As a follow-up to last week’s post on the three areas we need to focus on as leaders in the church, I wanted to cover the second area. If you missed the first one, you can read it here. The three areas we are looking at and need to focus on are:
- Love People
- Lead with vision
- Live with excellence
Today, I wanted to cover the idea of “Leading with Vision”. At Calvary, we are constantly looking to improve on what we are doing, which can lend itself to updating/improving things. All of this can bring about change, and change brings with it the possibility for disaster.
Imagine driving to a familiar store and taking a right turn down a street that you’ve driven down hundreds of times. However, this time everything is different. Little did you know, the street was recently changed to a ‘One Way Street’, and now you are driving in the wrong direction. As you come to find out, the change was made to improve traffic flow in that part of town, but it was never communicated to the public. That would be pretty frustrating, and could have disastrous results!! The same is true, if not more so, as we lead change in a church. Here are a few thoughts as leaders we need to remember when leading change:
- Remember leadership is not about ‘doing stuff’, but about taking people on a journey.
- Expect people to be frustrated if you take them on a journey, but don’t tell them where you’re going. Communication is huge!
- Before you share the ‘what’ you need to share the ‘why’. The ‘why’ will make the ‘what’ more understandable.
Nick Poole 