Category: Leadership Journey

Learn to Audible

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I have a generally pessimistic attitude about rain. Please do not misunderstand me: I love rain, but I distrust forecasts. I have a nagging suspicion that if you ever look at a weather app, there is a perpetual chance of rain next week. Always next week. It rarely moves to the next day. Until this week.

Occasionally, my paranoia is wrong. (Feel free to tweet that.)

This week our kids ministry was planning to kickoff the semester with a night at the park. I invited myself (and the youth) to join them and to help with time together. Last week our children’s minister told me there were chances of rain all week, but I wrote it off as the perpetual rain chance. Then, I awoke yesterday to a steady rain.

The adjustment was pretty simple. Instead of meeting at the park, we were going to meet at the church and roll with it there, but there was still some work to make up.

In leadership, there is always a chance of rain. Something will usually go wrong, and the question is how will you respond?

Are you so tied to your schedule and plans that any alteration upsets the very core of your being?

Or maybe you’re so relaxed about plans that changing at the last minute does not worry you because you would not have done any planning before then anyway.

I would urge you to find the middle ground. Find the value in proper planning with a loose grip. Put forth the effort you need, but be willing to make adjustments at the last moment.

A similar situation happened at camp this summer. We were seeing remarkably hot temperatures, so we had a discussion before the final rec time. We had done the planning ahead of time, but felt it was time to call an audible, so we moved our rec time inside. All of the dominoes lined up, and our audible was a win all around.

Sometimes leadership requires flexibility. Scratch that. Leadership always requires flexibility. Learn to call an audible when the time comes. You’ll lead better because of it.

Accomplish a Little Today

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Earlier this month I ran across an Evernote file I made in January titled “2018 Goals”. In the note, I set out a few goals I wanted to accomplish this year. For example, I wanted to read 24 books this year.

The problem was that I had forgotten about the goals. I failed to keep them in front of me, so I made the goals in January and stumbled onto the file in August.

So, those 24 books I want to read? I have completed 4 (with 2 being finished on vacation, after finding the note). So, yeah, I still have a ways to go.

Then I started thinking: I don’t have to read 20 books in the next week. All I really need to do is to pick up one book and read a little bit today. If I can establish a routine and work reading into one of my habits, then the end result will be something entirely different than the first 7 months of the year.

Accomplishing my goal does not mean reading a bunch tomorrow, it starts with reading a little today.

The same is true for you and your leadership. Whatever goal you are staring in the face is not as large as it may seem.

Maybe you want to grow your organization (or ministry), but it seems like such a daunting task. Accomplishing your goal does not mean growing a bunch tomorrow, it means growing a little today. Start making relational investments now.

Maybe you want to make family a higher priority in your life. Accomplishing your goal doesn’t mean binging time with your family tomorrow, it means making the most of the time you have today.

Maybe you want to a leading voice in your field. Accomplishing your goal does not mean getting a bunch of recognition tomorrow, it means doing the little things right today.

Then, in all these things, as you make the commitment to accomplish little by little every day, the goal quickly shrinks.

The Rest of the Story

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“Regardless of what you were told at Richmond, your delay was weather related and therefore we will not hand out hotel vouchers, but even if we were going to do so, we have exhausted our vouchers for today.”

What a great announcement to hear over the speaker at 2am.

After waiting in the Richmond terminal for almost 7 hours (click here for more on that), our flight finally left. We arrived at DFW expecting to get some relief, only to hear the announcement, and so the adventure began.

To say our return home from vacation was a memorable experience is an understatement. We ended up renting the only vehicle available at any of the rental counters that were open at 3am–a 12 passenger van. The movie Home Alone flashed through my head at one point, thinking of John Candy and his polka band riding in the back of a moving van. We were not far away from that, minus the accordion.

Honestly, I do not know what to add about leadership from my experience Monday night/Tuesday morning, other than to say your attitude makes the difference. I am very grateful my wife and daughters (and myself) were able to roll with the punches on everything that went wrong without getting angry. Remaining calm disarmed what could have been a very explosive situation.

So, mind your response. How you respond in the moment will determine how you handle the situation. Remain calm and navigate the choppy waters, regardless of how big the waves may seem.

Leadership and an Airport Terminal

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Currently, I’m sitting in an airport terminal in Richmond, Virginia. A combination of mechanical issues, weather, and vacation chaos has culminated in a delayed flight (sitting at 3+ hour delay so far, and that doesn’t count the fact we were at the airport early!).

Some things are out of our control. Weather, mechanical failure, and attitudes of those around us are all outside of our control.

What we do control is the attitude we use to respond.

I do not know if I am at ease because its the end of my vacation (that has been wonderful), or if I just really enjoy flying so waiting a few extra hours in a terminal with my family seems quite bearable. But I decide how I respond.

The same is true for the clerks working the desk here at gate A7. The people who are paid to handle situations when storms move in two places hundreds of miles from each other appear to have the proper attitudes. No one is grateful for the delay, especially not the girl stuck in the terminal store with a sideways screen, but most people seem to be managing the unfortunateness.

So, let me ask you this: how are you handling the unfortunateness in your life? Let’s narrow down a little: how are you handling the unfortunateness in your leadership?

What’s your attitude as your decisions come under scrutiny, or as those you lead start to show signs of unrest?

What’s your attitude when those you lead completely ignore the direction you are trying to move?

What’s your attitude when you face dilemmas you have never faced before?

What’s your attitude as you peer the future directly in the eyes, not sure if you should jump or stand your ground?

Take some time today to put things in perspective. You will face leadership struggles. You will face leadership failures. You will face leadership storms. But the way you respond, that’s up to you.

As for me, here’s hoping I get to board my flight in the next few hours.

3 Ways to Overcome Mistakes

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Over the course of the summer I was able to sit down with student leaders from different churches and help them grow in their concept of what leadership looks like. One week, over our time together, we had two people share a similar message: leaders make mistakes.

Today, I want you to hear the same message: Leaders make mistakes. You will make mistakes.

The challenge in leadership is not avoiding mistakes, but what we do when we realize we have made a mistake. Here are three steps to help your mistakes lead you to growth.

(1) Know You Made a Mistake.

For some of us, this may be the most challenging step. Maybe the mistake you made grew more out of a reaction to a decision you made or something you said. Maybe your mistake was a planning mistake, or it had something to do with a choice you made along the way.

No matter what, until you realize you made a mistake, you cannot move forward and learn from it. This is where key voices play an integral role. Having people around you whom you can trust to say what they think you may not want to hear makes all the difference in the world.

Years ago, I served a church and enjoyed a strong relationship with my pastor at the time. We had an important meeting with another church leader one afternoon, and it ended poorly. Later that day he and I came together and I was able to share my opinion on where the meeting went south. Because of the relationship we had, we were able to work through the situation and move forward.

(2) Own Your Mistake

If you want to grow as a leader, please understand you are not infallible. You will make mistakes. What’s worse is that sometimes the people around you will know you made a mistake long before you know it. But, once you realize a mistake has been made, what you do next is paramount.

When you make a mistake, never be afraid to admit it. I would advise against wearing your mistake as a badge of honor, but also don’t treat it like a toothache–if I ignore it long enough, it’ll go away or I’ll die.

When someone in authority over me makes a mistake and admits it, more often than not I respond with a higher level of respect for them. I had a high school basketball coach who tried to get us ready for a game by showing us the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. He wanted us to know we were only playing a game, and the game should be fun, but the desired outcome is not what he hoped. Instead, we played poorly. Later, when reminiscing about his decision, he admitted to me he made the wrong choice in trying to motivate us that way, and I respected him for his honesty.

Own your mistake. Take responsibility for it. Apologize when necessary. But most importantly, once you own your mistake…

(3) Correct it for the Next Time

Very few people enjoy stubbing their toe on the same support beam in the same spot of their house. They either move into a new house or change how they walk around. Actually, can I say no one enjoys stubbing their toe?

Now we get into the nitty gritty of leadership. The leader who makes the same mistake over and over eventually drives away the people he or she is leading. After all, very few people enjoy following someone who is unwilling to learn or to grow.

If you, however, can learn from your mistakes, you become someone who adds value to the lives around you. Then, over time, you slowly begin to make fewer and fewer mistakes. But it does take time, and lots of it.

 

The bottom line is this: if you want to grow as a leader, you have to learn from your mistakes. So, are you learning from your mistakes? Are you making changes? Or are you repeating the same action over and over and hoping something (or someone else) changes in the process? Learn from your mistakes and see what happens.

 

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