I thought I’d share some of the excerpts from different places that have moved me and moved me hard… I hope this one also rattles, challenges and changes you the way it did with me…
O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing. I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory. I pray Thee that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, “rise up, my love, my fair one and come away.” Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wondered so long. In Jesus’ name. Amen – A. W. Tozer
I got this excerpt from A.W. Tozer in The Pursuit of God. Tozer opened each chapter with a prayer and the excerpt is a prayer opening the chapter, “Following Hard After God” You can download the book free here
I’ve served in numerous and diverse leadership roles. In some instances I took over from someone and was not the pioneer. I was thinking about the ghosts of my predecessors in those times. Yeah, their ghosts! My predecessors’ ghosts manifested in different ways. Let me give you a few:
illustration: gamillos, flickr
Not that way!: my predecessors’ ghosts appeared in the form of refusal to change the way something was done. This was because because the leader before had made one of the ways of doing things THE only way. This would be probably one of the reasons he may have been removed (if he was removed). When process is glorified at the expense of purpose we risk becoming busy but unproductive. Anyway, this manifestation of the previous leader’s ghost made methods ‘sacred’. When methods or systems become sacred progress and innovation is either stalled or completely aborted.
Processes & Direction: this was of the most blatant manifestations… There are times when the leader before engaged process or chartered a course that couldn’t just stop. This was where I had to be caretaker of systems I did not like, and sometimes disagreed with completely! The main reason for continuing them was that it would do great harm to the team or organization to abruptly stop or change course. When you take over as leader you are not always going to be able to implement immediate change.
Important: one of the other manifestations of the ghost was values. From experience as leader and follower I’ve learnt this: leaders have different values. This is not bad per se. What it means is that different things are important to different leaders. One of the manifestations I’ve encountered is conflict in values with my inherited team. Because things somehow keep moving as you step in as the new leader… The inherited team will operate in what they always have till you show them different.
It was your fault he left!: My predecessors have haunted me through the inherited team when I’ve been seen as the reason they left. This was in instances where there was a strong tie between the leader and the team. Sometimes done unconsciously. This made me an enemy of the team I was to lead, making my duties more difficult. “Because you got rid of our leader you have something against us”, is the attitude that was often communicated. The hostility came in different ways…
Problems!: This is one of the main reasons why some leaders abandon ship. Either they’ve encountered or created problems they feel they cannot solve. Perhaps they were just not willing to try to solve them. This manifestation of the ghost has sometimes been hidden from me at the interview stages and only realized it when I was at the helm.
More on how I’ve learnt to deal with these ‘ghosts’ and others later… Do you have something you’d like to share?
I’m a pastor’s kid. One of the things that fascinated me when I was growing up was how dad cranked up a sermon or teaching every Sunday. Sometimes he even taught two to three times a week on different subjects. As a communicator, I thought I’d give sources for content for ‘platform communicators’ in the church context.
Organizations, and people in general, determine how good a service or product is based on other products or services of similar nature. Your claim to superiority may just be an admission that you recognize your competitor (in whatever form) as a threat. It is normal to check reviews for products or delivery in other areas in order to establish which is best. A problem comes in when we adopt this attitude when it comes to our spiritual life.
illustration - flickr, creative commons
It is easy to subconsciously adopt the, “I may not be as good as God calls me to be, but at least I’m not as bad as… [fill in the blank]”. This is dangerous! God is never going to commend you for being better than someone else, but for being who He calls you to be. You will not be held accountable for what someone else didn’t do, but what you didn’t do! When it comes to God, how well you’ve done on your assignment will never be based on how someone else did on theirs! God’s expectations for you are exclusive! They cannot be transferred, superimposed or adopted to or from others.
Have you been assessing your walk or progress with assignments based on what others are doing? Your only standard is God and the assignment He’s given you! You’re not good based on what others are not doing but what you are doing in fulfilling what He’s called you to! Forget what everyone else is doing or not doing! The only standard you have is God! Instead, ask yourself:
I was going through my computer and came across a video clip I used in training some leaders. This clip was from the movie “A Bugs Life”. Long story short, a locust tells the ant, “the first rule of leadership – everything is your fault!”. This reminded me of something Francis Chan said on a Backstage Leadership session I was on.
One of the questions Francis was asked was, ‘what are some of the things a leader must NEVER delegate?’ His response:
A leader must never delegate taking responsibility or blame for things going wrong.
There is sometimes a temptation for the leader to ‘look good’. To always be right. To always have the answer or never make mistakes… To always know what to do… and the list goes on.
Some leaders think it is weakness to be wrong let alone to admit your hand in your organization’s failure. On the contrary, it takes courage for the leader to own his organization or team’s failure without shifting the blame. Leader, when things go wrong where is the first place you seek fault?
A lot of leaders miss out on opportunities to build their influence by not taking responsibility when things go wrong. How can you expect those you lead to take responsibility for their part in things going wrong if you don’t show them how?
The leadership that your team see from you is the leadership they’ll not only embrace, but practice and perpetuate! Take responsibility for things going wrong and when it is their turn they are more likely to do likewise. The reason your team may not be taking responsibility for things in their care going wrong could be that you’ve taught them not to.
There are times when I’ve led very badly by blaming my team, circumstance and other environmental factors for my failure to lead. Lately, I am being challenged to self-evaluation as a leader. Leadership that does not embrace humility can never have the courage to take responsibility for things going wrong.
To consider:
How have I contributed to the failure of someone or the team I lead?
