As we continue our leading in the Fruit of the Spirit series, today’s focus is kindness. For me kindness and leadership have always been a challenge, not because I don’t think leaders ought to be kind, but I find it challenging to be kind in certain situations. For example, when a worker hasn’t put for a best effort, my first response is not kindness. When a worker hasn’t told me the whole truth, kindness is once again not my immediate response. Leadership requires the exercise of authority and at least in natural terms authority is more “objective” than kind.
Having said that, I recognize that kindness is a facet of the fruit of the Spirit precisely because it isn’t natural. As with all the facets of the fruit of the Spirit, an aspect of the supernatural is involved or it wouldn’t be the fruit of the “Spirit.” Let me acknowledge once again that not all of you may come from the same worldview as I when it comes to matters of faith, but given my worldview, the fruit of the Spirit is by definition made up of traits that are not natural to us. They require a filling of the Holy Spirit in order to be carried out. That is why my natural response to a worker’s half-hearted effort, or half-truth is not kindness.
When we serve a leaders who follow Jesus, our leadership style and methods will be different, at least they ought to be different. One of the major differences is we value kindness along with objectivity. That means while we may want to blow up when someone hasn’t put forth their best effort and it costs us having a project, event or system be ineffective, or at least not as effective as it could be, our response must be kind. That does not mean it must be soft, or that no consequence results for the worker. It means we treat the person as a person, and with respect, even though their work was ineffective.
I watched a brief part of a college football game on Saturday. I don’t remember who was playing, but one of the wide receiver’s dropped a pass. The receiver’s coach went ballistic on the sidelines. His behavior reflected that of a two-year-old who has just been told, “No,” by his mother. He screamed and yelled, jumped up and down, ran along the sidelines, and got right into the face of the young player as he came off the field. The announcer mentioned the receiver was a true freshman, meaning he was probably 18 or 19 years old. In my experience, most 18 or 19 year olds don’t respond well to such “instruction.” Kindness would probably have been a better approach.
What do I mean? I mean the coach could have run over to the player, asked him what happened, and then explained how important it is for him to make that play. The receiver already knew he had messed up, and cost his team an opportunity for success. The coach’s tirade certainly wouldn’t have helped him understand it any better. I was a spectator at home on my coach and I was embarrassed for the coach. If I were his superior, he would either be enrolled in an anger management course or looking for a new job today. That’s because, I believe the old saying is true, “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Once again, I’m not saying we ought to be soft in our leadership, but kind. The coach could have made his point without acting as a two-year-old, and most likely with better results. I didn’t watch the rest of the game, so I don’t know whether the receive went back in the game, but having been an young receiver back in the day, I know that I would have been thinking more about not dropping a pass than catching it, if I had that coach.
It’s never a good thing when those we lead are more afraid of not performing than being freed to perform. You may disagree with that approach, but my experience over decades of leadership is that kindness and encouragement yield far greater productivity than screaming, yelling, and negative criticism. While all of us have something of the screaming two-year-old in us, it’s a great blessing that in the power of the Holy Spirit we can overcome that tendency and demonstrate kindness even in the times we find it necessary to correct someone, and even when after continual correction we need to dismiss an employee. Kindness doesn’t mean weakness, softness or dismissing non-productive qualities and actions in our workers. It means we treat them as we would want to be treated and show them respect as we correct.
Here’s to leading better by responding with kindness in every situation–today!