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8 Strategies for Leading a Large Team

8 Strategies for Leading a Large Team Download PDF One of the principles of the Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System is “span of control.” This is the concept that there’s a limit to the number of individuals or groups one person can effectively supervise. There’s no question this is an important factor in responding to an emergency incident, but it’s no less significant in managing a workplace team. Behavioural experts generally agree that the ideal number of direct reports to manage in the workplace is somewhere between five and seven, with various reasons proposed for sliding the number a little higher or a little lower.Factors like the size of the organisation, the type of work being performed, and the experience of the manager all influence what would be considered “best” for a particular work environment, but if you’re managing 10, 15, or even more direct reports, the experts all agree…

Interview Tip – Present the Evidence

Interview Tip - Present the Evidence

Interview Tip – Present the Evidence! Download PDF For more information on answering job interview questions or questions from potential patrons or partners, check out the following articles:The STAR(ce) Method – or how to ace your job interview! Interview Tip – Show Your Learning. Here’s another in the short series of tips for preparing for job interviews, pitching to potential patrons to support your work, or asking another organisation to partner with you – present the evidence!Showing evidence for your experience and accomplishments is very simple and straightforward, and yet it’s an aspect of demonstrating your achievements that few candidates think of when they’re preparing for an interview. Out of the dozens and dozens of interviews I’ve conducted, only in one or two cases dida  candidate come with physical or electronic evidence to back up their claims to show the interview panel.“But won’t people just believe what I say in the…

Interview Tip – Show Your Learning

Interview Tip - Show Your Learning

Interview Tip – Show Your Learning Download PDF For more information on answering job interview questions or questions from potential patrons or partners, check out these articles:The STAR(ce) Method – or how to ace your job interview!  Interview Tip – Present the Evidence. Here’s another tip for those applying for new roles and facing the sometimes daunting prospect of job interviews. This is also applicable for anyone approaching patrons for support, applying for ordination, or in countless other contexts where you find yourself in some way competing against other candidates for a role, experience, or some other outcome.Always make sure you can share what you’ve learnt through your work experience. When I was in school, my maths teachers were always telling me, “Show your working.”  When it comes to presenting yourself as a potential candidate for a job, investment, or partnership, a similar thing applies; “Show your learning.” Lots of…

The STAR(ce) Method – Or How to Ace Your Job Interview

The STAR(ce) Method, how to ace your job interview

The STAR(ce) Method – or how to ace your job interview! Download PDF For more information on answering job interview questions or questions from potential patrons or partners, check out the following articles:Interview Tip – Show Your Learning. Interview Tip – Present the Evidence. How can you present yourself in the best possible way when you’re in a job interview or talking to a potential employer? And how can you do it without exaggerating or stretching the truth on one hand, or feeling like you’re boasting on the other?For lots of people, situations that depend on promoting your own accomplishments can be difficult and feel artificial, and that’s even before you start worrying about the outcome that you’re hoping for! Often the situation giving rise to these feelings is a job interview, or it may be that you’re asking a potential patron to give financially, or you may be asking an…

Effective Planning & Review Meetings

Effective Planning and Review Meetings

Effective Planning & Review Meetings Download PDF Gospel ministry often involves lots of meetings! In fact, it can seem like meetings take up a disproportionate amount of time for church staff and leaders, and others involved in gospel work.  Though know planning and canvassing ideas is an important part of being good stewards of the resources at our disposal – we don’t want to be wasteful because we haven’t thought enough about likely outcomes. It’s also part of being good shepherds of those in our care – it’s unkind not to consider the challenges and responses likely to be faced by those we lead and involve in ministry.Similarly, reviewing our ministry tasks – reflecting on how we’ve used our time and money and how we’ve asked people to labour alongside us – is part of seeking to be fruitful and effective for the gospel.If you lead a team, whether that…

God of the Nations and the Lowly – Psalm 138

Psalms

God of the Nations and the Lowly – Psalm 138 The God of the vast harvest fields, is also the gardener who tends to the individual branches on his vine.We have been working our way through the book of Acts in our weekly Bible study with the Dundonald staff and Co-Mission Resources Team.  Among the many encouragements I’ve received through Acts, is the repeated reminder that the God of the rapid spread of the gospel is also the God of the inward change in the lives of individuals; God calls many thousands to himself in a single day, and also arranges an intersection between one enquirer and a potential evangelist on a desert road.  Cities are turned upside down (right side up?!) by the good news of Jesus, while stories of one household coming to faith are also celebrated.  The God of the vast harvest fields, is also the gardener…

Praying to Our God who Hears and Acts – Psalm 86

Psalms

Praying to Our God Who Hears and Acts – Psalm 86 Our God hears and acts!There are many Psalms in the Bible in which the author tells his fellow Israelites, or even the nations around, about God, and his character and actions.  Think of Psalm 18 as one example, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge” (18:2).  Then there are some Psalms in which the Psalmist speaks to God about God.  Psalm 86 is one of the clearest examples of this kindThrough David’s words in this Psalm, we are reminded much about the character of God, but perhaps most especially that God hears and answers when we call to him.We don’t know the detail of the distress that Israel’s King David finds himself in as he writes this Psalm, but verse 14 suggests there is a very…

Let’s Worship our Glorious God – A Prayer from Psalm 97

Psalms

Let’s Worship Our Glorious God – A Prayer from Psalm 97 How Psalm 97 spurs us on in worship.Sometimes it’s hard to worship God or to rejoice at who he is and what he’s done for us.  It might be because of our personal circumstances; perhaps we don’t feel like worshipping God if we’re struggling, sad, or busy and tired. Maybe we hurt because of the hardships that others dear to us face, and so to rejoice in the Lord feels a bit like we’re ignoring those we love, and are blind to their suffering. Or maybe we find it hard to worship God because of the state our world; there is adversity and oppression on a huge scale, and so perhaps we’re a little bit angry at God, or at the very least confused by what he’s doing, so it doesn’t feel easy to worship God.And even though COVID-19 restrictions are…

In God We Trust – A Prayer from Psalm 16

Psalms

In God We Trust – A Prayer from Psalm 16 Using Psalm 16 as a prayer to deepen our trust in God.His promises are true, and they work!In previous generations if you said to a friend, “This is what I believe,” they’d likely respond, “Is it true? Where’s the evidence?”There’s been shift though, in western societies which means that the question, “Is it true?” has largely been replaced by another question; “Does it work?”  There seems to be much less interest in truthfulness, in the empirical facts concerning something – look at the persistent spread of false information about Coronavirus and 5G mobile technology. Today people seem to be more interested in whether a particular approach to life works. Whether or not someone will adopt a particular belief or approach to life is determined less by the truthfulness of that approach, but on “does it work?” and particularly on the…

Evangelism in Church Gatherings

Evangelism in Church Gatherings

Evangelism in Church Gatherings Download PDF Where does evangelism fit in our “regular” Sunday services?Should we try to share the gospel in church?What are the opportunities to do it?Here are some thoughts, especially for those thinking about shaping Sunday (or other day!) services in church plants.If in our churches ‘evangelistic’ meetings, and ‘evangelistic’ sermons, are thought of as special occasions, different from the ordinary run of things, it is a damning indictment of our normal Sunday services … that would simply prove that we have failed to understand what our regular Sunday services are for.Jim Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, p 55What should we expect of our church gathering?Christians have different Ideas about what the church gathering is.Church is the gathering of ChristiansPlaces like Ephesians chapters 1 and 3 tell us that the new relationship of Jews and Gentiles gathered spiritually around Christ is represented and worked out,…