Five Critical Questions Bill Hybels

SURVEY YOUR SITUATION

As your leadership edge is sharpened during this message, we believe the Holy Spirit is connecting with
and speaking to your heart. Therefore, we have provided suggested questions for you to use as discussion
starters with your team. (If youre working through this tool on your own, you can use them for reection and
journaling.) Our hope is that these questions serve Gods purposes in growing you and your team.
If your team has more than eight people, we suggest dividing into groups of four to seven people so that
everyone has an opportunity to participate.

Question 1: What is your current leadership challenge level at work?
*For large group facilitation, we suggest dividing into groups so that everyone has an opportunity
to participate.
Share your initial thoughts and reactions to the content of this session.
A. Your current leadership challenge level may fall in the middle: appropriately challenged.
1. You get up in the morning, have a to-do list, go to work, and get most of it done.
2. You have a sense of nality and satisfaction at the end of the day.
3. You go home and you can be normal with your family or friends.
B. Or, you may be in the underchallenged area.
1. You dont have a very long to-do list.
2. At work, you shop on the Internet or do crossword puzzles.
3. You watch the clock and cant wait to go home, and you dont feel all that fullled about what
you got done.
C. Or, you may be dangerously over challenged.
1. You get up in the morning, look at your to-do list, and think there is no way to get it all done.
2. You get to work, and instead of whittling the list down, the list gets longer.
3. You work past closing time, and on the way home you have a pulsating headache.
4. Youre not present with your family very often, because youve got so much going on in your
mind about work.
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PROCESS QUESTIONS
August 9-10, 2012
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willowcreek.com/summit
THE GLOBAL
LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
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Bills rst critical question was What is your current leadership challenge level at work? His research
indicates that your best work is done when youre slightly more than appropriately challenged.
Discuss any trends you noticed emerging. Do you all seem to be around the same level, or does
it vary by area of responsibility or position?
Mark the scale to indicate where you would place your church, organization, or personal leadership
challenge level as a whole. Take some time discussing where you placed it and why.
Considering the trends you noted and your consensus about the church, organization, or personal
self, as a whole, discuss any steps youd like to take to ensure that everything is positioned to do
its best work.
End in a time of prayer and reection.

Question 2: What is your plan for dealing with challenging people in your organization?
*For large group facilitation, we suggest dividing into groups so that everyone has an opportunity
to participate.
Share your initial thoughts and reactions to the content of this session.
Bills second critical question was What is your plan for dealing with the challenging people in your
organization? Or, what is your plan for dealing with challenging people in your life?
We each deal with challenging people whether it is with those we work with, those we lead, or even
those we live with. What are the practices that you use to deal with them?
*If you are part of a team that is responsible for supervising others, you might choose to go through the
line exercise that Bill described, or you might decide to do it at a future meeting. The following prompts
are provided if youd like to do it now.
Five Critical Questions Bill Hybels
YOUR CURRENT LEADERSHIP
CHALLENGE LEVEL AT WORK
Dangerously
Overchallenged
Appropriately
Challenged
Underchallenged
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Whether or not youre currently facing an issue with a challenging person, Bill recommended having a time
frame for dealing with these types of situations when they arise. If you let them continue indenitely, you
risk discouraging and demotivating the rest of your team.
Bill identied three types of challenging people: those with bad attitudes, underperformers, and those
whose capacity has been outstripped by organizational growth. At Willow, each type is associated with a
time frame in which the situation must be addressed. Your church, ministry, or organization may decide
on different time frames than the ones that Willow uses, and you may identify additional types of
challenging people that you need to deal with.
a. In the chart below, note your gut instinct on how long each situation should be allowed to continue.
You might have one time frame for when the person should be confronted and another for when the
person should be removed from their position if there is no improvement.
b. Tell your team the time frames you wrote down, and pay attention to how your answers vary.
You may not have time to come to agreement now, but decide if this is an issue that warrants
discussion at a future meeting.
End in a time of prayer and reection.

Question 3: Are you naming, facing, and resolving the problems that exist in your church
or organization?
*For large group facilitation, we suggest dividing into groups so that everyone has an opportunity
to participate.
Bills third critical question was Are you naming, facing, and resolving the problems that exist in your
church or organization? If this does not necessarily apply to your organization, apply this to your personal
journey as well.
Share your initial thoughts and reactions to the content of this session.
When you heard this question, a specic problem might have immediately leapt to mind, but
youve never dared verbalize it before. If youre willing, share it now, or commit to bringing it up
with the appropriate person within the next week.
Take a few moments to pinpoint a few areas in your church, organization, or life. (Examples could
be student ministry, values, personal discipline, etc.)
Five Critical Questions Bill Hybels
The guiding question of this exercise is: If your church, ministry or organizations revenue declined
by 50 percent and staff cuts needed to be made, who would go rst?
Each supervisor should list the members of his or her team in order from rst to last to go.
When each supervisor has completed his or her list, discuss any names that stood out. For example,
there might be an individual who is underperforming, or maybe someone youve realized is so
valuable that he or she would be among the last to go.
Decide what to do next. For example, do any of those at the end of the line need to be confronted?
Do any of those at the front of the line need to be acknowledged or better appreciated in
some way?
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If an area is accelerating, awesome! What, if anything, might you do to feed its growth?
If an area is rocking, even better! How can you keep it up?
If an area is decelerating, its time for some fresh thinking. Who can you bring together to take a
look at this area?
If an area is tanking, its time for serious steps for improvement. Are you OK with letting this area
die? Perhaps its time has come and its best to let it happen, but if this is a crucial aspect of your
church, organization, or personal journey, dont give in.
Take time now to pray about what to do next.

Question 4: When is the last time you reexamined the core?
*For large group facilitation, we suggest dividing into groups so that everyone has an opportunity
to participate.
Bills fourth critical question was When was the last time you reexamined the core of what your
organization is all about?
If its been a while, take the opportunity to do so now. If youre a church, ministry, or Christian organization,
decide whether it would be more helpful for you to describe the central message of Christianity or to
dene the core of what your particular church, ministry, or organization is uniquely about. If youre in
business, focus on your core product or service.
(If appropriate for your group, go through this activity.)
a. Pass out a pad of sticky notes and a pen to each team member. For the next ve minutes, write as
many words as come to mind that you think describe the core of what youre about.
b. When the ve minutes are nished, collect the sticky notes and put them somewhere everyone
can see. Place similar notes near each other, and see if any clusters start forming. If any clusters would
be best summarized by a new note, add it. Take fteen minutes or so to talk about what you see.
c. As you wind down your discussion, decide what to do next. If youve found this process helpful, you
might continue the brainstorm at another time, with the same team or a larger or different group,
until you come to agreement on the words, phrase, or sentence that best describes what youre about.
End your time in prayer asking God to help you actively live out the core of your ministry or organization.

Question 5: When is the last time you reexamined the core?
*For large group facilitation, we suggest dividing into groups so that everyone has an opportunity
to participate.
Share your initial thoughts and reactions to the content of this session.
Bills fth critical question was Have you had your leadership bell rung recently?
Continuous growth of your leadership is necessary and critical, not only for you as a leader, but also for
those that you lead. What are you doing currently to cultivate your leadership? This could be a book
youre reading, conferences youre attending, certain disciplines you have placed in your life, etc. If you
arent doing anything currently, what can you start doing?
Five Critical Questions Bill Hybels
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Take a few moments to break into groups to discuss.
Hybels said this: You tell me why your next ve years couldnt be your best ve.
After taking some time to read this quote, think on your past ve years. What have you done?
What were some things that were signicant? Although it is great to look back, now turn things
around and look towards the future. What do you want your next ve years to look like? What can
you do to make your next ve years your best ve?
Now break into groups of two and discuss.
End your time praying. Thank God for what He has done and for what He is going to do.
Five Critical Questions Bill Hybels