm not even sure that was ethical. And I was like, oh, uh-oh. I don't think that was, you know, relevant to our responsibilities, and maybe it was aligned and maybe it was aligned with our vision. So it was like 3 out of the 4, and and that's the executive director.
Speaker 3:And so everybody in the room was allowed to recognize, okay, he's he's gonna create space to acknowledge where he messed up, where he failed, even in the thing that we're trying to implement. And if I can own my failure, I'm gonna allow others to do the same rather than just if I'm gonna make excuses, well, they're they're gonna do the same.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's awesome, man. Good job.
Speaker 3:I think it was ethical, by the way. But
Speaker 2:But it doesn't matter what you think. So last one, maybe the most important one in my opinion. You're more competent than you think. You You've got to believe in yourself and believe that he who calls you is faithful. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that you're in this position for a reason. And you're gonna fail, for sure. But failure is an event, it's not an identity. And, hey, if you fail, ask forgiveness, make it right, look yourself in the mirror, and say, no I have what it takes to do this. You've got to believe in yourself, you got to surround yourself with people who can speak life into you.
Speaker 2:You've got to take risks. You have to be confident in your decisions. Confident in the way that you think is best because God has put you in charge. Your competency, I just believe that we're kind of our worst critics when it comes to being competent. We think the worst about ourselves.
Speaker 2:We think we can't do it, this and that. And I want to see myself how God sees me. That's good. I think that, I think that, I think that that's a big deal. So, self confidence, self value, believing in yourself, seeing yourself how God sees you.
Speaker 2:Not in arrogance, not in, I have all the all, I have all of the right answers, but really in humility. Hey, God's called me to this and I've got this for this season. And getting your identity and your strength and your courage from him. Because perfect love casts out fear, and the enemy wants to terrify you and think that you can't do it. But god says, no.
Speaker 2:No. No. I believe in you, and I am going to work through you.
Speaker 3:That's so good. If you believe you're god's man for the job, that's gonna create a healthy reverence and sobriety about the way you lead, but it's also gonna compel you to to lead with authority. It's like Jesus never walked into conversations. He was like, you know, I kinda think maybe he he was always authoritative because he knew he was God's man. He knew he was called to cleanse the leopard, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to set the captives free, to proclaim liberty to captives.
Speaker 3:And he he operated in that and had no doubt that he he was god's man.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. So instead of being the man for the job or the will man for the job, be god's man for the job. I think that's great. So Come on. So those are our 12 leadership lessons.
Speaker 2:I hope that you enjoyed today's pod. If you took anything away from this, share it with a friend, toss us on social media. We really do want every mentor in America, every mentoring org out there to know about us so that we can learn from them and so that we can build relationships because innovation comes from interaction. And we really do wanna surround ourselves with people who are passionate about Jesus, passionate about mentoring kids from hard places so that we can advance the kingdom in the name of Jesus. A discipleship movement through mentoring is what we're all about and you can mentor.
Speaker 3:Come on.