Tips for Leading with Confidence

Dear LWML Leaders,

Welcome back to Tips for Leading with Confidence.

Joy Anderson, LWML Nominating Committee Chairman suggests these tips to keep your nomination process moving along smoothly.

Tips for the Nomination Process

• Pray for God’s guidance before each nominating committee meeting, phone call or mailing.

• Set candidates up for success by making sure leader or procedure manuals are up to date with the current job descriptions and required tasks.

• Set and announce the nomination timeline and dates and stick to them.

• Keep the style, format, and word count consistent when writing candidate’s biographies.

• List the most recent areas of service first when creating candidate biographies.

• Be mindful of stage presence for candidates. You may need to substitute presenters so that candidates are not on stage before the actual balloting.

What does your group do to ensure an efficient selection of new officers?

God's Blessings,

Susan Brunkow, Chairman
Leadership Development Committee

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Tips for Leading with Confidence

Dear LWML Leaders,

Welcome back to Tips for Leading with Confidence.

Former Vice President of Organizational Resources Carolyn Blum offers this insight on leadership.

Look for Future Leaders

As a good leader in the LWML, you are involved with the day-to-day activities of your group, you delegate tasks as needed, and review each person’s involvement.

As a better leader, you inspire team members to help develop goals and timelines for the group, encourage them to ask questions, and nurture those who proactively share ideas. You observe how they influence the team, you ask them to volunteer for special projects, and you show appreciation for their opinions and allow them to exercise their leadership skills by working independently.

As the best leader, you actively seek out and mentor those with whom you serve and evaluate who has been blessed with the gifts and talents to lead the group when your term is finished. You visit with them occasionally about what you do in your position and perhaps even ask them to volunteer for a task or two associated with the job. While you may not be able to officially offer them your position, you can share your observations and suggestions with those who make that decision.

As Christian leaders, we thank God for the privilege of praying for and mentoring future servant leaders! More information on mentoring can be found in the Mentoring Resource Kit.

God's Blessings,

Susan Brunkow, Chairman
Leadership Development Committee

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Tips for Leading with Confidence

Dear LWML Leaders,

Welcome back to Tips for Leading with Confidence.

Everyone has rough days. As Christians we are assured we can call on God to strengthen us so we can continue to serve with gladness.

When You Want to Call It Quits

Luke 5 gives us three points to reflect upon and to help us discover the life-saving power of Jesus as we serve and lead.

Return to your original call – Luke 5:10

Run to the Lord – Pray and give it over to God

Move forward in faith – Luke 5:5

The new Mustard Seed devotion booklet Praise and Patience includes some great meditations that remind us to praise God and exercise patience when times get rough.

God's Blessings,

Susan Brunkow, Chairman
Leadership Development Committee

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Tips for Leading with Confidence

Dear LWML Leaders,

Welcome back to Tips for Leading with Confidence.

Spelling and Capitalization of Internet Terms

The confusing Internet world can leave us baffled even when we are not connected. When using written communication referring to the web remember these easy tips.

• email – lowercase except at the beginning of a sentence
• Cellphone or smartphone – one word
• home page – two words
• internet - lowercase except at the beginning of a sentence
• login, logon, logoff – one word when used as an adjective, but two words in verb form
  For example: I will log in to my login account.
• online – one word
• password – one word
• PowerPoint presentation
• username – one word
• website, webmaster, webservant, webcast, web-page, the web, web address – lower case except at the beginning of a sentence.
• World Wide Web
• the web, website, webmaster, web page – lower case except at the beginning of a sentence
• eNews – The LWML electronic newsletter begins with a lowercase e followed by a capital N.
• eQuarterly – The electronic version of the Lutheran Woman’s Quarterly begins with a lowercase e followed by a capital Q.  The electronic version is not italicized.

Recommended fonts include Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, Times New Roman and Georgia.  Other fonts may not convert to PDF documents correctly.

Additional information regarding spelling and capitalization can be found in the LWML Style Book here.

God's Blessings,

Susan Brunkow, Chairman
Leadership Development Committee

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Tips for Leading with Confidence

Dear LWML Leaders,

Welcome back to Tips for Leading with Confidence.

VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION

Volunteers make necessary and important contributions to any group. Their compensation comes from fulfillment of individual goals and motivational needs. Recognition is important in their continued motivation to serve.

Here are some suggestions to recognize and honor your volunteers:

• Make a phone call expressing your thanks.
• Write a personal note.
• Include their accomplishments in a newsletter.
• Reward them with a meaningful gift.
• Host an appreciation event to honor volunteers.
• Invite them to dinner.
• Thank them in person.
• Send out an email expressing your appreciation.
• Post photos of your volunteers on a church bulletin board or website.

The LWML resource Volunteers in Christ’s Ministry includes more information on honoring volunteers.

God's Blessings,

Susan Brunkow, Chairman
Leadership Development Committee

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Tips for Leading with Confidence

Dear LWML Leaders,

Welcome back to Tips for Leading with Confidence.

Practice Self-Care

Body — Take a walk or reach for a glass of water rather than that extra cup of coffee or soft drink.

Mind — Make a phone call to an old friend just to connect or spend time in appreciation of God’s wonderful creation.

Soul — Meditate on a Psalm and apply to your life or make of list your blessings and thank God for them.

Let us know the results.  What did you try this week and how were you blessed?

God's Blessings,

Susan Brunkow, Chairman
Leadership Development Committee

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Tips for Leading with Confidence

Dear LWML Leaders,

Welcome back to Tips for Leading with Confidence.

Video Conferencing

Jeremy Barlow, Director of Digital Marketing at BoardEffect gives these basic tips for running a video conference smoothly. 

• Always test audio equipment and the virtual meeting space at least 15 minutes prior to the meeting.

• Check the lighting for problems with shadows or reflections from windows.

• Ask participants to mute their line, rather than put it on hold to avoid hold music from being played during the meeting.

• Plan a detailed agenda and keep the video conference moving by interspersing long and short agenda items.

• Keep the meeting interesting.

• Refrain from checking email or multi-tasking during the conference.

• If using a video option, dress to keep a professional appearance.

• Be aware that others can hear and see what you say and do, including unintentional utterances.

The main concerns around video conferencing are related to learning new technical skills and the loss of comradery among members. One LWML district encouraged their members to gather together in small groups to join the video conference. This fostered personal interaction and allowed the most computer savvy individuals to facilitate the technology needs.

Video conferences, like in-person meetings, will always include a few glitches. As leaders, we need to be organized, keep our sense of humor, and model forgiveness when things do not go perfectly. 

Share with us what has made your experience with video conferencing successful.

God's Blessings,

Susan Brunkow, Chairman
Leadership Development Committee

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