Many years ago when I started seminary, I received some of the best leadership advice I ever received. It came from Pastor Arthur Pace, who was going to be my “field education supervisor.” In other words, I was Arthur’s student pastor. Before I started my year of working with Arthur he sat me down and said, “Chris, over the next year you are going to watch me lead this church and I will do many things well. If you learn from them, you will become a better pastor when you move into the full-time ministry. As you watch me over the coming year, you will also see me make many mistakes and do things poorly. If you discount me as a leader in those moments, you will miss a valuable opportunity: the opportunity to learn how NOT to lead and how NOT to be an effective pastor.” The point is obvious: we can learn from every example in life, not only the good examples, but also the poor or bad ones.
I have always remembered that lesson. I have found myself in many negative experiences and situations over the decades since Arthur offered those wise words of leadership insight. In each of them I have sought to glean the lesson it contained. I have learned how NOT to manage my time, how NOT to lead others, how NOT to respond to criticism, and dozens of other valuable lessons, simply by going through a negative experience and asking how it could have been a positive one.
We can even apply this lesson to ourselves. We all make mistakes. We all sin. Sometimes we even stay in cycles of poor performance or sin, because we fail to learn from them. For example, if I consistently treat others as if I have the right to command them to do what I want since I’m the “leader,” and they don’t seem to respond the way I want them to respond, instead of asking, “What’s wrong with ALL of them?” I will benefit from asking, “Is there something wrong with the way I am leading?” If I’m self-aware at all, I will eventually realize there are many things wrong with the way I am leading, and in this particular case what’s wrong is I am failing to value the people I lead first as people, and then for the gifts and skills they bring to the work environment. Once I realize that I’m part of the problem, and perhaps the biggest part of it, I can change, and the whole environment will change for the better. After all, leadership is influence, so when the leader changes, the environment will change as far as the leader’s influence extends.
Think of your own leadership right now. Is there an area or areas where you don’t seem to be effective, or where you think others aren’t taking you as seriously as they ought to as a leader? Ask yourself: Is it their problem or am I part of the problem? Just asking the question increases our self-awareness, and moves us to greater effectiveness as leaders. If the problem is with the team, then asking the question, can help you see that you’ll need to address the matter and lead the change that’s necessary for the whole team to be more effective.
I hope you’ll take the next opportunity to learn from the next negative situation you experience, because as you do, you’ll become doubly more effective than if you tend to learn only from the positive examples around you!
Here’s to leading better by turning a negative example or situation into a positive learning opportunity–today!