When Perseverance Endures Long after You’re Gone

Like you, I get a lot of emails. I try to answer all of them within 24 hours, but sometimes it takes me a couple of days to get through them. When I noticed an email from Icaro, I did not read it immediately. I do not know an Icaro. When I read his message two days later, I realized how important it was.

In 1923, my church sent a group of missionaries to Brazil. Joseph Brandon, his wife, and four children were among them. Sometime in 1935 a six year-old orphan named Emilio heard Brandon preach and accepted Jesus Christ.

Fast forward to 2012. Emilio is approaching 85 years. He reads his Bible every day. He sings a hymn from the Brazilian hymnal every day.

How do I know this? Icaro is his grandson.

In his message, Icaro pleads with our church not to stop our work in Brazil (I reply we have no intention of stopping). He wrote to tell me that every generation in Icaro’s family since Emilio have accepted Christ.  It’s a legacy of faith enduring through generations.

The evidence of faithful perseverance is twofold. God keeps His children. And His children endure. And in the case of a generational legacy of faith, perseverance endures long after you’re gone.

When Collective Vision is Critical in a Crisis

One of the most difficult calls in leadership is deciding how many people to pull into important, timely decisions during a crisis. Decisive leaders tend to react swiftly, making unilateral decisions. Some leaders are made to guide people through emergencies, taking the bull by the horns (or the bull horn) and charging forward so everyone else can follow.

Not all crises, however, necessitate this style of leadership.

For example, a recent WSJ article discussed how two cities—Joplin, MO and Tuscaloosa, AL—are recovering from devastating tornados. Both experienced horrible disasters. Both cities quickly formulated plans to rebuild. However, Joplin’s plan is succeeding while Tuscaloosa lags. Why?

Tuscaloosa utilized the disaster as an opportunity to create a “showpiece” of “unique neighborhoods” all anchored by “village centers.” Brilliant. Impressive. Progressive. Why didn’t it work? The plan was created by the city council—top-down leadership decisions were made leaving out the people who would actually do the rebuilding. Complex zoning restrictions designed to create the showpiece hindered actual development.

Joplin, on the other hand, lifted zoning restrictions. City officials backed away and let the people rebuild. One Joplin resident was quoted in the WSJ article: “When you have the magnitude of that disaster, really the old ways of doing things are suspended for a while until you create whatever normal is. . . . The government was realistic to know that there is a period of time when common sense, codes and laws that are in place to protect people are suspended for the sake of the greater good.” It was a collective vision that got homes rebuilt and people working again.

Some crises require quick decisions by leaders. The hours after a tornado hit are times for bull-horns and unilateral decisions. The months of rebuilding, however, involve a collective vision of the people.

There are times when the ideal is not the ideal. As a leader, you may know best. You may know how to rebuild after a crisis better than anyone else. Don’t be tempted by unattainable ideals—ideals become hurdles to the real solution when they are not attainable.

Top-down leadership may feel speedy in a disaster, but it will slow down rebuilding efforts. The priority is to rebuild after a disaster, not rebrand. By focusing on what could be, you may end up neglecting the present reality of rebuilding from the rubble.

The Trap of Availability

Nothing traps you in the urgency of the moment like availability. A leader that is always available never has the time to lead. He or she simply becomes an order taker for the next person who happens to stop by. Required office hours create a cage, a punch clock prison. Or the other extreme—when all your followers are your gatekeepers, there are no fences. Your life becomes a field of chaos.

I recognize the above hyperbole. But perhaps you have felt the teeth of this trap from time to time. For introverts, constant availability is exhausting. For extroverts, it is enlivening but entirely distracting. How do leaders—especially pastors—balance a desire to be there for people without falling into the trap of endless availability?

First, most people know pastors are not always available (some might believe their pastors sit in their offices, just waiting, just hoping someone will call, but I believe this group is a small minority). Most congregants sympathize with a pastor’s busy schedule. They are also busy. They understand pastors are not always available, but they do want to feel connected to their church leaders. Congregants want to feel like their leaders are accessible to them.

Allow me to make a distinction between leadership availability and leadership accessibility.

• Leadership availability: Always on hand in one place. Nearby, in person.
• Leadership accessibility: Easily reachable with several lines of communication.

I could spout plenty of time management principles here—steps to building better boundaries. Many leadership experts give sound advice in this area. But I want to focus on how to manage the perceptions of your followers. After all, if they feel you are there, then perception becomes reality.

The available pastor sits in an office at the church for the entire work week. The accessible pastor is reachable within the community. Available pastors are in one spot, on demand and at the command of others’ schedules. Accessible pastors have a strategy to be in many places, visible yet on their own schedule. So how do you create a culture of accessibility without spiraling into one in which you must always be available? How do you manage the perceptions of followers who—rightly—desire your time? Below are a few tips I have found beneficial in my ministry. Feel free to add your own in the comment stream.

Give out your cell phone number. Many leaders make the mistake of keeping their cell phone private. Unless you lead thousands of people (i.e. the CEO of a large corporation), then you should probably give followers your cell phone number. Get a plan with unlimited texting. Allow people to text you (and respond). It sounds scary, but it’s one of the best things I’ve done as a leader. I’m easily accessible. It gives me the opportunity to respond quickly and shortly. It keeps me connected to the younger generation. By having my cell phone, people feel like I’m always accessible. (Almost) no one abuses the privilege. And you always reserve the right to block the numbers of consistent offenders.

Don’t hide in your fortress office. If you are always in the cubicle, then people will come to expect you to be there. Introverts gravitate towards the safe box, but it’s a trap… the calm and quiet you seek is not to be found there. By always being in your office, you are inviting unnecessary noise into your world.

Be active in social media. Available leaders have limited ways in which people can contact them. Accessible leaders have multiple options for communication. Social media facilitates accessibility in two ways. First, it allows people to interact with you apart from traditional lines of communication. Followers post encouragement on your Facebook wall, and they leave messages about how a sermon helped. Second, it gives people a window into your life. Believe it or not, people are nosey. They like to know what their leaders are doing. You will prevent many questions (and quell rumors) simply by creating an online journal of your activities. Social media allows me to control—to some degree—how people perceive my actions.

Embrace your public image. Pastors are public figures. If you don’t want to live in a fishbowl and under a microscope, then don’t become a pastor. You must embrace the fact that you are a figurehead—in your church and in your community. Be visible. The more visible you are, the more you are accessible, and the less you have to be available. Even if you have to set aside 1-2 hours a week just to walk around, make sure you are interacting with people. For example, our church is located in a downtown area. I often walk around and step into local stores. On campus, I love jumping into all the groups that meet throughout the week, even if it just means popping your head into a room and waving to everyone. Accessible pastors embrace their public image and use it to their advantage.

Be available to those who need you most: your family, mentees, the hurting, key leaders, and your direct reports. Availability to all, however, is a trap. But for everyone else in your flock, you must be accessible to them.

The Leader of the Artists

Creativity is not necessarily art. Art requires creativity, but not all creative processes produce art. I like to consider myself creative (but not an artist). As a researcher, my creativity is different than an artist’s creativity. My spreadsheets are no works of art. I doubt they will ever be displayed in a museum, or in my church’s heritage room for that matter. But I do take pride in creatively communicating statistics in ways people can grasp.

So an artist I am not, even in my most inspired spreadsheet moment.

But we do have several artists in our church, and leading them requires a different approach. Managing creative people is different than managing artists. Artists think differently, not just about what to create but also how to create.

My worship pastor is an artist. It’s part of what enables him to lead a group of diverse people to worship together. He also understands artists; he gets their vibe. (Vibe is his favorite word—if a space is “vibey,” then that’s a good thing. I’m still learning, I guess.). Watching my worship pastor lead a group of artists is a work of art in itself.

Placing this leadership style within a taxonomy would almost butcher what it is. So rather than attempt to define it, I’ll describe what I see in my worship pastor’s leadership style.

The best analogy I can use is art itself. Leading a group of artists is like having everyone paint the same work on one canvas, all together and at the same time. Each artist has a unique perspective, style, tone, and pace (and inevitably, they will all want their own type of brush). The one leading the artists, however, is responsible for making sure everyone is painting the same work on one canvas, rather than a bunch of individual works on that canvas.

When the work is finished (is art ever finished?), it’s never what the leader would have done as a lone artist. It always looks different, but the leader’s responsibility is to make sure what was painted is cohesive.

The leader of the artists does not mesh all the individual works into one bland blob. The leader of the artist ensures that each artist’s unique contribution is seen within the whole. The leader of the artists figures out ways to manage those who paint a lot with big, bold brushes with those who paint small with tiny brushes. The leader of the artists knows how to gently massage the person painting out of color scheme back into the group. The leader of the artists knows how to incorporate new artists with those who have been painting a long time. The leader of the artists knows how to calm tempers when one artist paints over another artist’s work.

Here’s the catch: the leader of the artist has to be willing to set aside and sacrifice his or her own work to lead the work of others. It’s how an artist becomes a servant-leader.

I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to lead like my worship pastor, but it is sure fun to watch the art of leadership unfold.

Five Leadership Resolutions for Your Followers

New Year’s resolutions are often self-centered; it’s understandable. Successful people often reflect on who they are. They try to be more self-aware. They desire to develop themselves. So, good leaders often make resolutions involving individual goals, desires and objectives. Many leaders have resolve — the determination to see a goal and achieve it.

Too often these goals involve what individual leaders can do on their own. By the nature of their roles, however, leaders have people around them – teams, subordinates and followers – who are necessary components of success.

Allow me to challenge you to make resolutions this year with followers in mind. Here are five areas to consider in making specific leadership resolutions this year that benefit your followers.

Serve first. Everyone in an organization, from the top to the bottom serves the mission. As a leader you cannot serve the mission without also serving others. The best leaders are passionate about a mission, and they are willing to serve others who join them on that mission.

These leaders realize organizational goals and individual goals cannot be attained with an attitude of “Me first.” Leaders who show the way by serving others (as opposed to self-serving) help create a culture of sacrifice to a mission. Resolve this year to serve the mission by serving others.

Simplify work. Many people look for ways to simplify their lives this time of year. But the mantra to simplify lasts about a month before the complexities of life sneak in by Groundhog Day. Then an endless string of complex days continue until the following year’s resolution. One of the best gifts a leader can give followers is simplicity. Complexity may dominate your followers’ lives in every way, but you can grant them simplicity in the one area in which you have control. Managers who simplify work for their subordinates often create more work for themselves. Resolve this year to simplify for your followers, even if it means more complexity for you.

Release problems. Some problems are unsolvable. This creates a dilemma for leaders who have an innate desire to fix everything. Idealistic leaders will often present good solutions to the wrong problems.

Sometimes the “best” solution will not work. In certain cases, followers may never grasp the best solution. Let it go. Leaders serve people, not ideals. Resolve this year to release your followers from the burden of idealistic solutions to unsolvable problems.

Yield preferences. Most followers have a keen radar for the personal preferences of a leader, especially when these preferences are spun as vision. Leaders have positional authority over followers, and those in charge have more opportunities to voice opinions and vocalize what they like.

The best leaders find ways to create a collective vision with input from a variety of followers. They do not champion their preferences as the vision for all. Resolve this year to yield your personal preferences and build a collective vision from a variety of followers.

Recognize pride. Humility is the most difficult leadership trait to see in ourselves. The opposite of humility, pride is the most destructive leadership predisposition. Great leaders never stop fighting the battle to recognize pride and remain humble. It’s the quintessential leadership struggle. We stand on a sliding scale somewhere between healthy humility and unhealthy pride.

Even at our best, determining where we are on this scale is tough. We rarely recognize our pride until it’s too late. Followers often see it long before leaders become self-aware of arrogance. Great leaders appoint accountability partners at all levels of the organization to call attention to potential problems originated in pride. Resolve this year to put measures in place to recognize prideful tendencies and give key followers permission to call out problems associated with your pride.

Leadership is a gift from followers. Graciously accept this gift by resolving to serve followers by putting them first. Make 2012 the year of your followers.

[This post was originally published at Church Executive.]

The New Geography of Megapolitan Communities

USA Today recently published a graphic that grabbed my attention. As shown below, this graphic reveals what some demographers predict will become “megapolitan” communities. While I might draw the lines differently on some of the physical boundaries of these communities, the concept of megapolitan areas is fascinating to me.

The article (which reports on this book) defines these megapolitan areas as “having at least one metropolitan area of 2 million people by 2040 that’s connected — via commuting patterns — to at least one other metro area of more than 250,000 people. A megapolitan cluster has several megapolitan areas that are connected by commuting, trucking or commuter airline and share terrain, climate, culture, economic base and political culture.”

Here are a few of the presuppositions of these future mammoth communities:

• They will encompass major cities and counties, sharing a common culture, geographical features, transportation networks, and water supplies.
• Economic and population growth will continue to occur unevenly (in favor of urban areas), which means more collaborative and regional planning across communities in the future.
• Globalization will force U.S. regions to merge in order to stay competitive.
• Urbanization will continue to accelerate.
• Larger communities will create more jobs simply because of scale.

How this geographic and sociological change will affect the church is pure speculation. But it’s fun to speculate. I could see regional mega-churches benefiting from this shift, as well as regional multi-site churches. However, the inevitable regionalism of this shift may also create a localized neighborhood effect, in which people within a larger region desire to be identified with a specific and unique part of their community. As such, smaller neighborhood churches may also be positioned well. I’m curious about your thoughts. How else might this change—if it comes as predicted—affect the church? How can the church begin to respond?

Why We Romance Poor Leadership

There is a romance of leadership. Most studies in leadership focus on the top roles. Many leader-centric approaches assume followers are mere recipients of leader-driven change. To romance leadership is to exaggerate its importance relative to followers. Leadership is extremely important, but it exists only because followers collectively interpret someone (or a group) in such a role. Romancing leadership leaves out half the relationship. Followers are just as important. Obsessing over leaders at the expense of followers leaves a gaping hole in understanding how leadership really works.

If followers have power and influence, then why might they fall prey to bad leaders? How can the leader-follower relationship break down? What makes followers susceptible to toxic leadership? It is followers who are more to blame than leaders. Allow me to share three ways this breakdown occurs.

Safety. In most situations, unfollowing a leader is almost as simple as the aptly named Twitter button. Most people are not locked into a leader. You can leave a church. You can transition out of a job. You can transfer schools. People can vote out politicians and strike against companies.  Most followers in our culture have the freedom to walk away. But with every increase in freedom comes a corresponding decrease in safety. If you walk away from your job, then the paycheck is no longer guaranteed. If you vote out a politician, then you risk voting in one who is worse. In short, followers stick with bad leaders because they are not willing to risk safety in order to be free.

Belonging. Ditching a bad leader may mean leaving an important community. For instance, many followers remain loyal to a professional sports team despite an unscrupulous owner or ineffective coach. Loyalty is a powerful force within a community. Belonging in a human community will often supersede leaving a group leader. It’s why some churchgoers tolerate a fruitless pastor.  It’s why cult followers do not denounce the cult after the leader falters catastrophically. Unfollowing a toxic leader is often more painful (and less important) than the sense of belonging that comes from the community over which the leader presides.

Comfort. Challenging bad leaders is uncomfortable (at best) and deadly (at worst), but many followers forget they have the power to challenge leaders. In fact, dual accountability is one of the keys to a successful leader-follower relationship. In order to challenge leaders, however, followers must let go of comfortable silence. If you are the only one to speak out, and no one joins you, then you’re left alone in a vulnerable and uncomfortable position. Many followers are not willing to risk comfort to challenge bad leaders.

A healthy leader-follower relationship is less about an exaggerated leader romance and more about dual accountability. Accountability is what prevents leaders from becoming dictators and tyrants. Followers need leaders to help guide them to better places. Leaders need followers in order to fulfill their purpose. The proper glue sticking followers with leaders is accountability, not safety, belonging, and comfort.

[This post was originally published at Church Executive.]

Why Your Community is More Diverse… or Soon Will Be

When you get to know a person more, you learn how to love them better. The same principle applies to communities. Communities are made of individuals, and knowing your local context helps you love the people in them more. One critical element of understanding your community is tracking demographic changes. Perhaps one of the most important changes occurring in North America is the growing diversity of many local communities.

Brookings recently released a fascinating study on the changing landscape of immigration over the past ten years. Compared to previous decades, several changes are occurring in the immigrant population.

• They are spreading out into smaller metro areas.
• They are moving to suburbs over cities.
• They are more likely to be U.S. citizens.
• They are more educated.

Just look at where the immigrant population doubled in the last ten years—not in Miami or Houston, but rather in Scranton and Knoxville. These metro areas are not typically considered hubs of immigration.

Take a look at what has happened in the 100 largest metro areas over the past ten years. Some of the highest percent increases are in unlikely areas.

In my own community—a small town in Western Kentucky—over one-quarter of the population are minorities, while only ten years ago minorities accounted for less than 12 percent of the population. What was once a phenomenon in New York and Los Angeles is becoming normative in most communities across the United States.

The next generation will experience less homogeneity and more heterogeneity. Understand this shift. Learn about new groups of people moving into your community. And lead your church to love them.

Leading a Transition Involves the Painful Process of Watching Concrete Dry

Every church must transition. Every church should always be in some form of a transition. If the only constant is change, then leaders must guide churches through a transition in areas where change is occurring.

This change can be grand—a new site, a campus relocation, or a new mission endeavor. This change can be smaller—a new curriculum in the children’s department, a new budget process, or a new security procedure. All change, however, involves a transitioning phase.

Leading in this transition phase is like laying a foundation of concrete. Making the tactical/strategic/technical changes encompasses the work of putting the foundation in place. But in order for the transition to work, these changes must settle and solidify into the culture of the people. Technical changes come more easily. They are typically driven from the top. Cultural changes take time, and they come from the bottom. Like a worker laying the foundation of a house, leaders must watch and wait for the foundation of change to dry before building on it.

This process of watching concrete dry is painful, slow, and tedious, especially for leaders who are change agents. However, it is a necessary part of the process to make a transition permanent. If you try to move through the change too quickly, it’s like walking on a wet foundation. You just make a mess and ruin all the work up to that point.

Every transition involves a drying process. Every church should be transitioning. So, it means that every church leader must stop, wait, and watch for some amount of time. You may not feel like you’re working. You may feel like it’s time to build. You may want to hurry up and start something new. You will only make a mess. Take time to let your tactical changes settle into the culture of the church first. Then move and build again.

Leadership is a Gift

Too often leaders assume the positional authority of a boss. Bosses are needed. At times we need people in charge to tell us what to do. The person at the office assigned the fire marshal duty when alarms blare needs to be able to bark orders. They are trained. They know what to do. Too many in charge creates chaos, which is not helpful when fires blaze.

But there is a difference between a boss and a leader. Bosses claim authority with their position, and sometimes necessarily. But leaders are given authority by their followers. Leaders are given their positions by the people they guide.

• If leadership is a gift from followers, then followers decide who they want to lead.
• If leadership is a gift from followers, then followers help determine what style of leadership is appropriate.
• If leadership is a gift from followers, then followers have a say where they should be led.
• If leadership is a gift from followers, then followers decide when the gift should be given.
• If leadership is a gift from followers, then followers help establish why leaders lead.
• If leadership is a gift from followers, then followers influence how leaders take charge.

Leadership is a gift from followers. Treat it as such.