The lesses and mores on the subject of leadership continue…
It involves less strategic thinking than I expected
Those five year ‘blueprints’ of the future in which goals and objectives are endlessly described with dotted ‘i’s and crossed ‘t’s haven’t featured as much as I thought they would. Sure, there are Business Plans, Staffing Plans etc that project into the future. But leadership seems to be more intuitive than I realised. It seems to be more about befriending change and complexity, reading the ebb and flow of the times, and then together with others trying to respond as best we can at the time. Sometimes I wonder if the intuitive stuff is the action in the picture while the strategic stuff is more the frame that holds the picture together…
It involves more power than I expected
My experience of leadership was very limited prior to coming into this role. Very early on I got very scared by how my comments as a principal to a church about a student was so influential in their future. This is a biggie! In today’s world ‘power’ has replaced ‘truth’ as the currency of concern. People are very sensitive to abuses of power and displays of power and so they should be. So I resolved to reflect deeply on how one depowers leadership while still exerting influence. Max DuPree’s ‘leading without power’ phrase provided the spark. The biblical imagery of servant and shepherd and steward and sage helps. Sharing information as early and as fully and as written as possible helps. Finding ways to acknowledge God as the leader with all others as his sub-contractors helps. Honour what has gone before helps. Spreading leadership and delegating well helps. Trimming down what is compulsory (or removing it all together) to a bare minimum sure helps. That is a few ideas on de-powering, maybe you have some others?
It involves less victory than I expected
I am trying to alternate my ‘more’ and ‘less’ words 🙂 What this one really is about is failure. We all know that the real learning comes in the failure. It is true! But I have been surprised how much it can stick around and how hard it is to name it and move on from it. When the good times roll, a whole lot of people are involved in making that success happen and it is so important to acknowledge that and ‘forward’ credit onto the ones who actually made it happen and celebrate as a group. Plus trumpeting success in the Kiwi context is counterproductive. However, talking with other leaders, it seems that absorbing the failure, the criticism, and the disappointment comes with the territory of leadership. These aren’t ‘forwarded’ in that same sense. They are processed more personally and in other ways. This is where 2 Corinthians becomes precious, experiencing God’s grace amidst the weakness. But it still makes leading to be more uphill than I expected with a little less of the adrenalin and enthusiasm and joy associated with savouring victory.
It involves more coaching than I expected
This industry has grown, hasn’t it? Supervisors, mentors, spiritual directors, coaches … Sometimes I wonder if they can usurp the function which God wants to play in our lives – does it say “Cast all your anxiety on your mentor” in 1 Peter 5:7? I don’t think so!? Nevertheless each one has their place. The one I’ve valued the most is the coach. People who believe in me enough to show me how to do it and then prevail with me while I learn to do it. It is both humbling and energising for me.
It involves less gifting than I expected
We can get carried away by leading being a function solely of things like personality, charisma, genes, style, mana, or gifts… I am surprised just how much of leading isn’t these things. It is far more about moulding better character and learning new skills while being obedient to the call of God to lead. Leading seems to start with the art of building trust. It operates a bit like a bank. You make deposits. You make withdrawals. You get in trouble when you withdraw stuff that has not been deposited. And the healthy deposits with the best returns are character issues. The New Testament is full of this (I Thess2; Gal 5:22-26; Eph 4-5…) as it uses a clothing image to urge us to take-off stuff and put-on other stuff: like humility, perseverance, self-control, forgiveness, love, kindness etc. I am learning that the effectiveness of my leading is directly related to the presence or absence of these character-istics growing in my life.
A final comment. Some months ago I posted a comment on ‘the gospel of community?’ in which I wondered aloud whether ‘community’ was becoming its own gospel today. Just get community going and lives will be transformed and the mission of God will be accomplished.
I also wonder whether leadership is becoming its own gospel. Is its importance being overstated today? Just get effective leadership in place at every level and lives will be transformed and the mission of God will be accomplished…
nice chatting
Paul
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
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Having been born in 1959, I don’t remember much about the 1960s. But I have heard a lot. Hippies. Drugs. Rock ‘n Roll. Assassinations. Moon-walking. A quick trip across to ChatGPT informs me immediately that it was ‘a transformative decade across the world’—marked by the civil rights and feminist movements, Cold War tensions, consumerism and…
i agree .. that there must be an order to which these things are broached.. an order that places God immoveably at the top (or centre depending on your preference for geometry) ..
community is dangerous as is leadership, as is nearly everything that isn’t balanced in a God-centred vocabulary, practice or space.
Wow, what great lists! They confirm some of what I have been discovering in my leadership journey. So much of the church has confused leadership with power and personality. At the same time, vision is vital, not in the sense of ‘casting vision’, but in knowing where you’re going, and mostly, WHO you’re going to! Good job.
It is interesting for me to see the comments on which you have picked up…
Tash – the hopes placed in ‘community’ and in ‘leadership’ today do tend to reach gospel-like proportions. This area needs much more robust debate. While they are critically important I think there is wisdom in your comment about ‘order/centre’ with the reminder of the priority of God/gospel. This must never be assumed but always articulated again and again and again.
Alex – vision is obviously vital. The area of fascination for me is HOW you uncover that vision, utilising processes that draw others in and loosens any over-dependence on THE leader.
Sorry for the delay! I’ve been having a break from everything as you can see!