Bad Leadership Habits

As many of you know, over 11 of the 13 years that I was working with the Texas District LCMS, I published a weekly newsletter.  One of the usual parts of the newsletter was the topic of leadership.  Even today, I continue to ponder the idea of “leadership” and what that looks like.  My shelves continue to be filled with books on leadership, and I have managed to read articles from the internet related to leadership, saving those that I feel might be good reference materials.  These books and articles define leadership, identify leadership characteristics,  list many do’s and don’ts of leadership, and approach leadership from just about every perspective possible.  And yet, with all that’s been written, there is apparently still the idea that something hasn’t been printed or considered.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s that there is still an effort to get leaders moving in the job of being a leader.  As most of you know, I’m an avid golfer…that doesn’t mean I’m a great golfer, just avid.  But I have learned this much about golf: just reading about it or watching it on TV doesn’t help a person get better.  You have to do the job of “golfing”…you have to get out there on the golf course and do it…and do it over and over again.  I’ve also learned that doing the wrong thing over and over again will produce results that are far from the quality that produces good scores.  For example, not keeping your eye on the ball (lifting your head) will mostly result in a very poor shot…trust me, I’ve experienced trying to hurry up and see the great shot I’ve hit before the ball has been struck.  It’s rarely pretty and rarely goes in the direction I  intend!

Over the years, I’ve seen hundreds, maybe thousands, of things to “remember” when you take that golf swing such as:

·         Don’t take your eye off the ball too soon.

·         Don’t tee the ball too high or too low.

·         Don’t sway the head or trunk.

·         Don’t shift your feet during the stroke.

·         Don’t be too rigid.

·         Don’t flex the left arm too much.

·         And on and on.

Well, to do the job of leadership, I thought of a few things that good leaders need NOT do in order to do the job of leadership.  Here they are with just a few thoughts (and the list is not exhaustive):

• Don’t do others’ jobs for them..or don’t get in the weeds with them.  When you as the leader fixates on the details that need doing, your progress as a leader is zilch.  It’s hard to give up doing, but the job of the leader is to conduct the orchestra, not play all the instruments.

• Don’t expect others to be like you.  Successful leaders respect individual differences…they channel the styles and talents towards the ultimate goal.
•  Don’t attend too many meetings.  Remember, the leader’s presence in a meeting changes the dynamics of a meeting…the conversations change.  And meetings aren’t necessary the best place to spend your time.
•  Don’t become “one of the boys (or girls).”  Too much camaraderie can make for too little respect.  Yes, a leader needs to be accessible and on good terms with the team…but not too close.
•  Don’t add your two cents too often.  If you have good people on the team, allow for the fact that a different approach might just work.  Adding your two cents comes at a cost of others’ personal commitment to the task.
•  Don’t use “no, but, and however.”  If a person provides an idea or suggestion, your response probably ought not be: “That’s a good idea, BUT wouldn’t it be better if we go this way instead?”  Or not: “NO, I think the best way to get there is to do this.”  Or not:  “Good idea.  HOWEVER, let’s talk to Joe because he tried something similar and it didn’t work.”
•  Don’t be stingy with recognition and praise.  If you want people to accomplish great things, you have to let them know you believe they can do it.  Show faith in their abilities.
•  Don’t let emotion get in the way of your message.  Being a good leader means to shun excuses.  It means doing what’s right, not what’s easy.  It’s ok to show emotion, but only when it’s contributing to your objectives.
•  Don’t provide all the answers without asking questions.  Help people develop their own solutions.  Don’t act like a parent who answers the question before it’s even asked.  Avoid being the “solution” person.

Remember, a leader leads!  And sometimes that means getting out of the way.

Urgency in Change

Looking at the readings from the pericopes for the last two Sundays of the church year and “pondering” components of change, the world “urgency” popped up.  If something is urgent enough, I’m more willing to make a change and not complain as much.  A few weeks ago I pulled into a parking spot at Lowe’s.  When I got out, I noticed a large nail in the tire of the pickup setting next to me.  I waited around until the owner came out and I showed him the nail.  He was very thankful that I had noticed it and went directly to the tire store to have it fixed (changed).  Making that change may very well have caused him to avoid some anxious time on the side of a highway.

After Jesus ascended into heaven, two angels appeared and announced to the disciples, “Why are you standing there looking up at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw Him go to heaven."  To them, that meant that His return would be sometime within their lifetime.  So, when they went out preaching and teaching, they did so with an urgency that the final judgment would be coming soon.  It was only later in their preaching that they thought, “Well, maybe this won’t happen just yet…maybe it will be sometime in the future.”  They literally lived the urgency of telling others.

It’s amazing to me that those things that can be put off, that don’t get done, are those things that are neither seen as important or urgent.  You tie those two things together and procrastination happens.

Change is directly affected by how urgent the matter is.  Comfort produces little action.  Apathy is an enemy of change.  Complacency is an enemy of change…a lack of urgency is an enemy of change.

All but two years since 1969 has the LCMS (a part of God’s earthly kingdom) been declining.  We write about it, we talk about it, and yet, little “real” action takes place…we get caught in just going along taking care of “church” business (budgets, potlucks, maintenance, etc.).

Research done on family businesses shows that it is very difficult to sustain business beyond the third or fourth generations…they lose their urgency when the business is moving along, seemingly maintaining itself.  Understanding the original purpose for the start up of the business is strained…making needed changes more difficult.  Complacency becomes a hindrance…what may have seemed urgent when the business started has produced comfort and little “something new.”

Could it be that our sense of urgency has been replaced by comfort and complacency?  Could it be that the “way of the world” is seen as “that’s just the way it is”?  What indeed has become our focus in our churches?  Is it getting our “own” way so that we can remain comfortable showing up on Sunday mornings and doing “our thing”?

Over the forty-four years of work in the church, I can’t begin to count the number of meetings I’ve been a part of either as the planner or leader of the meeting or a participant.  I can’t count the number of meetings where we have spent time talking about those things that are urgent but not really that important.

A few years ago, I adapted the “Time Management Grid” created by Steven Covey, to a “Ministry Management Grid” to use as a model for planning meetings, mission, and ministry.  Many of you are familiar with the concept.  I’ve placed it below.

Most congregations spend a majority of time in meetings and other activities, in the following quadrants (in this order):

Quadrant 1 – Firefighting

Quadrant 3 – Distraction

Quadrant 4 – Time Wasting

Very little time is spent in Quadrant 2 (Quality Time for Mission).  I’ve sat in many a meeting over the later years and put in the amount of meeting time spent in each Quadrant.  I’ve read many a bulletin and newsletter to find that most of our activities are in Quadrants other than Quadrant 2.

Could it be that we have become complacent about our mission?  Could it be that change is difficult because we don’t really feel the urgency?  Could it be that the mission field is still over the “big pond”?  Could it be that managing the ministry has become the focus?  Do I really believe that there will be those who will die today, that have crossed my life path, but don’t know Jesus as Savior?

It’s time to take “urgent” seriously.

An Image that Adds a Smile

Thanks to my good friend Paul Krentz, I have added a picture of the "dead" horse.  Does cause one to pause and ponder!

It's So and So's Fault

I'm always glad when the "election" season is over. At least one doesn't have to watch the "finger pointing" political ads for a while. Watching those ads always reminds me just how we like to "blame" someone or something else for what seems not to be going right. And you know what, it's just a way of life. For example, I get a nail in my tire and obviously it was because someone was careless with nails and one ended up in my tire. Or, "Yes, officer, I was speeding but it was my cruise control...it wasn't working correctly." (By the way the officer asked me if the cruise control was in charge of the car or if I was.) And yet another, that sliced golf ball was obviously the wind (or the club, or the noise that disturbed me). The question that comes to my mind, "So it happened...now what am I going to do about it?"

I was struck this past week when the LCMS Reporter arrived in my mail box and I read the article "Synod Membership Declines, Giving Increases." While the membership fell, the number of churches increased. While the giving increased, the number of children baptized was down...and so was the number of teens confirmed...and so was the number of adults confirmed.

Money is coming in but we're declining and dying. Oh, by the way, the decline is being "experienced by most Protestant denominations." Oh, by the way, the decline "continues a 30-plus-year trend." Oh, by the way, these statistics are possibly inaccurate because "our statistical summary reports continue to be less than helpful, since only 3,864 (out of 6,178 eligible) congregations returned their 2009 reports."

Let's see: we have more congregations, more clergy serving in parishes, but have fewer baptized members, fewer children, and fewer teens. The population in the United States grew by 1.1% during that same period of time; near 10% over the past ten years. Let's see, we are declining, aging, and giving more. So the solution: have more kids, right?

If we are simply seeking to survive, we analyze the reasons for the decline and spend as much time as possible in meetings discussing the reasons. Maybe, just maybe we ought to get off the dead horse.

I know many of you have read this before, but I couldn't help but think of it during my "pondering":
Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. However, in organizations we often try other strategies with dead horses, including the following:
• Buying a stronger whip.
• Changing riders.
• Saying things like "This is the way we always have ridden this horse."
• Appointing a committee to study the horse.
• Arranging to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses.
• Increasing the standards to qualify as a dead horse rider.
• Appointing a tiger team to revive the dead horse.
• Pass legislation declaring that "This horse is not dead."
• Unilaterally declaring, "no horse is too dead to beat."
• Blaming the horse's parents.
• Providing additional funding to increase the horse's performance.
• Do a Cost Analysis Study to see if contractors can ride the horse cheaper.
• Declare the horse is "better, faster and cheaper" dead.
• Revisit the performance requirements for horses.
• Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.

There you have it. My ponderings for this posting. Have a blessed week and remember: "if the horse is dead, dismount."

"Do Something, Do Something New, and Do Something New NOW!

Dr. J