On Leading Well

Year: 2011

  • Share the Lead to Share the Load

    We are watching a fascinating leadership transformation in the Middle East. A dozen countries are experiencing political turmoil as protesters have flooded the streets, wanting their voices to be heard. Interestingly, they are not following a high-profile personality or even a named leader. One news report offered the term “crowd-led.” These crowds, or movements, don’t want merely to be represented, they want to participate – to share leadership – in shaping their nation’s future.

    I believe these protests represent a shift in how the world thinks about and experiences leadership. Gone are the days of the in-charge, know-it-all, autocratic leader. Traditional leadership theories tend to focus on a leader and his or her character, vision, roles and skillsets. However, in recent years a growing number of influential thinkers view leadership as an activity that can be shared or distributed among members of a tribe, group or organization.

    What is shared leadership?
    Many questions coming from my organization’s recent restructuring revolve around the definition and practical expression of shared leadership. I’ve found Executive Coach Marshall Goldsmith’sdefinition helpful:

    “Shared leadership involves maximizing all of the human resources in an organization by empowering individuals and giving them an opportunity to take leadership positions in their areas of expertise. With more complex markets increasing the demands on leadership, the job in many cases is simply too large for one individual.”

    For us, this in no way diminishes the role of a team leader. Rather team leaders must now think differently about how they will attract, retain, develop and release a talented team to accomplish the mission. This desire to share the burden of leading with others who have greater expertise is crucial, particularly as our emphasis is shifting away from teams comprised of full-time staff members to teams of volunteers.

    Is It Biblical?
    Last year as I read through the Bible, God showed me several examples of shared leadership. Here are a few:

    • God’s initiation to create humankind (“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Genesis 1:26).
    • Jethro coaching Moses to share his workload with trustworthy men who could lead thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. (“you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you…you are not able to do it alone”) Exodus 18:18-23.
    • Joshua’s commissioning by Moses included sharing decision-making authority with Eleazar the priest, “who shall inquire for him…before the Lord” (Numbers 27:21).
    • King Uzziah, a five-star talented achiever who refused to share leadership with the priesthood, ultimately suffered leprosy, shame and dethroning as a result (2 Chronicles 26).
    • Barnabas and Paul, in their church planting strategy, rapidly selected and anointed elders (never a single elder) in every church (Acts 14:23, Titus 1:5).

    How Does It Work?
    When I train with my bike club, we all recognize that it takes 30 percent more energy for the lead rider to ride out front–deflecting the wind and setting the course. Riders who draft behind the leader reap the benefit of a reduced headwind and do not have to work as hard. This allows them to save energy or recover until it’s their turn at the front. Typically, on a two-hour bike ride we will rotate the lead every three minutes.

    During a recent bike ride we faced a stiff headwind. One poor guy tried to ride up front for too long and he was slowing down the pace of the whole group. Finally someone yelled out, “Hey guys, ROTATE!” signaling it was someone else’s turn to lead the paceline; our frontrunner needed our help. Gutting it out for too long may appear noble, but it slows everyone else down.

    As you can imagine, Steve Douglass (our organization’s president) has exerted more energy to deflect primary headwinds and set our God-given course. Our Executive Team realized this as we began to better define our roles and goals.  As we’ve discussed and mutually agreed upon ways that some of us could share the leadership burden, we’ve discovered that we can do more, with less stress. For me personally, I find my heart growing in willingness to trust my team members and experiencing much greater passion for our mission. I like that.

    Make It Practical
    Goldsmith suggests ways to share leadership and maximize talent. Here are a few:

    • Give power away to the most qualified individuals to strengthen their capabilities.
    • Define the limits of decision-making power.
    • Cultivate a climate in which people feel free to take initiative on assignments.
    • Give qualified people discretion and autonomy over their tasks and resources and encourage them to use these tools.
    • Don’t second guess the decisions of those you have empowered to do so.

    What steps could you take to live out shared leadership within your ministry or workplace context?

  • Stop it!

    Finish this sentence: Too often, the good is the enemy of the _____.

    It’s exciting to be around leaders who are creative, innovative and productive. One of the downsides, though, is that these types of leaders are creative, innovative and productive. They are always generating more stuff. Not all this stuff is valuable. In fact, each additional idea/product/program generated cheapens the overall value of the batch.

    Most of us have many good opportunities coming across our path each day. If we’re serving others in any kind of leadership role, we owe it to them (and to ourselves) to ruthlessly evaluate each one. How does one become great at a few things? By learning to say no to the other ten or twenty. Greatness comes from one’s ability not merely to avoid the bad, but to prune away the good to make way for the great.

    Focus brings power. Focus breeds fruitfulness.

    Before we add something, we must cut something else.

    Before we say yes, we need to know where we will say no.

    Before committing to a new project, we must ask which other project will be wrapping up or cutting entirely in order to free up time, people and money – then cut it.

    Before we add another leadership development program in our institution, we must determine which one(s) will we celebrate and mothball – then stop them.

    It works the same way on a personal level: Before I sit down on the couch to linger in front of the TV tonight, which book that I wanted to read will I kiss goodbye?

    Before I eat that extra bagel at staff meeting, which part of my physical fitness plan will I say no to?

    These ideas collide with a consumer culture in which “more” is viewed as “more.” In reality, less is more. Most successful businesses have a pruning process in which they say “no” to far more opportunities than they say “yes” to. Steve Jobs’ leadership of Apple is a great case in point. So was Jesus’ leadership style, in which he constantly said no to the larger numbers in order to focus on a few.

    Much of leading well involves having the courage to say no, now. No to self. No to others. No to another 15 minutes on Facebook. No to the next bright shiny ball that promises 10,000 site views.

    Personal excellence comes, in part, from a growing willingness to stop doing good things in order to free up more time, space and creative energy for the handful of ideas and behaviors that we truly want to nourish into greatness.

    What do you need to stop doing today? Stop it, now.

     

  • Video: Ultimate Servant Leadership

    We hear so much about leadership today. Transactional leadership, transformational leadership, servant leadership, even self-sacrificial leadership. Ultimate servant leadership occurs when a leader lays down his or her life for someone else. This anime video highlights the suffering Servant who launched a worldwide movement 2,000 years ago which has withstood constant persecution, has penetrated nearly every culture, language and ethnic group on the planet, and continues to thrive today. May we who follow him also lead and love well!