The Leader's Journey Podcast

Learning to Surface and Test the Mental Models: Part 2 When you are leading off map, learning to surface and test the mental models—yours and those of your team—that guide your decision-making is an essential leadership skill. In this episode, we are going to name what we believe to be the dominant mental model and then compare and contrast it to what we see emerging. As you listen, join us in ask...

When you are leading off map, learning to surface and test the mental models—yours and those of your team—that guide your decision-making is an essential leadership skill. Click here to learn more about and get access to Better Together Conversation Overview What is a mental model and why is it important to know what one is? What are some biblical examples of mental model shifts? What is the conne...

We believe that it is God's design for men and women to collaborate as equals in the missional life. We believe living according to God's design is a matter of justice and a matter of missional effectiveness. Learn more and get access to Better Together here. Conversation Overview How Jim & Trisha started working together Some of what we've learned over more than 20 years of working together Our c...

Burning out is not an inevitable part of leadership but it is a common one; leaders can care for themselves and each other as they avoid burnout where possible, heal from burnout where necessary and use burnout to learn new ways of life. Subscribe to our newsletter Conversation Overview W hat is burnout? How do we distinguish between burnout, stress, depression, fatigue, etc.? How do our mental mo...

Leading from the Second Chair with Mike Bonem Leadership is not just about being in charge. The best leaders know how to use influence and relationships to lead up, down and sideways in order to shape the things they care about. Subscribe to our newsletter What is a second chair leader? " a person in a subordinate role whose influence with others adds value throughout the organization." Conversati...

Leadership is not just about being in charge. The best leaders know how to use influence and relationships to lead up, down and sideways in order to shape the things they care about. Subscribe to our newsletter Conversation Overview What are some of the frustrations and challenges that come with trying to lead in an organization where you're not in charge? What does it mean to lead up ?  What are...

In this episode, we talk with Ben Sternke and Matt Tebbe authors of "Having the Mind of Christ: Eight Axioms to Cultivate a Robust Faith". During the conversation, we explore deconstruction, how our response to it impacts those we lead, and much more! Subscribe to our newsletter Conversation Overview:   Ben & Matt's Book: Having the Mind of Christ: Eight Axioms to Cultivate a Robust Faith "Lenses...

Today we're talking about what it means to be coachable and what it means to have a posture of coachability. Subscribe to our newsletter! Leaders who learn to lead through coaching and who develop a culture of coaching in their organization will effectively raise up people who can consistently be the healthiest, most effective version of themselves and do their best work. Conversation Overview Ove...

The five skills that leaders can start to work on today to become more effective leaders through coaching are deep listening, inquiry, giving clear feedback, guiding focus, and doing your own work.  Subscribe to our newsletter! Leaders who learn to lead through coaching and who develop a culture of coaching in their organization will effectively raise up people who can consistently be the healthie...

Leaders who learn to lead through coaching and who develop a culture of coaching in their organization will effectively raise up people who can consistently be the healthiest, most effective version of themselves and do their best work. Subscribe to our newsletter! Conversation Overview: Leadership mental models What do we mean by coaching? Coaching styles and approaches How will leaders need to c...

In this episode of The Leader's Journey Podcast , Trisha and Jim are reflecting on the past two years, what they've learned, how things have changed, and what they can see differently now from a different vantage point. In part of the episode, Jim and Trisha reflect on a few podcasts and blog posts they shared during the early stages of the pandemic. We wanted to encourage you to review those reso...

To navigate the storms in our systems it is important to be able to notice and identify them as ambient anxiety from a culture in chaos, a crisis eruption, or the conflict that shows up as a symptom of the anxiety in our system. Subscribe to our newsletter! The Leader's Journey Book Series The process of researching, studying, and writing the book The Leader's Journey  changed the trajectory of ou...

What does our family of origin or our nuclear family have to do with how we lead?  In this episode, we explore that question as we discuss the third section of our book entitled Family Patterns .   The process of researching, studying, and writing the book  The Leader's Journey  changed the trajectory of our lives. In this series, we are joined by our co-author Dr. Robert Creech and together we'll...

To think systems, we have to give up cause-and-effect thinking. Everyone in a particular system is influencing and being influenced all the time. The process of researching, studying, and writing the book  The Leader's Journey  changed the trajectory of our lives. In this series, we are joined by our co-author Dr. Robert Creech and together we'll be going over some key ideas from the book and the...

"An effective leader, one who can galvanize individuals and groups and who has the potential to help transform society is a person who has the capacity to know and do the right thing." – The Leader's Journey The process of researching, studying, and writing the book The Leader's Journey changed the trajectory of our lives. In this series, we are joined by our co-author Dr. Robert Creech and togeth...

How can leaders use the power they have on behalf of others and share their power with others in order to create a more just and more equitable community? We are joined by Dr. D. Z. Cofield and Deborah Pulis for this conversation. In this series, we are exploring the inherent connection between leadership and power. We hope to help leaders better understand the dynamics of power in their organizat...

In this episode, we explore how trustworthy and transformative leaders carefully balance authority and vulnerability to create space for flourishing. Conversation overview What comes to mind when you think about authority? What comes to mind when you think about vulnerability? The vulnerability to tell the truth Having conviction and humility The importance of loving the people that we serve What...

A conversation about leadership is inherently a conversation about power, and a conversation about power is inherently a conversation about conflict. In this episode, we explore how trustworthy and transformative leaders understand how power dynamics are always present in conflict and how they can be navigated wisely, creating the results we want. Thanks for listening!  Summary: Assumptions about...

Trustworthy and transformative leaders understand the dynamics of power in their organizations and in themselves and they have developed principles and practices that help them use their own power wisely.  "Power is the ability to achieve purpose, power is the ability to effect change, and we need power." – Martin Luther King Jr.  Leaders will too often use their power in ways that produce outcome...

It's the new year and some of us have been planning our new year's resolutions for months, some of us haven't and feel guilty about it, and some of us very strictly don't do resolutions. Our culture is very keen on goal-setting and yet, we wonder how effective that is.  In this episode, we got our whole team together to have a conversation about goals, when they work for us, and when they dont.  -...

We wanted the last episode of this year to be a little different. There will not be a leadership principle, and there's not going to be a question that we're trying to answer. But in this episode, I think we want to talk to each other and talk to our community as the year winds down. To give us the opportunity to reflect a little bit on this last year. Conversation overview: We're not designed to...

Today Jim is joined by our colleague and fellow coach, Dr. Michael De Ruyter. Mike and Jim are facilitating a learning community for 10 pastors this fall and today's podcast is a conversation between us that we prepared for one of the gatherings of this group of pastors, the topic is systems thinking and how we utilize this way of thinking and highly complex and emotionally charged leadership situ...

How do we implement accountability strategies that are actually empowering and effective? In our efforts to lead a group of people toward a shared mission or vision, we must find ways to overcome our negative experiences with accountability and learn to hold ourselves, each other and our organizations accountable in collaborative, grace-filled and practical ways.  Summary: Reactions to the idea of...

Many organizations have plenty of great ideas and plans for the future but they struggle to focus everyone in the same direction and goal setting always seems to fall flat. How can we do strategic planning in a way that will help us get where we're trying to go? That's the topic for this episode of our series exploring  questions we get from leaders about that second set of leadership skills--the...

The question we are exploring in this episode is, "So I believe that God is doing a new thing, how do I help people let go of the past so that we can move toward a different future?" Conversation Overview The nature of change The nature of grief How do we help people name and grieve their losses without getting stuck in them? What are the skills and practices for this work? How is this work simila...