The last couple of days I’ve been doing annual reviews with my staff. It’s something that I actually really enjoy doing. Every time I start this process I find myself realizing more and more how much I learn from my team. Yesterday during one of the reviews I remember thinking that both of us have grown significantly in our leadership in the last 5 years. The reality too is that I’ve probably learned just as much from being on the team with my staff as they have from working with me.
I’m not a leadership guru and I don’t have all the answers but here are a couple of bullet points that I think are helpful when thinking about leadership within the church community.
Power is less important than influence- I am in a “power” position in that I am the leader. But, I fully recognize that it isn’t my position that gives me the opportunity to lead as much as it is that people recognize my influence. If I am not perceived as having much influence then my leadership doesn’t really matter. I think the role of the leader is to often figure out who has the most influence in a group or situation and put them in the leadership role. Practically speaking this means I don’t think “top down” leadership is the best model. I spend a lot of time encouraging leaders who are in particular contexts of influence to take more ownership and lead. And “influence” can be held by volunteers, parents and even students. I’ve learned a ton form my team that cultivating influence is often way more important than creating vision. Because even if you have the greatest plan and vision in the world if you have no influence into your community and culture it won’t matter.
Partnerships are better than Primary- Sometimes I envision what it would be like to go back to being the only staff person in a ministry. It’s probably at those moments when I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with my leadership responsibilities and I think it would be so much easier if I just did it myself. But, then I quickly realize how foolish I am to even think about it. I love to partner with people. I’m really good at seeing the big picture and coming along side of teams of staff, volunteers, parents and students. I can remember the days when I was much more alone trying to pull off big events and productions. It’s so much better working with people and engaging their brains, ideas and strength. I hope that I always make people know how much I value them and their partnership with me.
Leaders must be Learners- A whole bunch of years ago I had a couple that were pretty amazing part-time staff. I was married, with kids in my early 30′s and they were just married, in-seminary, no-kids and fresh out of college. We were having a tough time figuring out how to best work together when I decided to take a whole different approach. I opened the door for them to lead me. What I mean by that is we created a system where they knew that their opinion mattered and that I was very comfortable with them questioning and even challenging me. The “My way or the highway” leadership plan was replaced with open and honest dialogue. And I learned so much from them. It was very freeing to feel like I didn’t have to always have the answer and for them they loved being able to try new things knowing that I would support them.
I’m lucky to have an amazing team of people I get to work with. They have shaped and molded me. I’m grateful for their honesty, gifts and passion.
Lars,
I do the same thing with my youth staff, once a year 1-on-1′s. I, like you, have found them to be so valuable for me and them, and look forward to doing them every year. They are quite a time commitment but well worth it. Thanks for your thoughts!
It was a great couple of days