Geri and I were in the car last weekend driving in beautiful upstate New York, taking one of our daughters to look at colleges and began talking about the dynamics of leadership. Soon, we realized we had stumbled upon a simple, but powerful process of leading well – at least in God’s church — that is now helping us quite a bit. 1. Monitor Your Heart. Whether it is preparing for sermons, reading a book on strategy, sitting through a staff meeting, or deciding on priorities, I am guarding my heart. Is my motive really God’s glory or is this about me? Am I anxious? If so why, and how is that impacting my decisions now? Am I avoiding a challenging reality? a confrontation? Is the content of this sermon I am preparing simply head knowledge? How does it speak to my life? Am I really living what I am preaching? This of course requires solitiude, silence and reflection time. 2. Monitor Your Time. It was Peter Drucker who wrote in these famous words in The Effective Executive: “Effective executives do not start with their tasks. They start with their time.” In light of my commitment to communion with God, prayer, my wife, children, a contemplative life, Sabbath-keeping, a life without hurry, how much time do I really have today? for this project? Where is my time going? 3. Monitor Your Tasks. At this point, then I set up clearly the goals and the steps toward that goal. Yesterday I had a meeting with our four person teaching team. It took me an hour to prepare my goals, steps, and to time out the meeting. I had notes in a file folder I had been compiling the previous 2 weeks. Then I went back to my heart and then determined the time for each section of the meeting. I also had three individual meetings with staff that report to me. I did the same process. I then prayed through my day, listening to God for any further adjustments. It was a good day. I think I am slowly learning how this kind of preparation is part of the holy work of leadership. Thoughts?
15
Oct
