Leadership has an interesting twist I often miss. Life reminds me that leadership is never limited to distribution information. It is more than insight. When someone leads s/he needs to replicate the process again and then again with consistency. Leadership is about more not less. It is about taking ideas and nurturing them so that they multiply and expand in ways that one never imagined.
One naturally wants to push leadership into a process and outcome model. If you follow a prescribed formula (documentable of course) predetermined outcomes will follow. In a candid conversation with a colleague, this was punch line of his perspective. Naturally it was my fault that my formula did not work! He was holding the process rigidly within his mind. Given his disciplined approach, the lack of the right outcomes was obvious, me.
As I listened I realized that I had missed an opportunity to make my teaching actionable. Whenever one learns something new, the ideas only live when we do something with them. Whatever we think we have heard, it is with action, learning, and growth that we are able to use what we were given.
In his case, the learning stopped with the teaching. It has been replaced by rote behavior. His actions in the situation were ok but they lacked mature discretion as to what was critical and what could be ignored.
As I struggled for words, an old echo played in my mind. It was a offered in a spiritual context then, playing out in a leadership way now. “I want all of you to develop intimacies with God in prayer, but please don’t stop with that. Go on and proclaim his clear truth to others.” (1 Corinthians 14.4b)
You and I have the chance to help others experience more in her/his life. We see things that they do not. We have abilities that can cover their weaknesses. We have something to share. The question is how we interact and lead. A humble platform of learning, acting, and reaching is an effective way of making a positive difference.
