Is Your Leadership Failing?  Here are the Warning Signs…

Pastor Tim Woody has a great blog where he tackles some key leadership topics.  I really enjoy reading his insight.  Today, I'd like to share some of Tim's insight on leadership (also thanks to Mark Sanborn who wrote the initial article).  This fits very well with our lead article last week about how to determine your success in ministry.  Tim writes...

As ministers, we all know that leadership is tough work, and each new day gives us the opportunity to succeed or fail. Far too often, in our field of work, there are so many voices coming at us that the voice of God often becomes indistinguishable. There are so many tasks and people demanding our time, that we can easily become focused on things that don’t really matter or distracted by things that can destroy us.

Today, in my personal study of leadership, I stumbled across an excellent article written by Mark Sanborn, entitled, Why Leaders Fail. In it, he lists six warning signs of leadership failure. Gleaning from this article, I’ve written about six warning signs for ministers to be aware of.

Warning Sign #1: Taking Our Eyes off the Ball
This morning, I took my 9-year-old to baseball tryouts. Over fifty 9 and 10-year-olds were lined up to display their skills to the new coaches. You can easily pick out the kids whose fathers are passionate about baseball. They have focus unlike most of the other kids. They hustle to the plate and focus on one thing…the ball. They never let their eyes off the ball, therefore they hit better, catch better and respond quicker.

As a pastor, I have a narrow focus of responsibility, and that is simply equipping people to do ministry by leading and communicating well. That’s my “ball.”

The only way this works is for me to be in a constant state of personal growth through reading, fasting, praying, studying, interacting with my leadership team, and keeping myself in optimal health so that I can be my best at communication.

If I take my eyes off the ball, it ruins everything for me. Getting caught up in trivial details, while striving to become a perfectionist, causes me to miss my primary focus. In that environment, I toss the personal growth to do tasks. I lose and the church loses.

Make sure you’re focused on the ball, or you’ll strike out.


Warning Sign #2: Not Communicating a Clear, Compelling Vision
At CFC, we have a slogan, “it’s all about touching heaven and changing earth.” In other words, our vision is to love God will all our hearts and love other people enough to bring them to Christ and build them up in their faith. This consumes me, thus I find myself communicating it all the time, weaving it into messages, leadership discussions, casual conversations, and yes, blog articles.

I’m always attempting to find new ways to creatively express this truth in videos, graphics, on television, and on the platform. It’s something I have to be passionate about.

Many years ago, I realized that if I quit beating this drum, the people under my ministry would very quickly begin to take on “religious” postures and their affections and passions would seem to scatter. Pastoring the church begins to feel like herding cats.

Undercommunication of a clear and compelling vision is fatal. It’s like laying down the rifle and picking up a shot gun.


Warning Sign #3: Fear of Taking Bold, Courageous Steps
If I get afraid of taking risks and attempt to settle in to comfort, I might as well go to work for a funeral home (no shame meant toward my funeral director friends). Christian leadership is based upon faith, and faith is all about taking risks.

As a pastor, if my goal is to “play it safe” and “keep everybody happy,” then I have abandoned faith. My church will shrink, finances will drop, morale will plunge, people will squabble, and other risk-takers will arise to lead the charge while I’m sitting in my office puzzled and dismayed.

One thing I always tell my staff is, “I would rather you try and fail, than to sit back and analyze, unable to make a decision, missing the opportunity altogether.” The life of faith means taking bold, courageous steps. The challenge is that in ministry, we do this in front of hundreds and thousands of spectators. And if a fear of failing in front of them frightens us, we might as well go to work for that funeral home.

I use the “80% affirmative” rule. After analyzing a situation, if I feel 80% sure of myself, I take bold, courageous steps. If I fail (and often I do), I get right back up, admit my mistakes and get on with the next bold, courageous step.


Warning Sign #4: Character Corruption
This is the one most people like to talk about, in that it is about the only one in this list that can topple a minister in single moment, although the character problem actually takes years to develop. It all begins with hypocrisy…when we say one thing, but do another.

Jesus had some choice words for the hypocrites of His day (the religious leaders). And what makes me think that the hypocrites of today are not the religious leaders, still? Yes, I know that I am one, so that’s some tough medicine.

Hypocrisy in Christian leadership is seen in pastors, elders, board members, and in every strata of leadership. I believe that it all goes back to the issue of personal character. To gain power and influence, Christian leaders can become sneaky, controlling, envious, and prideful. They preach against these things, but the corrupt character continues to be lived out.

Character corruption is ultimately about pleasing ourselves and pleasing our onlookers instead of pleasing God…and it’s so ugly. Unfortunately, most Christian leaders can point out several of whom they feel are living this way, but would never put themselves in the same category…which, to me, is a bright, flashing red light saying, “I’ve got character corruption.”

The high road is the low road…the road of humility and a willingness to say, like the Apostle Paul,
“When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:21-24 NIV)


Warning Sign #5: Not Managing Me
Ouch. This one is tough.

We love to help others manage their lives, but far too often, we don’t manage our own too well. Our super-affections for Krispy Kreme, Coca Cola, soft sofas, our jobs, entertainment, or comfort have far-reaching affects.

We end up pudgy, tired, stressed, broke or even divorced, because we simply didn’t order our private lives well. To manage Tim well, I have to constantly work against my soulish nature. This includes saying “no” to an extra 390 calorie Krispy Kreme, drinking water or Diet Rite, strenuous exercise, taking a day off, rejecting television addiction and more. It means saying “yes” to an evening walk with my wife or a drive in the convertible. It means saying “yes” to staying up half the night with my boys. It means saying “yes” to high protein micro-meals. It means saying “yes” to reading that book on the nightstand. It means saying “yes” to prayer and personal Bible reading. It means saying “yes” to health.

Next week at CFC, I’m going to be teaching a message called, Quality Control on the leadership qualifications Paul gave us in 1 Timothy 3. When studied in detail from the original language, this is a colorful description of a leader who manages himself with excellence. It’s a goal for all of us to attain.

I always say, “an unmanaged home is an unloved home.” But, “an unmanaged me is an unloved me” would work too. If we don’t love ourselves enough to manage ourselves, there’s no way we can effectively manage others for any length of time with any integrity.


Warning Sign #6: Bored With God and His People
Our lives as Christians, and especially as spiritual leaders, must be centered on loving God and loving other people. That IS why we got into this thing of full-time ministry, isn’t it? If God has become boring and if people have become annoying, take a sabbatical and refresh your spirit.

Remember what Jesus said,
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV)

Make this your prayer:
“God, rekindle a holy passion for you in my heart and mind. Today, I choose to worship you like never before and to allow my thoughts of you to sweep me off my feet. Also, Lord, give me a new love for lost people. Help me to have compassion for them that will drive me to color outside the lines to reach them. And finally, please give me a deeper love for my Christian brothers and sisters, the people in my church, the people in the office, the pastor down the road, and the people in my house. Thank you for new passion.”

FOR DISCUSSION:  Take a realistic assessment today of your leadership.  Do you find any red flags in this article?  Please share what you're thining!

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This post has been viewed 26 times and was added on March 13, 2006 by Todd Rhoades.
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My name is Todd Rhoades, the 'behind the scenes' guy here at MMI. I'm also on the team at Leadership Network (although that doesn't mean that they endorse everything I write here). In my past life, I was the developer of a of a website called ChurchStaffing.com. I hope you'll enjoy your time here and tell all your colleagues about MMI!

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