Martha and I have been going through this excellent team-building training/leadership training over the last year from GiANTWorldwide. It has truly been revolutionary in how we interact with one another and how we interact with our team – all of whom are outsourced. There are so many qualities a good leader should have, but upon self-evaluation, the one I need to work on the most is the “Provisional/Plan/Promise” conversation. It turns out that the words I use could be undermining my leadership at iWork4Him.

If you are a dreamer like me, who is also an entrepreneur, you probably come up with original ideas all the time to keep yourself busy. I read a ton of books for the podcast and run across fresh ideas all the time, so I feel like I am continually filtering out my many ideas to only share the cream of the crop. However, when I dream out loud, sometimes I am inadvertently communicating that I plan to carry these dreams into realities. All I was doing was dreaming, but because I didn’t tell everyone that I was dreaming, they thought I was espousing a new direction or directive. So, Martha has learned to ask me. Is that provisional (dream), a plan (something we potentially will consider), or a promise (truly a direction we will take.)

So, what about you. Do you offer clarifying statements when you share a new idea? Do you let people know whether you are dreaming, planning, or promising an outcome?

Forty years ago, Jim and I met each other, become best friends and thought we were meant to be full-time pastors or missionaries. Now, Jim and I have the pleasure of helping our radio and podcast listeners understand what we really committed to 40 years ago - living in full time ministry every day.