Category Archives: Productivity

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TWITTER TRENDS | NEW RESEARCH ON TWITTER’S GLOBAL IMPACT

Twitter connections

New research on Twitter’s global impact has implications for leaders who want to leverage influence in their ministries.

Since I fly alot to work with leaders around the world, some new “twitter trends” research on the global impact of Twitter’s social media caught my ear. Steve Inskeep & Shankar Vedantam’s piece called, Why Twitter Ties Resemble Airline Hub Maps has some potentially interesting implications. Apparently two assumptions about Twitter are totally wrong: 1) Geography no longer matters, 2) Twitter is a truly cross-cultural medium. Instead, Barry Wellman, a sociologist from the University of Toronto, did a study of 1/2 million Twitter users and found some Twitter trends worth considering. Those who use Twitter care about 1) Local interests, and 2) People who live in similar cities as they do. So if your Twitter followers are an airline flight away from the city you live in, they are more likely to follow you.

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7 Ways to Change How You Lead Meetings to Improve Teamwork

How often do you feel “dragged” into meetings? How often as a leader do you feel like you have to drag people into meetings when they’d rather be doing something else? No matter how hard we try, leading teams requires meetings. So how can we lead in such a way that meetings become meaningful and improve teamwork?

I recently read a very helpful article about teamwork by Daniel Harkavy called, “7 Steps to Improve Your Meetings — and Your Team’s Effectiveness.” Below I’m sharing an abridged version of Harkavy’s list that I’ve rewritten to help me be more effective at leading meetings. I’ve included a general list and a more specific list for youth ministry leaders. Hopefully by trying some of these suggestions you’ll notice immediate a change in attitudes among your team and will have improved teamwork.