Four Questions Every Leader Needs To Ask

"Working for the church would be the best job in the world...if it wasn't for all the people." Ever heard a church leader say that? Ever said it yourself? It's related, at least in part, to how difficult it can be to lead within a system that you're not "on top of," in the traditional sense. Many church leaders are envious of their peers in the "business" world where, they think, leaders have it made. People have to do what you tell them to do in the "business" world, right? If they don't, you can just fire them! Not so much in the nonprofit world, especially in faith-based organizations, where people are often volunteering and/or working for minimum pay.

At least, that's the argument we hear church leaders make. Often this is a plea for help. Sometimes it's just an excuse to do nothing. Either way, we're pretty sure this is an argument that needs to get put down once and for all.

First of all, "business" leaders aren't exactly living on easy street these days. Today they face well organized environmental and consumer groups, a highly mobile & well-educated work force, shareholder activists demanding transparency and results like never before...just for starters. Few of them would say they feel like they have anything close to the power they think their predecessors once did.

As a matter of fact, some "business" leaders have turned to leaders from within the social, nonprofit, and even religious worlds for help because they recognize that they need to learn to lead in new ways. Best-selling author and speaker, John Maxwell, is one of the best known examples of this phenomenon. Jim Collins, author of the best selling book Good To Great, explains why he thinks leaders in the social sector have so much to offer:

"If I put a loaded gun to your head, I can get you to do things you might not otherwise do, but I've not practiced leadership; I've exercised power. True leadership only exists if people follow when they have the freedom not to."

From Good To Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great (2005)

In fact, Collins predicts that "tomorrow's great business leaders will come from the social sectors, not the other way around."

If you're frustrated because you think you don't have enough "power" to get things done in your congregation, judicatory, or faith-based organization...we want to suggest that you have simply and tragically misunderstood the kind of "power" you really need. Great leadership today - in any organization - learns to put the power of purpose, the power of participation, and the power of play to work.

And, in the church, everything a great leader does is built on the power of prayer.

What this means is that a great leader makes the purpose of the organization - not his or her own personal agenda - the most important thing, and will do whatever it takes to help the organization fulfill that purpose. A great leader knows that amazing things happen when the people in an organization are gathered for the sake of dreaming, playing, and planning together. And the greatest leaders in the church are those who remember to ask - to always ask: What is God doing here...and how can we help?

Here are four questions every leader needs to ask in those moments of frustration:

1. What am I doing to keep myself - and others I'm working with - focused on our common purpose?

2. What am I doing to involve people at every level of this organization in the work of dreaming, planning, and taking action? When was the last time I asked people what THEY were thinking? Who do I need to invite into this conversation? Whose voice needs to be heard?

3. What am I doing to inject a spirit of playfulness into our common life? In what ways am I letting people know it's ok to try new things, take risks, and even make mistakes? How am I modeling this in my own work and life?

4. And, number one for church leaders, when was the last time I stopped - and asked others to stop - and listen for what God is saying to us? When was the last time I reminded us all to ask the most important question: What is God doing here...and how can we help??

Print this little checklist off and stick it somewhere where you know you'll trip over it once in awhile...like every time you're tempted to think..."if it just wasn't for all the people!"

- Kelly Fryer

Comments

[Dan]

I always envision leadership back in sort of a Looney Toons type of picture. Remember the Tasmanian dust devil, that cloud of spinning dust, with arm’s and leg’s flailing outwardly, that would chew up anything in its path. That is what any organization looks like, both at a big level, and a small one. What I then see a leader as doing is taking that whirling mass, and directing it toward opportunities, and letting it then chew on them, as well looking down the road for the next roadrunner to go after.