Leadership Tension During Tough Times

Last week I was invited along with 7 or 8 other pastors to spend an afternoon with Bill Hybels.  The purpose of the gathering was to get us some pumped about the upcoming Leadership Summit. (Which by the way - it looks like they have put together an extraordinary line-up).  But after we spent about 30-45 minutes talking about the Summit we got to do just Q & A with Bill the rest of the afternoon.  And I'm telling you, if there is any doubt - the guy is a genius when it comes to the topic of leadership! 

One of the concepts we discussed I scratched out on the napkin pictured above.  The topic was leadership tension during tough times.  The two tensions are as follows:

• DEFINING REALITY - According to the Peter Drucker, "the first job of a leader is to define reality."
• FAITH BASED OPTIMISM - The second job of the leader is to envision the future in way that inspires the people that follow him to believe for and help create a new reality.

One of my observations is that the percentage of time you spend doing each of these activities differs based on what part of the organization or movement you are leading.  With the inner circle of top level leaders you can spend a lot more time defining reality and confronting the brutal facts with a fair measure of faith based optimism.  With the masses you need to lead with a lot more faith based optimism and a measure of defining reality.

As you think about how you are leading through tough times what are some of your new learning's?

Comments

[Kathyj]

Jesus gets tension:

Suffering on the cross.........the joy set before Him

[Mark]

Honestly, I think the drawing nails it. Prior to seeing the drawing I would have said, "You lead through the tension by finding the balance between being empathetic (e.g. acknowledging people’s situations) and energetic (e.g. being faithfully optimistic). Too empathetic and hope is dashed. Too energetic and you appear out of touch with the situation.

[Mark]

P.S. Very impressive penmanship.

[stephanie]

This was interesting. Thanks.

[Mark E]

very good.
There is always a tension about what to share with the larger group in church. They need to know what the needs are to achieve the vision, but it needs to be set in a positive climate.

[Greg Atkinson]

I don't know if you watch LOST or not, but this makes me immediately think of the episode "Constant". Desmond was getting more and more sick and what he needed to stop the sickness was a "constant".

In our tough times, we must hold on to the constants in our lives - God, His character and nature, His Word/Scripture, the leading of the Holy Spirit and His still, small voice that speaks to us in times of true prayer (meaning you listen more than you speak). It is Christ and His constantness (yes, I made up a word) - that we can grip and keep our eyes on to lead us out of the valleys and through the storms of life and leadership.

[Mike McElyea]

After the first two leadership jobs are done, we have the opportunity to draw another line that arches over the first, with arrows leading from a solid definition of reality to that faith-based optimism. That line indicates the route and steps we can take to move from one to the other.
Tough times not only provide the opportunity for the new line, but also for new paradigms and levels of creative thinking we would never have reached if we didn't have to.

[Kim]

Perhaps for the smaller group, you are being a mentor and for the larger group, you are training them to be mentors to those around them.

That may sound backwards, but after all, who has the most contact with those who don't know Jesus? The larger audience. They are the ones who need the tools to teach those who they come in contact with every day how to lean on God for help.

In doing this, you have both defined reality, and given them faith-based optimism. You have shown them their job, given them a focus for the difficult times. You are also giving them the tools that they need for their lives to dig deeper into God. Bad times happen...always. It's what we do with them that defines us.