Unpacking Ideas

I am trying to say that the way we spend — or not spend — at the federal level seems (to me) to reveal what we value most as a nation. And so I ask questions like: If spending percentages are a clue, I wonder why we seem to care less about providing college education for more of our young people? Or, have we changed? Do we now care about other things more as a nation? Is it possible that the way we spend reveals what we really want? Is it OK that we are number 12 in the world?

In short, transformational leadership, whether we are talking about national policy or change for my local congregation or nonprofit, requires tenacious long term vision. Leaders who ask us to scuttle our long term common good in order to relieve our short term discomfort are not leading us anywhere. And we know what the Cheshire Cat said.

How does such a small group do so much? Their adult sponsor believes its their “extraordinary commitment to help others.” In these days when we are sadly seduced to assume bigger is better, and our attraction to “mega” overshadows our pursuit of effectiveness, we sometimes miss the little pockets of extraordinary goodness happening all around us.

I think the true test of effective transformational leadership is when a leadership team sticks to the long term plan for change even when the changes are small. A leadership team is effective when it clings tenaciously to each incremental change, as long as its in the right direction.

As a regular kinda’ guy in a local community — maybe I’m a volunteer for a local non-profit, a teacher in a school, a volunteer in the local church — I need to trust that the leadership team I follow is absolutely, unequivocally dedicated to the mission of our organization. Without that level of trust in my leadership team my willingness to follow them wavers. My commitment to our organization depends greatly on my perception that our leadership team cares singularly about the mission of our organization. To the extent our leadership team becomes distracted by other priorities, my commitment weakens.

Here’s the central idea, or the “one thing”. Surely you recall Curly’s “one thing” in the movie City Slickers. Yes, transfer of learning is important. Yes, a balanced approach to effectiveness is important. Yes, shared leadership is important. But the central idea I most care about is that our mission must become flesh. I am not satisfied with the words of our mission. The idea of our mission is not enough. I want mission incarnate. Mission must become flesh.

The idea of economics is not new. The word is taken from the Greek oikonomia, which in the first Century roughly meant “household management”. Today, while we are managing more than a household, the question is the same: How do we manage the limited resources available to us? I.e., How do we run our economy?

To lead with my center in a good conversation means I will care more about you and less about being right. To lead with my center in a good conversation means I might find myself following, or leading no one because we disagree. And what I might learn is that when I dancing or conversing if I lead with my center, whether my feet follow or not, I will still enjoy the dance. I will still enjoy you.

A good conversation is better than information sharing. A good conversation is like dancing. Linda and I are taking ballroom dancing lessons. Imagine the chaos. We are learning about conversation without words. When she and I dance, sometimes she knows where I am going, sometimes she doesn’t! Sometimes I go left and she follows, other times I go left and she goes somewhere else. This confusion of direction is usually not her fault because I am not very good communicating with her about where we are supposed to be going.I like good conversation. We all need good conversation, in every relationship, at home, at work, in government and across governments, and across cultures. I like good conversation and I have some hope because I like dance, even if I don’t know where we are going, and even if we do not end up in the same place.

Effective leadership watches over slow change carefully and patiently — without losing sight of the mission and the need for the change to continue. Effective leadership also understands the juggling act of watching over and nurturing individual change while also monitoring the entire organization’s slow progress toward accomplishing its mission. Mission-mindfulness and change are hard to maintain. They are hard to measure. They are even harder to measure if we care about the health and well-being of our individual members as well as the health and well-being of our entire organization — because the two are not necessarily the same.

How would a disciple of Jesus Christ behave in order to transform the world? Measure this. This is effectiveness. This is transformational effectiveness.

Here’s what I think: Regardless of a church’s size or growth rate, or programs, or worship style, mission-mindfulness is one of two essential and minimum requirements for being an effective church. What do I mean by “mission mindfulness”? It means we care about our mission with every decision, every conversation, every program or worship breath we take.