I met Ken and Margie Blanchard when I served a church on the west coast. They are faithful and generous Christians, attending the church I served in between their travels across the country and globe. Both are quick to hug, speak to people, and offer Ken’s famous “praisings.” They also run one of the largest servant leadership training organization in the world, The Ken Blanchard Companies.
Ken and Margie offered their home as a temporary residence for us before we purchased our home, which was a tremendous blessing and it provided unique insight into how Ken and Margie model kindness, generosity and hospitality. My wife and two boys experienced the Blanchard version of love: attention, fun and joy.
But the connection with Ken Blanchard started before our move. Several of Ken’s books rest within my pastoral collection, several of which served as the basis for sermon series material. (If you have not picked up a copy of Ken’s legacy work for churches, “Lead Like Jesus;” get it and study it with friends). After settling into my new calling, our leadership officially adopted servant leadership training and qualifications for church officers. Wherever I go, Lead Like Jesus for Churches serve as a reference point of servant leadership.
To note three things I learned from Ken is like proclaiming, “I’ve got three takeaways from my time in school.” I suspect there are many Ken and Margie fans who could come up with multiple lists of learned wisdom. Perhaps a better title would read, “Here is a highlighted list from the many things I’ve learned from Ken and Margie Blanchard.”
1. You have to show people you love them – and love takes time.
Who can imagine the number of phone calls, texts, emails and correspondence Ken and Margie answer on any given day? And yet, when my son Thomas expressed an interest in writing, not knowing Ken’s background (Thomas is ten, and in his mind Ken and Margie are the nice folks with the jellybeans in their home), Ken reached out to Thomas himself.
Thomas made the trip over to Ken’s house with my wife. Ken, in typical Ken fashion, shared details about how he puts together thoughts and organizes material for publication. Thomas asks about Ken and Margie, not for what they’ve accomplished, but for the attention and affirmations they’ve shared. Some say “love” is the leadership glue that holds us together; I say “loving” as a verb is the better way of leading. If Ken and Margie can make the time for people, you can choose to make time in your leadership circle. Consider evaluating your goals to include reminders of how and when you loved the folks in your sphere of influence.
2. You have to keep learning – and learning involves change.
Ken loves to illustrate the discomfort of change through through fun examples when you go through the Lead Like Jesus seminar. My own father, also a Presbyterian pastor, reminds me often , “Change is a dirty word in ministry.” People naturally struggle with change in any industry and every stage of life, or as Ken summarizes, “Change is hard!”
However, while the core of who Ken and Margie are in their organizational leadership style never changes, the way they do things is always open to adaptation and evolution. Margie told me that Ken’s preaching tenure, as part of his interim role at our church, was challenging. The audience was different from Ken’s normal leadership conferences, and the delivery and context was new. And yet, he pushed through the experience to learn and experience something new – through change.
And recently, throughout the quarantine of 2020, you could find Ken on LinkedIn hosting weekly “campfire” video sessions of encouragement and sharing of ideas. Ken never stops learning new things, and he accepts the change that comes with it.
3. You can’t praise people enough – and you need to surround yourself with people who do it often.
This is the first lesson from Ken and Margie’s leadership training. Ken will exhort you, “Catch people doing something right!” Affirming folks undergirds Ken’s bestseller, “The One Minute Manager,” but it is also the easiest discipline to overlook in achievement oriented environments.
For people in organizations that require quick, consistent wins (sales, C-suite positions, management, board membership, and in some contexts of ministry), the tendency is to start each day at zero. Who hasn’t heard the following, “You’re only as good as your last sale!” It permeates cultures of success. So consider a way of reminding yourself to put “praising others” at the top of your action list each day.
Like all in positions of servant leadership, I love people. My conviction, and in many ways my life’s work, is to correct the perception of ministry into “the priesthood of all believers.” 1 Peter 2:9 Accordingly, when Ken and Margie asked me to write out my personal leadership point of view (a statement you craft through the Lead Like Jesus training), “positivity with people” went to the top of the list.
And remember, you alone can’t affirm people enough by yourself, so a regular part of your leadership agenda planning should include the intentional reminder for others to catch others doing something right. Have appreciation days or lunches, post pictures, and highlight celebration moments. You can’t praise people enough, and you need more people pointing out the good things others are doing in your organization.
Put Things in Perspective
You and I may not achieve recognition as famous authors or leadership gurus, but we can pass along the practices, truths and habits that make the world a better place. Today, on my shortlist of leadership wisdom, these three things gleaned from Ken and Margie Blanchard remain:
- Love people, and remember that love requires an investment of your time.
- Keep learning, and accept that new things bring uncomfortable change.
- Praise people more, and surround yourself with a team of encouragers.
And “thank you” Ken and Margie, for being friends to my family.
“One hundred years from now, we will be a footnote in history. But, the best things in us will live on.”
Pastor Dr Bryan Stamper
Be sure to visit the Lead Like Jesus site.
Another article from Pastor Bryan – Is this the end of the world?
Pastor Bryan has produced some videos with answers to common questions – Ask Pastor Bryan