Trust is a huge part of having a highly functional team.

One of the greatest talks I’ve ever heard on TRUST and the importance of trust on a team is from Andy Stanley.

In fact, listen to a leadership podcast that Andy recorded. Great insights on this podcast. Highly recommend that you and your entire team take time to listen to this podcast together, and then discuss it. Our team did recently, and was incredibly valuable.

Here are a few main points and thoughts after listening to Andy talk about Trust vs. Suspicion:

1. Being trustworthy doesn’t mean you’ll be flawless and not make mistakes. Give your team freedom to make mistakes and then being willing to own up to it.

2. A great statement in terms of trust: I’ll do what I said I would do, and if not, I will tell you.

3. As leaders, if our team fears our response when they mess up, because they’ve seen our response and don’t want to deal with that, we need to change our response. Our response as leaders is determined by my personal maturity and security.

4. Ultimately, we create a culture of trust by trusting, and trusting more, and trusting even more.

5. Three things to blame when something goes wrong- blame a person, blame human nature, or blame the system. But many times, when the system is at fault and to blame, we still want to blame a person.

6. The tendency when something bad happens, or one of your team members acts in an untrustworthy fashion, is to try and create a system or a policy that will keep it from happening ever again- managing towards the lowest common denominator. One person messing up causes the entire system to change. This is not the right thing to do. All you’ll do is create a culture where everyone thinks you don’t trust them, and perhaps end up running off your best people on the team who are incredibly trustworthy because rules and regulations have been set up for one person, and not for everyone.

By Brad Lomenick, check out more of his thoughts here & follow him here!

Stories are powerful. They are like guides that lead us through a narrative and into a world that lives between the words - revealing so much more than the mere words themselves. A story contains the power to ignite desire in a person; the power to portray a principle; the power to create a new space in which one can take refuge; and even the power to invoke a visceral response in the listener. Stories are like food for the soul - nourishing it and helping it grow. More than anything, stories contain the power to heal.

Several years ago, after a man I barely knew boldly shared his story while at a men's retreat I finally mustered the courage to tell my own story of brokenness, sexual abuse and addiction - deciding to spare no detail and let everything out of all the dark recesses of my heart and mind. It was one of the most uncomfortable and painful moments of my life. I could not even look at the other guys in the room. I just knew that when I looked up they would all have run out of the room to go pray for me and my heathen ways.

After the second hour into my story when I finally did look up, they hadn't left - they were actually engaged with me and many of them crying for me during parts of the story where I could not yet cry for myself.
After that retreat I went home and shared the details of my story with all my closest friends. I wanted to share about this hope and healing I had encountered. However, I did not expect what happened next - through telling my story others around me were finding healing as well. Yet, not because of some enlightened truth in my story or the eloquence of my speech but because in the telling of my story I had inadvertently invited them to begin to tell their own stories.

As a result of sharing my story over those first few months, I began to experience amazing healing in my life. The hope that came as I spoke the words of my story began creating a new space of healing, a space that hung between the words of my story. The telling of my story ushered in newfound freedom and peace that seemed to permeate every ounce of my being.

I had been hiding my story for years, fearing that telling my story would drive people away. Yet, telling my story seemed to have the opposite effect. The more I shared, the more others shared with me. It seemed as though others were starving for a deeper connection through the sharing of our stories, our lives.

I have realized that in a world that offers numerous ways to connect on a daily basis, we are starving for a much deeper connection than Twitter and Facebook can offer. We all want more than the contrived stories of life presented on people's Facebook page or the polished stories presented by the leaders around us. We want authenticity.

We want the truth!

A starving person will likely tell you that what they want most is for the ache of hunger to go away but in reality their desire is actually for something much deeper - healing nourishment. They want to live - hunger is just the voice to that deeper desire.

The same thing applies to stories. We may not even know why we are starving so much for authenticity but it is for more than stopping the hunger for connection. It is for the healing nourishment of what a story offers to a person - the hope of new life.

In my silence my story had power over me - yet, in telling my story it released its suffocating grip on me and began to grip others and pull them toward life and healing along with me. The nature of my story did not change once I began to speak it aloud, yet the nature of its power was radically changed from that of bondage to that of freedom. Yet that power could only be realized once I spoke it with my mouth. Only then did the power of my story become a catalyst for change in my life and the life and stories of others.

Are you willing to go beyond the words and to the truth of your story? Who around you may be waiting on you to tell your story and invite them into a healing space? Had that man several years ago not told his story, I am afraid my life would have been bleak in comparison to my life as it is now.

Share your story. Experience healing. Share healing.

Aaron Harris is a native Atlantan and currently resides in Sandy Springs. By day, he is a transactional attorney in the Atlanta area and moonlights as an artist and writer. His artworks can be found in many private and corporate collections throughout the United States. Through his writings he uses his own personal story to address hard subjects like addiction and abuse in order to bring light into dark areas otherwise often ignored. Connect further at Aarons's blog or follow him on Twitter.

That is a mouthful, I know. As a right-brained leader in a left-brained business world I am often asked how I have time to think and/or activate creative ideas. The easy answer is that it's hard. So let me share some ideas for you if you happen to be right-brained or would like to be a more creative leader.

Let me start with a philosophic view of creativity in leadership...

First, I value strategic thinking and make time for it.

Second, I don't buy in to the mainstream's media choices for what is good or follow "group speak" well.

Third, I realize that my creative ideas are not always for right now or for my current business. Some are for now and some for later.

That said, here is the system I have created for me. Please know that some of you may use technology more and some may prefer writing in notebooks or on paper, etc. It is your own preference. I tend to use a mixture, which I will share. Remember, this is my plan and system. Use it or adapt it for your best.

7 Steps for Creating a Creative System to Be Creative:

1. Gather - I collect magazines, articles, books and miscellaneous items at coffee shops, concerts, etc. These items are used as inspiration for ideas and for getting a handle on the pulse of society or markets or customers.
2. Tour - At least once a month I visit some location, site or relevant store to gather ideas and to people watch and to learn. I have learned so much from the World of Coke, the National History Museum, Starbucks, visits to Barnes and Noble, the Apple Store and Williams Sonoma.
3. File & Log - I have two file folders in my brief case at all times - "Read" and "Blog." I also have a two journals - "Inspirational" and "Strategic." In these journals I write ideas for now, next year and maybe in five years.
4. Ideate - Every month or so I take the ideas, books, pieces of paper and I consolidate the ideas into my journals. Sometimes I use scraps of paper or 3×5 cards and sometimes I use white boards. I usually change it up to stay creative.
5. Activate - The system is not complete until something is activated. In some cases I simply write a one-page business plan and file it for another time. In other cases I share the ideas with some of our team, Chris Ediger, Dave Rae or Louis Upkins.
6. Filter - I then take the idea through a filter that David Woods and GiANT Partners helped us build. It is engrained into our culture now because of the years we have used it. The filter makes sure that the idea fits the overall strategic vision for the company.
7. Take Action - When an idea makes it through this process it is time to execute. That is where I normally begin to back out. However, before that occurs I make sure I have communicated and the team knows my intent and what I think is success. I think I can get better at this process, but it is thrilling to see an idea come to life.

An Example:

Years ago I was curious as to what most leaders did when they first got to their office or at their desk. I began to gather articles and information on this. I then sent out a simple survey to a number of leaders. I then went to Barnes and Noble and consumed books on the subject. The results were very simple at that point - most leaders started with email, followed by a close second with internet news sites. Very few leaders started their days reading books at their office or desks. If they did, it was at home before they left.

That said, I began to ideate and throw out ideas to others. They responded well. The idea was this - What if leaders took 3-5 minutes to start their day with a simple, but relevant leadership lesson? Would that make them a better leader? As I took it through our filters, our team agreed that it would be a great idea. We then started building it. Two of our leaders began working on the project and we called it the Everyday Leader.

While I was pleased with the content, the concept never really took off inside our company. In hindsight I realized that we had an internal log jam for new ideas that were our own GiANT projects. It took almost a year and a half to create a culture that could produce our own projects and products instead of selling other peoples content.

So, Chris Ediger and Jill Walker dusted the idea off and repackaged the content and changed the name. They did an amazing job. Thus, the Intentional Leader book was born. It is relevant, fresh and consistent with our brand. More than that, our team is ready to execute in ways we have never experienced. In just a few short weeks we have sold 1400 books and that is just beginning. If you would like to see the fruits of this idea, go to www.IntentionalLeaderBook.com.

Creating a Creative System takes discipline and patience. I am both patient and intense. I really want ideas to come to life. However, I really believe that ideas are ready when they are fully baked. Today, I am so excited to see the fruits of our labor and the ideas beginning to flow.

The fun part is that I feel like we are just beginning. We are starting to create some amazing projects and content that fits our mission of transforming the leadership culture of America. I believe that these ideas will help reform pride-based leadership and awaken leaders around the world. However, it all starts with the idea and a system.

Start your own and let me know how I can help you.

Jeremie Kubicek is the President & CEO of GiANT Impact, co-founder of GiANT Partners, and author of "Leadership is Dead: How Influence is Reviving It." Follow Jeremie on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and/or Subscribe to this Blogs RSS Feeds.

Time will tell the full story of how Catalyst 2011 impacted my wife, Dara, and I in a deep, meaningful and lasting way. But there is one consistent theme that continues to resonate in our spirits three months after leaving Atlanta: toss the painkillers.

Here's a quick story to connect the dots:

I recently jammed my finger playing basketball. Three plays into our pickup game, I went to block a pass and the ball hit my middle finger at full speed. It instantly went numb. After I got home and the adrenaline wore off, I realized I had a problem. Pain was shooting up and down my finger. I reached for the Advil and went to bed.

Over the next couple of weeks, the pain would intermittently return and I would take a few more Advil to lessen the pain and help me to function throughout my day more comfortably. After a month of persistent pain, I finally decided to go to the doctor. The verdict was that I had torn the tendon in my finger. No amount of Advil was going to fix that problem. I had to treat the source of the problem, not the symptoms.

Rewind back to Catalyst 2011. Dara and I found out a week before the conference that a friend gave us two tickets. We headed to Atlanta with a ton of anticipation for what God would do in our lives. We were surprised to find out, however, that it was not the incredible lineup of speakers or the practical resources that ultimately changed our course and shifted our perspective. It was the commercials.

These commercials came in the form of short videos and interviews between speakers. We were introduced to young leaders that heard God's call to care for the poor, defenseless, marginalized and broken. These stories of extraordinary obedience captivated our hearts and challenged our worldview. It was in that moment that we felt God's call, found all throughout Scriptures, to lead our church to care for the poor in our community.

Upon returning to Charlotte, we knew that we had to start somewhere, so we went to the only logical place to begin our journey: Google. I literally typed into the search engine, "How to care for the poor in Charlotte." The search results produced dozens of great organizations in our city. I found out quickly that all I had to do was open my eyes and put forth the effort to find a place to serve in our community. The avenue to serve the poor in our city was right in front of me the entire time. I was simply too detached from the pain to acknowledge my role in being a part of the solution.

I am convinced that cultural painkillers are largely to blame for the apathy that is so pervasive in our culture. Instead of allowing the pain to lead us to change our perspective and motivate us to act, we reach for the painkillers to make our day more comfortable. We busy ourselves with temporary entertainment and fill our lives with meaningless distraction.

As I have reflected on our experience at Catalyst 2011, I have realized that God exposed Dara and I to the stories of young leaders that allowed themselves to feel the pain found in the world around them. And their pain led them to action.

We quickly realized that we could not change everything at once. But we also made the decision that we would not let that stop us. We searched for one organization that we could partner with to make an impact in our community. We came across an incredible organization called Charlotte Family Housing. Their aim is to end family homelessness in Charlotte. I met with their Executive Director, Darren Ash, and told him that we wanted to develop a relationship with one organization to focus our efforts on caring for the poor in our community.

This practical step of going deep instead of wide, focusing our church's volunteer base on one organization, has led to a beautiful relationship. We invited them to our Sunday service to present to our church family how we can be involved. Over 80% of our church signed up to volunteer with their organization. With one simple step of building a relationship with Charlotte Family Housing, we are now a part of the solution instead of just ignoring the pain.

Let's resolve to toss the cultural painkillers. I encourage you to allow the pain to lead you to action. Look around your community for great organizations that are already making a difference. And if you attend Catalyst 2012, make sure to stick around for the commercials. They may just change your course and shift your perspective.

Proverbs 31:8-9 - Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.

David & Dara Docusen planted Center City Church in Uptown Charlotte, NC in April 2010. Connect further: @daviddocusen / facebook.com/daviddocusen

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