Prepare for Departure

Being a leader is noble and rewarding. It does however carry with it some challenges. One of which is preparing for your departure from the role. It is common for leaders to work right from their installation through their exit from the organization. There are a lot of factors that drive that commonality, but the real thing is that the leaders never prepare for when they are gone from the organization.

It is important, dare I say paramount for the leader to build strength in the organization that is ready to take over and continue the work of that organization when the time comes. There should always be someone on deck to lead with confidence and skill to do so.

The same is said for the spiritual leader. The role of the spiritual leader is to guide people to God’s agenda. Give them the tools that will prompt them to seek the LORD in all things, whether inside or outside the organization. Those that are being prepared should know of and have those influences that come from God, His authentication, have encounters with Him, character/integrity, and preparation. They should be seeking the spiritual maturity that demonstrates continued growth and learning and reliance on God for all. And they should work to bring glory to God always.

I know that I have failed in these areas in the past and may only be in the middle of preparing my family’s successor, but I am working on it daily by doing just what I am doing here. I am in God’s Word, learning and growing in to the man He has for me to be. I am demonstrating to my boys what it means to be the leader of the household and can only do more of the same. At some point I will no longer be here, but my family that comes after me will be prepared to continue. I am preparing for my departure.

What is your view of what comes after you leave? Are you not concerned as you will be gone? What if you were to take the approach that it is your role to ensure that the organization continues to seek the will of the LORD even after you are gone?

Be Prepared

The motto for the scout movement is, “Be Prepared”. This phrase also influences the spiritual leader as he begins and proceeds in leadership.

It is important to be prepared for the role that you are taking on. For example, if you do not know anything about basketball, it will make it difficult to play the game, much less lead a team. If you don’t know anything about music, playing an instrument will not generally go very well, and leading an orchestra, well who will follow you. I recall a US Senate hearing related to interviewing a new director of the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). The nominee, demonstrated his complete lack of knowledge as related to aviation and was swiftly rejected.

But what does preparation mean and/or look like? It is widely known that learning comes from a number of places, so the formal education is not the only source. Now, it is important to be educated in a field in order to gain knowledge of that field, I will not argue. But what I will point out is that there are people who know more about a subject or field based on their experience and time spent in that field.

My father-in-law worked in the signage field for many years and then had his own welding shop for many years after that. An engineer came to him with specifications for a flag pole and my father-in-law rejected them telling the engineer that what he had was overkill and he could indeed get by with less to accomplish what he was wanting. The engineer left, recalculated and returned confirming with my father-in-law the new specifications would indeed work. It was not the formal education, but the deliberate study and experience in the field that produced the results.

Leadership is not that much different. It is preparation in the field that will produce the results. One must have a “plan to continue growing personally and mentally” – Henry & Richard Blackaby, in order to be prepared to lead spiritually. Leaders should stop and take a look at where they are and seek out the resources to get them where they want to be.

I get a lot of ribbing from my family for wanting to be prepared. I set up contingency plans on top of contingency plans to ensure that I will generally know what to do if things go a little sideways. The ribbing continues until that thing happens and the quick adjustment, that I had prepared for, is made and we just continue with our path. It is the knowledge and preparation that make the difference. Shouldn’t our preparation to spiritually lead be the same.

“²⁹Do you see a man skillful in his work?

He will stand before kings;

he will not stand before obscure men.”

— Proverbs 22:29 (ESV)

That skill comes from study and preparation. It does not generally come automatically. It is something that is worked on over time and will deliberate action. To have a skill or be a leader, we mus be prepared.

What is your thought on skills? Are you of the opinion that someone is just born with it? What if you were to see and understand that is more about learning and growing in the field and preparing for the role, in this case the role of spiritual leader?

Leadership Growth Through Experience

I believe that we put too much weight of demonstrated leadership through the celebration of the success without reviewing the circumstances that lead to that success. Before we get too far, I want to be clear in that I am not saying we should not celebrate success, as isn’t success the point. What I am saying is that where the success is the result, what lead to that success that can be replicated or avoided to generate more success.

It is the experiences that lead to the success. Think of Thomas Edison and the creation of the lightbulb. It is reported that he said, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The lightbulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” Thomas Edison grew, not from the success, but from the experiences of getting to that success. One thousand experiences led to the invention of the lightbulb. We have to look at the experiences that led to the success a bit more.

In my life, I have had many experiences that led to my success. At one point in a company survey of the effectiveness of the leader in your organization, I was deemed by my subordinates as compared to the rest of the organization’s leaders (over 30 of us) to be the least effective. Yes, I was not just at the bottom of the list, I was the bottom. Last, in the list of my peers. What a failure I was at the time. But, I learned from that experience that I had to do and be better. And about 18 months later when the survey was taken again, I had moved up to the top of the bottom third. Yes, I was not considered high on the list of leaders, but I was not the bottom of the list either. I had learned from the experience and improved drastically and noticeably.

Where success is what the goal is, the result is not always the determining factor of the success. The experiences leading to that success make it more likely that success can and will be repeated. Moses failed to reach the promised land based on the experiences in the wilderness. Joseph failed in staying the traditional course of family. Yet, they both were and were considered great leaders based on experiences and life events that are recorded. When we look at the lives of Moses and Joseph, their continued movement forward through the hardship and failures and experiences, should inspire us to take the similar approach. We should not let those experiences get us down or derail us from our continued movement. We should be looking to those experiences as growth opportunities and steps in the process of becoming the leader that God is creating in each of us.

Where are you looking when it comes to growth in your leadership? Are you looking to the successes as the demonstration of your leaders? What if you took in all the experiences that led to the results and used those as steps in the process of your growth in leadership?

When Will You Learn

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is a phrase attributed to many different people and/or organizations. It does not matter from where it came, it is true today as it was in biblical times.

Pharaoh continued to resit the LORD’s demand to let the Israelite people go out of bondage. As I am reading this morning’s passage, seven plagues on Egypt have already occurred and Pharaoh is still not getting it. Moses and Aaron, at the direction of the LORD are now asking Pharaoh, when will you learn.

“³So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me.”’” – Exodus 10:3 (ESV)

Those in the direct council of Pharaoh were even asking him when will you learn.

“⁷Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, ‘How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?’” – Exodus 10:7 (ESV)

Pharaoh continued to resist and do the same thing over and over again, expecting that the LORD would relent, or that the plagues were all a coincidence and that the LORD did not have a hand in any of it. Either way, Pharaoh was determined that at some point his strategy would work. He was convicted to keep the people in bondage and the cost did not matter to him.

I look at this example and work to see how it applies to me. I know that I have gone through times of doing the same things over and over again expecting different results. When Lori and I married, I decided that I “needed” Sunday’s for me and did not attend church, to play golf or some other personal indulgence. Things were okay, but once I came back to the LORD, things were better. I resisted tithing to the LORD because I “needed” the money to survive, and I was doing that, surviving, but could not get ahead. I finally began to tithe and things were better. Many more examples abound from my life. All ending in better once I did something else.

When are we going to learn? The LORD wants nothing but the best for us. It is up to me to follow Him every step of the way. When I do, I will be granted peace in the circumstance that was not there as I resisted. It may not be in that exact moment, remember that God’s timing is perfect and not aligned with mine, but I will find peace. I have to do things differently in order to get the different result.

What is your approach? Are you continuing to do the same things over and over again expecting a different result? What if you relented and listened to learn from the LORD?