Oct 29, 2012
How NOT To Lead A Staff Meeting
Tuesday Staff Meeting
Last week the Mercy Hill staff met together.
I opened in prayer and shared Colossians 1:27.
Then we celebrated ways we had seen God working.
And then we talked about how best to celebrate Christmas as a church.
I was just wondering…
Then one of the staff asked a helpful question — about whether we might want to change the way we did something at Christmas.
This sparked discussion.
Lots of discussion.
Intense and passionate discussion.
And it was clear — we were not all on the same page.
Disagreement is good
At least that’s what I’ve heard.
But it doesn’t feel very good.
Especially when some of my staff are disagreeing with me (imagine!).
So what should I do?
What should a leader do when his staff are not in agreement?
What I SHOULD have done was pause the discussion and ask —
What does Jesus promise to do for us at times like this?
That would have pointed us to Jesus — and to His promises. Like His promise to give wisdom when we ask (James 1:5).
Which means we could have taken time to stop and pray — asking Him to give us the wisdom we needed.
Who knows what He might have done?
Unfortunately we’ll never know — because that’s not what I did.
What I did instead
Instead, I took matters into my own hands.
I thought I could lead us to a conclusion by moderating the discussion — asking questions — getting everyone’s opinion — making comments — listening well.
Didn’t work.
The discussion just kept going — and going.
Back and forth — and back and forth.
Round and round — and round and round.
Until finally I realized this was taking way too much time — and I proposed we go with one suggestion that everyone felt pretty good about.
Everyone agreed — and we moved on.
What I learned from this
- Jesus is always ready to help (2Cor 9:8). He’s always standing before me — with a promise for every problem I will ever face.
- Living by faith means constantly asking — what does Jesus promise to do for me here? — and then trusting His promises.
- I am too self-sufficient. When facing a problem — instead of asking what Jesus promises to do — I rely on what I think I can do.
- When believers can’t reach agreement — it would help to pause the discussion — pray — and ask God for wisdom.
- God is merciful. Although it took way longer than it needed to — in hindsight I can see that God led us to make the right decision.
Comments? Feedback?
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And here’s some related posts you might find helpful —
- What Are the Promises of God?
How NOT to Make a DecisionWhat Causes Conflicts? (It's Not What We Think)How God Saved My Sermon Preparation From Disaster
(Picture is from everystockphoto by kk+.)
Steve:
I have noticed a recurring theme in much of your writings- or maybe it’s just recurring to me because I am so stubborn. The recurring theme I am writing about is His promise to give wisdom when we ask (James 1:5).
My problem is that many times I ask for his wisdom- but then refuse to listen. Sometimes his answer isn’t through a megaphone but, instead, many times it is just a simple quite voice in my heart. I wish I wasn’t so stubborn at times though. I confess that sometimes I think I hear that still quite answer- but then I question it. Like the opportunity I had to share Jesus with a complete stranger. I know I heard his voice tell me to share with him- but I refused. I will probably never see this person again. But I refused to listen because it was “inconvenient” to me. This has been bugging me all week. I know it was sin to ignore him. I have confessed this as sin. But I started the whole interaction with this person by asking for his wisdom- and yet I refused to listen.
I know that this is off topic… but it really hit me that when I ask for his wisdom. He will give it. I just need to listen- and be obedient.
Thank You for helping me look back at this week and realize my disobedience. I pray that I never respond to the God of the Universe that “it is inconvenient”. After all, his death on the cross- was that inconvenient?
Thanks again for letting me ramble on- but I guess I just needed to take another look at this.
Ron
It’s always encouraging to hear your thoughts, Ron. Thanks for your honesty and vulnerability — I hope many will read and learn from your comment!
“When believers can’t reach agreement — it would help to pause the discussion — pray — and ask God for wisdom.”
I think that’s the best sentence in the whole post (apart from the scriptures, of course). Kind of sums it all up too. When things start heating up, I know that my natural inclination is to start speaking more and more from the flesh and my own ego and less and less from the Spirit. “I think this. How can you say that!? That doesn’t make sense!” – Shared, public prayer, prayed out loud to God sounds like a great idea in a situation like that.
Thanks for summing this up so well, Orion. And you are right that our natural, sinful inclination moves us away from depending on Christ and toward controlling the situation ourselves. Let’s depend on HIM more and more!