I am finding that we leaders often have a tendency to try to get everyone in the same room. We try to get everyone on the team, to catch the vision, to join the conversation, to work on the project. At the very least, it makes things simpler. It shortens communication lines, it lessons the workload of the leader, and if numbers are one of the measuring sticks you use to gauge your success, getting everyone in the same room affords you a visible way to see what kind of progress you are making. It makes us feel good. And as a church planter, I can tell you that this is a constant temptation.
However, although it can be helpful in some respects, striving to get everyone in the same room also creates some problems. This is especially true of anyone working with creatives. Generally, creatives are no more effectively led through mass leadership than they are reached through mass marketing. They can be a unique bunch. And they tend to like it that way. So you can't get too frustrated when your attempts to continually coral them into the same room to have the same conversation about the same things inevitably fails.
The reality is, highly creative or no, some people will need a different environment to thrive in than the one you are currently trying to get them into. Even if you succeed at getting them there, it may squash the very thing you are trying to unleash.
I am learning that leaders who desire to maximize their influence and effectiveness must learn to lead in layers. This will require embracing the reality that each person you hope to connect to your cause is on a unique journey and in some respect, must be uniquely led. Their unique journey has brought them to this point, and it may need to be no less unique moving forward. This may mean that they may never be in the room that you desire for them to be in right now. The trick, however, is learning to be okay with that and to find the layer that works for them to serve in a meaningful way. If we can learn how to do this, we'll find ourselves connecting people to our cause we'd never imagined and we'll find them serving in ways we could have never dreamed.
Recent Comments