Musings on Leadership (8)
Peripheral but necessary concerns
63. Life is filled with inescapable duties which are nevertheless petty in nature. From tying shoe-laces to hanging a curtain to taking out the rubbish. Thousands of tiny decisions must be made each year by even a small family. And they’re made without a drama being made out of them. That’s how it should be! But though they’re trivial, in and of themselves, if such duties aren’t seen to and such decisions aren’t taken they can grow in significance until tension and unhappiness threaten a home.
64. It’s hardly a catastrophe if a window has been broken or that there’s no soap in the house or that the parking lot is totally inadequate or that no one was appointed to organize the youth-retreat or coach the kids' football team. To constantly put off making decisions about the more trivial but needful concerns of community living only creates festering discontent and needless tension. It is also detrimental to positive progress. If we deal quickly and decisively with the more petty issues our wit and energy are left free to be spent on matters of greater concern. This is one of the beauties of our social conventions. “How are you?” requires only a: “Fine thanks. A pleasure to meet you” when we are introduced to formal acquaintances and so, with an obvious remark about the weather or the volume of traffic, we're freed to pursue with all our energy the matters that require our concentration and alertness. But try to ignore social courtesies or the broken front window or the need to decide on which colour the foyer will be painted and see what happens. Families, communities, businesses and churches have been injured, even crippled, because they despised “the day of small things.”
65. I’ve been around enough to know that leaders can gravely debate tiny matters while vast needs stare them in the face (compare Matt 23:23) but I’ve been around enough to see needless criticism and dis-ease created by people who lacked the sense to deal decisively and quickly with smaller matters. It's required of leaders that they come down to earth, from the heavenly realm of justice and righteousness, long enough to deal wisely with relatively trivial matters. Wise leaders won’t give these matters more time than they warrant but they will deal with them (either personally or by calling in those who are capable and willing to see to them).
66. It’s worth saying here that leaders who insist on making every decision about every single matter in congregational life or who insist on being informed about every decision made by those to whom they delegated authority are acting unwisely. No one has enough time or energy to do all that and major in “matters of greater importance” (Matt 23:23). Furthermore, it breeds an unhealthy dependence on a handful of leaders. Good leaders will maintain a ‘hands on’ relationship to all the matters they judge to be jugular and will delegate, delegate, delegate to responsible and capable and willing people. They will know better than any outsider where the balance in all this lies.
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, theabidingword.com.
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