In every organization, whether it’s a ministry or a business, we encounter “people problems.” These challenges affect our team dynamics and productivity. Ministry leaders also often face people issues that may be overwhelming. Leadership strategy and communication are essential tools to help us move forward.

In this episode, leadership strategist Annie Perdue-Olson discusses her insights on leadership strategizing and development. She expounds on her framework on co-creating solutions with ministry leaders and helping people work together. Annie also shares some experiences that helped her discover her life's mission. 

Learn more about ministry leadership by tuning in to this episode!

3 Reasons to Listen:

1. Discover how you can become a more effective ministry leader.
2. Know the importance of leadership strategizing in fostering team dynamics.
3. Learn about the four communication styles to build harmonious ministry relationships.

Resources

• Leading Better Together by Annie Perdue-Olson
• Accelerated Coaching by Annie Perdue-Olson
• Affirmative Communication by Annie Perdue-Olson

About Annie

Annie Perdue-Olson is the founder of Leading Better Together. She is a leadership strategist focused on helping leaders deal with people problems. Annie guides the heads of ministries, churches, and nonprofit organizations through challenges that sidetrack their mission. She has 17 years of experience in pastoral ministry. 

To know more about Annie and her work, you may reach her through the Leading Better Together website. You may also connect with her through LinkedIn.

Episode Highlights

Annie as a Leadership Strategist

• Annie talks to ministry leaders and helps them address people problems.
• She helps ministry leaders deal with a lack of resources and an overwhelming workload.
• The goal is to strategize together and make an impact. 

Engagement with Clients

• Annie and her clients co-create solutions together.
• She guides them through a framework that invites the Holy Spirit into the process.  

Annie’s Journey Through Ministry

• Annie's hometown is in Wisconsin. She had to move to Minnesota for school. 
• Living in a small town taught her lessons that she was able to bring in the ministry. The slow-paced city made her realize that there is more to life than work.
• Annie worked in mental health clinics. Working with therapists prepared her to work with pastors.
• She worked support roles in different churches.

Insights and Observations on Mental Health

• Annie has a degree in psychology. She dealt with a lot of teenagers and families.
• Social media has a significant contribution to mental health issues among young people.
• At an early age, people are already concerned with their purpose in life. Teenagers constantly feel the need to combine performance with perfection.

“Sometimes grabbing those lessons from my childhood, from my past, from my home helps me to remember that there's more to life than work.” - Click Here to Tweet This

Difference Between Coaching and Therapy

• Therapy has a vital role to play on people's journey to a fruitful ministry.
• Therapy is concerned about healing and wholeness. It looks at how your experiences in life have led you to where you are today.
• Coaching is goal-focused. It takes you from where you are today to where you want to go in the future.

Women in the Ministry

• Annie grew up in a family where women in the ministry were honored and encouraged.
• In earlier times, it was unusual for women to be in teaching roles.
• At present, we live in a society where women have access to learning just as men do.

Faith in Times of Grief

• Annie's then-husband, Kevin, passed away when she was 32. She lost him at a time when the future looked so hopeful and exciting.
• She was “living in the tension” between faith and reality.
• Missionaries from other parts of the world prayed with her. She witnessed a lot of miracles in the process.
• There are many times she questioned why certain things had to happen. Faith means knowing that sometimes reality does not line up with your plans.

“There was this faith, this belief that God was bigger than the news that we were getting, that God is more than the bad report.” - Click Here to Tweet This

Getting Back on Track

• Annie accepted that she cannot always control things.
• By doing so, she was able to focus more on other people's needs.
• She remarried, took a master's degree, and got her life moving again.

How Annie’s Experiences Influenced Her Leadership

• Her experiences helped her become more empathic with different life issues.
• In ministry, the feeling of isolation is the biggest challenge.
• She realized the need to mentor more pastors.

“I don't know everything that there is to know about leadership, but they don't either. But when we get together with the goal of strategizing, we can make an impact.” - Click Here to Tweet This

Ideal Clients

• Annie's ideal client is an executive director or a pastor leading a team of five or more people.
• She focuses on managing people issues.
• She works with team leaders who are managing other people in their organizations.

Accelerated Coaching

• Annie guides leaders in strategizing to solve their most pressing problem in 6 weeks.
• People usually consult her on things that are not going well with their lives. She points out the issues they need to address.
• Mere communications training will never solve the problem.

“What He wants for us is for the redemptive story to unfold in our lives. And so you hold on to that faith, knowing that the reality sometimes doesn't line up with that.” - Click Here to Tweet This

The Four Affirmative Communication Styles

• The four communication styles are based on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator.
• The problem solver is someone who takes action. When they see a problem, they immediately figure out what needs to be done to address it.
• The bridge builder is the opposite of the problem solver. They want to bring people together to find common ground.
• The strategic thinker dives deep into the root of the problem. They prefer brief, concise, and logical communication. 
• The compassionate connector is the opposite of the strategic thinker. They solve problems on practical grounds.

Annie’s Future Projects

• She is looking into podcasting and more writing.
• Annie is planning to launch an ebook on communication styles.

“If the car is not in motion, then you can’t steer it. So let’s get moving, and then we can see where we go from there.” - Click Here to Tweet This

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To growing and becoming all we are created to be,

Tim