Practical Capacity Building
Justin Dodson, an emerging leader on staff with CCC at Kent State, asked me yesterday 'SO WHAT?' Such a great question as capacity-oriented training can sound so nebulous. These are some practical steps that have helped me grow my capacity.
Meet
- Attend a conference outside of your organization but inside your strengths/giftings/passions. Many of my friends (Dan, Dave, Jen) passionate about church planting attended Gospel Coalition this Spring.
- The relationships at these conferences are just as important as the content. Most likely you will meet a peer or mentor from a different organization. These people have had an invaluable influence in my life. Twitter can help you stay connected with these people after the conference with minimal effort.
Read
- Start using or take your RSS reading or take it to the next level. If you have Gmail, Google Reader is an easy first step. Start by reading it once a week for 30 minutes. Whatever you do not get to, simply click 'mark all as read.' RSS reading is NOT like email; you can choose to ignore content.
Prune
- What do you suck at that seems to take up a lot of your time? Can you delegate it, spend less time on it, or eliminate the activity altogether? Buckingham's Go Put Your Strengths to Work outlines this process well.