You Know You're Not Leading When . . .

Ever catch yourself not leading?  Of course you have.  When I find myself not leading the way I believe  God has called me to lead, I ask myself, "What does it look like for me to really be a leader in this situation?  Maybe this will help you know when you are slipping a little bit.

You know you are not leading when . . .

• You wait for someone to tell you what to do rather than taking the initiative yourself
• You spend too much time talking about how things should be different
• You blame the context, surroundings, or other people for your current situation
• You choose not to speak the truth in love
• You are more concerned about being cool or accepted than doing the right thing
• You seek consensus, rather than casting vision for a preferable future
• You aren't taking any significant risks
• You accept status quo as the way it's always been and always will be
• You start protecting your reputation instead of opening yourself up to opposition
• You sleep a little too sound
• You procrastinate to avoid making a tough call
• You talk to others about the problem rather than taking it to the person responsible
• You don't feel like your butt is on the line for anything significant
• You think what you say doesn't matter
• You ask for way too many opinions before taking action

Any places or situations where you are not leading?  Is it time to step up?

Comments

[Jeff Pessina]

To this kind of stuff our options are "Amen" or "Ouch"! Where'd you come up with this list? Some of these sound too familiar to leave me comfortable... you trying to mess up my sleep? Really, this is a great list of things to contemplate. Good thought-food for those in leadership... or leaderhsip POSITIONS. Thanks.

[Paul]

Jon,
Can you quickly touch on the "You sleep a little too sound?" I find that if I am in sync leading as I should be, being spirit led I may sleep better. When I am not sleeping "peacefully",and that may be the key, ...it is usually a result of an unrest with myself or my actions...actually not doing what I should be doing.

[Jon Ferguson]

Thanks for your comments Jeff. And Paul, your question is a good one. I debated as to whether or not to include the one about "sleeping a little too sound." I would say that to some degree if I am sleeping super sound it might be that I'm a little too comfortable, and not living on the edge of faith like I think God wants me to live. I'm not advocating losing sleep do to "high stress" necessarily, but living in such a way that you might be up dreaming or thinking about what God has in store for the future or what he might be asking you to do next.

[Greg Lee]

Great stuff, Jon. I just shared this with our whole staff. I've been reflecting in the last few weeks about collaboration in leadership -- both the benefits and the bottlenecks of it.
Since hanging out with you guys, I've definitly become more collaborative with our team, but at the end of the year I feel in some ways like it has slowed us down. It was interesting, encouraging, and challenging to hear your thoughts on...
-You seek consensus, rather than casting vision for a preferable future
-You ask for way too many opinions before taking action.
I guess we all live in the tension at some level, the leadership pendulum can swing back and forth between the extremes of demanding commander and people-pleasing facilitator. Strong collaborative leadership with a great team is the sweet spot, eh?

[Marty Schmidt]

This was very helpful for me. It is great to have some ideas as to how to access my leadership. Do you find you are more prone to not be leading in one area more then another?

[Janet]

Jon...good stuff. You are the one to read baby!!! Keep up the good work, you are making us all better.

[robert]

Jon, not sure what you thought about the incredibly popular book Blue Like Jazz, but after reading your blog I think you and your readers would enjoy the new book: Brown Like Coffee. It's also for students and I found it at brownlikecoffee.com
I would love for you to read it and critique it for us.

[Rhoda Beloso (Frontline)]

Wow! this is really true! I agree! It is something to think about as a leader. I can't help not to comment. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I read most of your articles and this one really hit me.

[Hal]

Jon
Great job! This is a great check list. Often, I find it easy to move toward balance than leading. Our Church is 2 years old and the tendency is to begin to play it safe. Thanks

[Eddie Smith]

So goes it with ministry, marriage, and those that look to us for it! Thanks!

[Todd Stafford]

Wow... Good stuff. This was the first time I've seen your blog, but definitely one that I'm subscribing to. Thanks for the insight!

[Renata]

THANK YOU Pastor Jon!!! I needed to read this today, I printed it out and placed it in my journal and thank you for the "sleep" explaination. God is constantly reminding me not to get too comfortable there is work to be done. :) Blessings to you!!!

[dominic]

Jon, You hit this topic right on the head. Even though I am no longer apart of a leadership or church. This was the same lines (most of them) that I followed when I was leading. Now looking back more on this list I found a lot of what I did is there and it hurts but the truth should at first. Change or be Changed, trying is not doing, that is why I had adopted the Nike verse "Just do it".

You are a great leader, God's mission in you to be a "fisher of men" shows in this blog installment. I am totally humbled, thanks for the wakeup.

[Rindy]

Excellent list. I hope that as I am moving into a leadership position that I can keep the accountability in this list.

I also think this is a great list for "leaders" who may not have the position of leader. I've been wrestling with approaching my present supervisor about some "not really right" issues, or whether to just deal with the fallout. This convinces me that it's not about the 'position', I need to step up. Thanks!!!

[Eric Spangler, lead pastor: LCF]

Thanks, Jon, for the thought provoking post! I used your list and provided a link over at my blog: www.ericspangler.net

-Eric