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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 8: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 8 – What Do You Hear?)

In my thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are leadership lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This particular series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament, the same lessons that I have published in my latest book. This week, in part 8, I am discussing one of several lessons on the practice of leadership, this is about the important of giving people a voice and letting them be heard. Here is the transcript of the podcast.

In this series we are diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying them to the practice of leadership. The purpose of the series, and of the website as a whole, is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that will help you grow in your leadership and make an impact. That starts with realizing that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it, and He has a part for us in this purpose.

We then spent 3 weeks laying the groundwork for effective leadership, using the analogy of the starting blocks in a race, when all the runners line up and get into position, and the starter yells, “On your mark, get set, go!” The first command, “On Your Mark,” was all about getting to the starting line and in the right place by getting yourself into the right frame of mind and equipping yourself for what is coming. Aligning yourself with truth by seeking and knowing God and knowing where He has placed you, and by establishing your foundational beliefs and values, gives you the capability to lead. The second command, “Get Set,” was all about getting into position in the right form, so that you are best prepared to start well. Performing the actions that set you up to be followed and trusted involves living your life so that your actions and behaviors reflect those beliefs, and that gives you the credibility to lead. The final command, “Go,” is when the starter’s pistol goes off and you start running. That’s when your work begins as you start leading your people and your organization toward your mission, vision, or change. This is hard work and therefore requires someone who is both capable and credible, and that’s why this step must follow the other two. But with those things in place, the race is underway, and what follows are the things you do to maintain your race. We have already talked about the importance of the ability to see the big picture as one of those things, and today we are discussing the important of giving people a voice in the process

Earlier in my marriage, my wife and I had moved to a new state for a new job, and I was trying to establish myself in this new organization. It’s helpful to know that I am an introvert by nature, and I tend to process my thoughts internally. How this manifested itself is illustrated by my tendency in leadership meetings almost everywhere I have worked. There will be a topic or agenda item on the meeting list, and the group will have a healthy and robust discussion all around this topic, and the whole time I am listening to what everyone is saying, thinking about the implications of what they are saying, and putting them in the context of the situation. Toward the end of the discussion, I will finally share the conclusion of thoughts. Usually, the response is something like, “Jeff, I think you’ve captured the right idea and plan.” In my experience, some people say something out loud then talk about it as part of their thought process.  I think about it in my mind first, and then say something out loud.

That is a great skill for decision-making and analysis, but it also has it’s flip side, which my wife helped my learn. In this new organization and new position, I was meeting with some employees who were expressing their concerns and ideas. I was sitting with them, and my mind I was attentively listening to what they were saying while I was carefully processing. When they were done and left meeting with me I continued to think and process, so that I could determine the best response and course of action. By the time I got home, however, word had already reached my wife that I didn’t listen to them. I was frustrated and was explaining to my wife that I was listening and thinking while they talked, and she said, “Jeff, they didn’t know you were listening because you didn’t say anything. And because they didn’t know you were listening, they interpreted that you were not.” Then she said, “If you give people a blank page, they will write their own story.” You see, because I gave no outward sign or indication, they felt like they had not been heard and did not have a voice in the situation. And I had a mess to clean up.

The reality is that people want to have a voice in the circumstances of their lives. Those circumstances include their jobs, which should matter to you. Remember that they are typically the ones who experience the effect of your decisions, and see how it is lived out around them.  They have knowledge of what has worked and what has not. They see how things are received. And they care about what is happening, so they want to be able to speak up and feel like they have been heard. Therefore, it is vital that you foster that kind of environment.

You need to make sure that people have a voice and feel heard. Those are two sides of this important topic. The first is that you need to give them the opportunity and a forum to speak up and share what they have to say.  But that’s only one side. You also need to respond with your words and act visibly in a way that communicates that you heard what they had to say. They are not usually speaking just to hear their own voices, but because they believe they have something important to contribute, and they want to know that you really heard their meaning and intent.

The bottom line is that you need to give people an opportunity to speak, and make it safe for them to do so (that’s another lesson, because if they don’t feel safe, you won’t get them to say anything). Find ways to let them share. Then respond back in ways that show them you heard them. And finally, act in a way that shows you took what they had to say and valued it. When you do that, people will feel like they have a voice.

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Leadership Ezra: Who’s In Charge Here? (Part 8, What Do You Hear?)

In thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (and then published in my latest book). This week, in part 8, I am discussing one of several lessons on the practice of leadership, this is about the important of giving people a voice and letting them be heard.

Let People Have a Voice

If you have been following this series, by now you realize that I have found that the book of Ezra is chock full of lessons and illustrations on leadership. I have already written about topics like understanding God’s sovereignty in my plans, preparing myself for leadership, team leadership, the work of leadership, and seeing the big picture. In my study of the book, I have also found application to many other leadership principles and concepts, like strategic planning, overcoming obstacles, building motivation, and more. Another of those lessons, which is illustrated in the events that take place in chapter 10, verses 7 through the end of the chapter, I believe specifically provides an example of the value of giving people a voice.

There was a time when leadership was viewed as an authoritative role that looked something like this: I am in charge, I know what needs to be done, I tell you what to do, and you do it. The assumption was that the leader was the one who really knew what was best, so he talked, and the followers listened. Classrooms used to operate the same way, when teachers would lecture, and students would listen and take notes; but it was a very one-sided dialogue. Studies of leadership recognize that this is not effective leadership, and that now we need to be willing to give people a voice in the process. Heifetz and Laurie, in their Harvard Business Review article “The Work of Leadership,” included in HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership (2011), found that “giving a voice to all people is the foundation of an organization that is willing to experiment and learn” (p. 69). However, that doesn’t mean that it’s no longer a struggle for us to do, and so it is still something that we need to intentionally cultivate in ourselves and in our leadership.

A couple of important concepts have personally helped me to recognize this truth. One was the realization that many people know much more than I do about many things, and there are many things that others can do better than I. I don’t know everything, and I am not the most skilled at everything. Therefore, I can be more effective when I tap into the knowledge and skills of others, but that, in turn, means giving them an opportunity to contribute. A second was the realization that those who are closest to a situation – those on the ground floor – generally have the greatest understanding of what is taking place. The people actually doing the job often have the best understanding of what works and what does not. The result, then, is that I have learned that I need to give people a voice, especially in the process of implementing change. If people are given the ability to speak into the process, they will in turn take more ownership of it and will be more involved and more committed. And this is where a look at Ezra 10:7-17 gives us some great insight. If we walk through the passage verse by verse, what we see is a great step-by-step picture of the importance and value of leaders giving people a voice in the process.

Verses 7 and 8 set the stage, describing how Ezra gathers everyone together. A proclamation is sent throughout the area instructing people to come to a central location for what will be an important meeting. They are given three days to arrive and gather, and the proclamation includes a rather severe ultimatum to ensure that people come. The important components that are immediately evident for our understanding of leadership are these:

  • Include those who will be affected, so that the ones who will be impacted have an opportunity to have a voice.
  • Provide a time and place for the dialogue to take place, making sure that the availability of those invited is taken into consideration.
  • Provide a motivation that underscores the importance of the meeting, increasing the likelihood of the right people being there.

Once gathered together (v. 9) – and notice that the attendees recognized the importance of this discussion – Ezra stood in front of everyone present and briefly explained the basic issue and the needed outcome (vv. 10-11). In their case, it was the sin of unfaithfulness to God, requiring confession, repentance, obedience, and separation. The example it provides helps us to see the next thing that  people need:

  • Provide a clear and understandable idea of what the issue is and what the outcomes need to be.

Before people can give input, it is the responsibility of the leader to communicate and summarize so that everyone involved can understand and engage. Everyone needs to see the picture clearly and be on the same page from the start. And clearly, Ezra did this well, because the response of the people (v. 12) was a resounding “Yes! We are on board and we will do it!”

At this point:

  • Give people the opportunity to speak into the situation – and make it safe to do so (vv. 13).

The discussion that ensues is a wonderful representation of the importance of giving people a voice. They have heard the issue and the needed outcomes, they have expressed absolute support, but they also recognized that there are some factors that need to be considered in the process, because those factors will affect their ability to accomplish the goal. In their situation, they identified the problem of volume – how many and how much (“there are many people,” and “there are many of us who have transgressed”) – and the problem of physical circumstances (“it is the season for heavy rain”). Very often, it is those who are on the ground floor and in the trenches who are best able to understand what is being faced and how it will impact those involved. The leader may be the one who is best able to “zoom out” and see the big picture, but once you “zoom in,” the people who are carrying out the work of the tasks may be best able to see the details and provide input. They will see things that you miss, and so if they are not given the opportunity to speak, you may be creating obstacles that can greatly hinder the likelihood of accomplishing the goals.

But it didn’t end there. The people knew the obstacles that would increase the challenge, and they were able to offer ideas to solve those issues (v. 14). They proposed a solution that addressed their problem of volume and allowed for the disruption caused by their physical circumstances. Then, because they were empowered to speak, they got behind the leadership and took ownership of the issue and the solution. Their solution, based on their first-hand knowledge of the circumstances, included identifying representative leaders, arranging a schedule and time frame, establishing a process, and clearly communicating the purpose. This provides a great example of the result and benefit of giving people a voice. When people are given the opportunity to participate and contribute, they buy in and take ownership. When that happens, you will have their support and involvement and have a much higher probability of accomplishing the tasks. And keep in mind, because they may have the best picture of the details, they can provide valuable input into a workable solution.

With that backdrop, verses 16 through the end of the chapter reveal the final – and critical – step by the leadership:

  • Listen to the people and take their input into consideration when determining the action steps.

They then followed that established process, completed the plan, and achieved the goals. But before that happened, verse 15 points out an interesting side note: the proposed solution did not have unanimous support. Several leaders of the people opposed the idea, including at least one spiritual leader. One of them, Meshullam, is also mentioned in Nehemiah 3:4 as someone who was helping to repair the wall in Jerusalem, so I don’t think these individuals were opposed to the goal, just to the process that was proposed. This gives us a good picture of how the process operates in organizations (and how the body of Christ operates): there will likely never be full agreement on anything, but giving the people a voice will bring the best ideas, and it is then the responsibility of the leadership to filter the responses, seek God, and determine the direction. As Seth Godin says in Tribes, “Listen, really listen. Then decide and move on” (2008, p. 128).

Ezra’s leadership shows us the value of giving people a voice. If we don’t do the same, we only make our job more difficult. So I say, “Let the people speak.”

Godin, S. (2008). Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us. Portfolio: New York, NY.

Heifetz, R. A., and Laurie, D. L. (2011). “The Work of Leadership,” in HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership. Harvard Business Review Press: Boston, MA.

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Quote Your Dad

“No man is an island, entire of himself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” John Donne

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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 7: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 7 – What Do You See?)

In my thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are leadership lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This particular series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament, the same lessons that I have published in my latest book. This week in part 7, I am discussing one of several lessons on the practice of leadership, this one is about the importance of seeing the big picture (and especially of seeing it from God’s perspective). Here is the transcript of the podcast.

In this series we are diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying them to the practice of leadership. The purpose of the series, and of the website as a whole, is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that will help you grow in your leadership and make an impact. That starts with realizing that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it, and He has a part for us in this purpose.

We spent 3 weeks laying the groundwork for effective leadership, using the analogy of the starting blocks in a race, when all the runners line up and get into position, and the starter yells, “On your mark, get set, go!” The first command, “On Your Mark,” was all about getting to the starting line and in the right place by getting yourself into the right frame of mind and equipping yourself for what is coming. Aligning yourself with truth by seeking and knowing God and knowing where He has placed you, and by establishing your foundational beliefs and values, gives you the capability to lead. The second command, “Get Set,” was all about getting into position in the right form, so that you are best prepared to start well. Performing the actions that set you up to be followed and trusted involves living your life so that your actions and behaviors reflect those beliefs, and that gives you the credibility to lead. The final command, “Go,” is when the starter’s pistol goes off and you start running. That’s when your work begins as you start leading your people and your organization toward your mission, vision, or change. This is hard work and therefore requires someone who is both capable and credible, and that’s why this step must follow the other two. But with those things in place, the race is underway, and what follows are the things you do to maintain your race. One of those things is the ability to see the big picture.

Early in the doctoral program for my Ph.D., my cohort was assigned a book to read by Margaret Wheatley, called “Leadership and the New Science.” The book was a discussion of leadership principles and ideas drawn from the illustration of Chaos Theory. The author provided some explanation of what Chaos Theory was as it pertained to science, with some of its components and implications, such as a discussion of something called fractals, and then made applications to lessons that applied to how we can lead.  I particularly remember the discussion on fractals, because that was a place where I could so clearly see a reflection of God (even though that was not the author’s intent). Fractals are complex patterns that make up the miniscule detail of matter in various ways. At first glance, and in a close-up view, they generally appear to be random and chaotic (hence the connection to chaos theory), but when you expand and repeat the view of the pattern, their seeming randomness is revealed to be part of a greater pattern that makes sense and is very beautiful. [For any Chaos Theorists and scientists who hear this explanation, I know I oversimplified it, but the basic premise is still true.] When I read this in Wheatley’s book, what struck me is how this is a picture of God’s activity in our lives.  There is much that happens that may seem to be random, or that we don’t understand, but from God’s perspective, it is part of a large purpose that He is using to create a beautiful picture.

What I learned from this book while in the context of my doctoral program was not just lessons about leadership, but lessons about how my life and purpose were part of a larger picture in God’s purpose. When I began to see my leadership this way, it helped me to get outside of my circumstances and see a greater purpose that I couldn’t see as well while in the middle of it. On one level, the existence of fractals is a lesson on leadership in that it is an illustration of the patterns that are there, that we can identify if we step back and view the big picture, which then helps understand what is happening and make better decisions. But on a deeper (and, in my opinion, a more important) level, it is illustration of how our lives have purpose in an intentional plan that God has for us. We may be too close to the situation or too recent in time to see it, but that doesn’t make it not true.  

The point for you is to recognize the same thing.  In your organization, there will be identifiable patterns that you can find so that you can anticipate, respond or act in the best way possible. There are patterns and models that you can follow because they have been proven to be true over time, even if there are variations in circumstances.  For example, there are certain steps that consistently lead to weight loss, primarily eating a healthy diet with appropriate portion sizes and doing moderate exercise.  There are lots of variations in how that can be done, but the basic pattern is the same. It’s the same in your leadership. However, I believe it is even more important to see the big picture from God’s perspective, recognizing that your experiences are part of His design and pattern, and are there for a reason. Embrace that knowledge, and have the confidence that God has a purpose in your leadership.

I have learned to see God’s purpose in all my past experiences as part of the preparation for where He has my today.  The experiences in my life, when viewed through that lens, reveal an order in my life that has equipped me each step of the way for what is next. For example, when I had to use much of what I had learned in my counseling background to help individuals heal in an organization that experienced great wounding, I could see the purpose of that background is part of God’s plan to prepare me, even though at the time I had no idea I would need that capability in this organization. So when I can see my life, experiences, and leadership in that way, it brings peace and confidence. The secret to having that lies in seeing the big picture from God’s perspective.

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Leadership Ezra: Who’s In Charge Here? (Part 7, What Do You See?)

In thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (and then published in my latest book), and this week, in part 7, I am discussing one of several lessons on the practice of leadership, this one is about the importance of seeing the big picture – and especially of seeing it from God’s perspective.

I enjoy puzzles. I enjoy all kinds of puzzles – word puzzles, number puzzles, brain games, etc. – but in this instance I am specifically referring to jigsaw puzzles, the ones that are pictures cut into hundreds of little pieces that need to be assembled. And I have a preferred method of assembly: first turn all the pieces face-up, setting aside those that have a straight edge (the outside frame); then assemble the outside frame; finally, begin to assemble the rest of the pieces, looking first for pieces that more obviously fit in the same section together. In the process of putting the puzzle together, however, one of the most important components is not the puzzle itself, but rather, the picture on the box.

It is the picture on the box that provides the perspective and the vision of what is being assembled. It provides a visual landscape that helps in determining the general context or place where an individual piece belongs. It’s a map that lets you see where you want to go. I once used the picture on the puzzle box to illustrate a lesson, by giving a puzzle to each of several small groups of people. Some of the groups had the puzzle box, so they could see their picture, but some of the groups did not (and some had all the correct pieces, but some had the wrong pieces or were missing pieces; that served to make a different point). Part of the purpose of the lesson was to illustrate the importance of “the big picture,” or the master plan, for managing a process, a task, or life itself.

The implication of this illustration is simply that a good leader needs to be able to see the big picture. Like puzzle pieces, each piece of the context, the environment, the organization, or the situation fits into a larger context, and a leader can best see how it fits when viewing the whole picture. In order to see the whole picture, that leader must be able to get on the balcony, zoom out, and get above the forest to be able to see clearly. Being able to do this will keep him from getting lost among the trees and will provide the perspective necessary to implement changes and adjustments.

However, for a Christian leader, there is an even bigger picture and a more important lesson: seeing the big picture from God’s perspective. I have discussed in other articles about the fact that God has a sovereign plan and purpose, and it is against this backdrop (of the clear evidence of God’s sovereignty) that we learn from Ezra how to see the big picture from God’s perspective, and even how that affects motivation and purpose.

The lesson emerges in chapter 7, a pivotal chapter in understanding Ezra’s leadership. The chapter details how Ezra had been granted permission by King Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem (with another reminder of God’s hand in that circumstance in 7:6 – “and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him”). But then the king went beyond granting permission, and wrote a letter that provided authority, protection, and significant resources for Ezra (7:11-26). After the proclamation of the letter, Ezra’s initial response is recorded in verse 27: “Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart.” His response clearly reveals that Ezra saw God’s hand in all that had happened. He was able to look beyond his own finite, human scope of vision and see the events from God’s perspective. He recognized that God’s purpose was over and through the circumstances.

As a result, he understood the real importance of what was happening, which in turn shaped his purpose and drive, and his communication to his team, which we see in 8:28: “And I said to them, ‘You are holy to the Lord; the articles are holy also; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord God of your fathers.” Ezra helped his team to understand that God had a sovereign purpose, and therefore the tasks that they were carrying out were being used by God to fulfill that purpose; therefore, their work was holy. Ultimately, an understanding of the holiness of their task (and of themselves) impacted their drive, their commitment, and their performance.

This story from the life of Ezra provides a great lesson for our leadership: while it is important – and even necessary – for a leader to be able to see the big picture, the Christian leader must take it a step further and see the big picture from God’s perspective. Then, when our understanding and determination of purpose are filtered through recognition of God’s purpose, it affects how we answer two important questions: Where are we going, and why are we going there?

It is always important for a leader to determine and define the necessary and intended direction (where we are going), but part of understanding this comes from seeing the bigger picture of context from God’s perspective. When you are able to do that – to see the big picture from God’s perspective – you have an understanding of destination that goes beyond the visible and immediate future. You recognize a purpose that is bigger than you, that is bigger than your big picture, and which has an eternal impact.

What follows is an impact on motivation (why we’re going there). For people to respond, there must be a clearly established and communicated purpose and motive, one that makes sense to and resonates with people, and helps them to understand and believe in why they are doing what they are doing. When they can see that they are fulfilling a role in God’s plan, then the work they are doing is elevated to a new level of importance; more than that, it is elevated to an act of holiness. For the follower of Jesus, this provides true motivation.

So, seeing the big picture is important, but seeing it from God’s perspective is more important. The challenge for you and me is to learn to open our eyes to God’s presence and intentional involvement, not just in the history recorded in Scripture, but in our lives today. It is to see the events and circumstances that are taking place in our daily experiences from His perspective. And when our eyes have been opened, and we recognize His sovereign purpose and see the big picture from God’s perspective, then our responses, our purpose, our motives, and our motivation rise to whole new level.

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Quote Your Dad

“There is no “I” in “Team.”

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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 6: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 6 – There is No “I” in “Team”)

In my thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are leadership lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This particular series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament, the same lessons that I have published in my latest book. This week, in part 6, we are taking a minute to step away from our discussion of your individual leadership and talking about the idea of Team Leadership. If we carry the “running a race” analogy forward from the last few weeks, this would be a little like a relay race, in which you are dependent on others for combined success. Here is the transcript of the podcast.

In this series we are diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying them to the practice of leadership. The purpose of the series, and of the website as a whole, is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that will help you grow in your leadership and make an impact. That starts with realizing that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it, and He has a part for us in this purpose.

We just finished a 3-week subset in this series in which I laid the groundwork for effective leadership. I used the analogy of the starting blocks in a race, when all the runners line up and get into position, and the starter yells, “On your mark, get set, go!” (I know that the starter actually fires a starter’s pistol, and doesn’t yell “go!”, but you get the idea.) Those three commands capture the ideas I discussed:

  • “On Your Mark” – that’s all about getting to the starting line and in the right place. As a leader, that means getting yourself into the right frame of mind and equipping yourself for what is coming. It involves aligning yourself with truth by seeking and knowing God and knowing where He has placed you, and by establishing your foundational beliefs and values, and this is where your capability comes from.
  • “Get Set” – that’s all about getting into position in the right form, so that you are best prepared to start well. As a leader, that means performing the actions that set you up to be followed and trusted. It involves living your life so that your actions and behaviors reflect those beliefs, which is another way of describing a life characterized by integrity, and this is where your credibility comes from.
  • “Go” – that’s when the starter’s pistol goes off and you start running. As a leader, that’s when the work begins as you start leading your people and your organization toward your mission, vision, or change. It involves stepping out and doing the work of leadership. It’s hard work and therefore requires someone who is both capable and credible, and that’s why this step must follow the other two.

In one of my early experiences in school leadership, I was the head of a school that had been struggling, and the enrollment was very low. As a result, the school was operating with minimal staff, which meant that along with the teaching faculty, I had an administrative assistant and a one of the teachers who also served as the athletic director. Often, when I would walk back into the office area after spending time observing classrooms and interacting with students and teachers, I would comment to my administrative assistant that I was going to my office to have a administrative team meeting with myself. Although I was joking about it, the reality is that I did not have a team, and so there was little I could delegate and little opportunity for discussion with fellow administrators.

However, in another school experience years later, I was blessed to have a full team of administrators serving with me. When we did skill assessments, they revealed that we had a well-balanced and complementary set of skills and personalities, and the combination filled in all the gaps for the needs of the job. We intentionally cultivated excellent interpersonal relationships as well, and the result was a high functioning team that worked well together.

What a difference a good team made! Sometimes, you have limited access to other people, and you have to do everything yourself, but when you can have a team, it can be a tremendous asset. I say “can be,” because it’s not a guarantee. Teams are very capable of being dysfunctional, and I’ve been part of my share of those. For a team to work well, there needs to be the right combination of gifts and abilities, and a willingness to be collaborative. Without those, there will either be a lot of conflict and dysfunction, or there will be poor performance due to deficiencies. That was the blessing of the team I had – when you looked at the typical four quadrants of abilities that are categorized on profiles, our combination filled in every quadrant. In addition, we respected each other’s roles (such that no one wanted any of the other persons’ jobs) and built a positive and supportive relationship with each other. We had disagreements, but because of our attitudes and relationship, we were able to work through those and come out better.

The point for you is to recognize the value of team for your leadership, but only if it is the right kind of team.  In the Leadership Ezra website article that corresponds to this podcast episode, I talked about three types of people: those with leadership ability, those with wisdom, and those who are humble spiritual leaders. In addition to that, you also need to gather a team that fills out different abilities: at the very least, you need a visionary, a people-person, a detail planner, and a jump-in-and-serve person, and then whatever other skills are needed for your group or your task.

You may not always have the privilege of putting together and working with a good team, but if you do, you should take it.  Be intentional about it, and seek the right people, including the ones that every team should have as well as the ones uniquely needed for your team. Then cultivate the relationships between and among the team members. When you can do this, the end result is that what you have will be greater than the sum of the parts, a team that in combination with each other that is greater than the individual members.

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Leadership Ezra: Who’s In Charge Here? (Part 6, Let’s Go, Team!)

In thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (and then published in my latest book). This week, in part 6, we are taking a minute to step away from our discussion of your individual leadership and talking about the idea of Team Leadership. If we carry the “running a race” analogy forward from the last few weeks, this would be a little like a relay race, in which you are dependent on others for combined success.

Today I am deviating a little bit from our study of leadership applied to you as an individual, and turning briefly to the study of leadership applied to teams. I am still taking the lessons from Ezra, and will be exploring Ezra’s experiences in some detail, revisiting chapter 7 and then looking at chapter 8. In my original study of the book, I learned many lessons that were personally valuable for my spiritual growth. Beyond that, though, I also identified a significant number of lessons that I thought were particularly applicable to leadership, and especially to Christian leadership. One of those leadership lessons that struck me involved Ezra’s approach to team leadership.

I think it helps to revisit the entire context: The book of Ezra describes some of the events surrounding two stages of a return to Jerusalem by the Israelites. The first stage involved a group returning in order to rebuild the temple, and the second (nearly 60 years later) involved a smaller group that returned in order to rebuild the spiritual condition of the people. Ezra – considered to be the author of the whole book – is actually only specifically involved in the return of the second group, described in chapters 7 through 10. More pointedly, chapters 7 and 8 describe the preparation of Ezra for that return, the assembling of his team, and the carrying out of the mission given to his team. In application to lessons on team leadership, this points to the three components of a team that are evident in these chapters: the leader of the team, the team, and (putting those two things together) leadership of the team.

Chapter 7 introduces us to the leader of the team, Ezra, and clearly presents his preparation for leadership in verse 10, which says, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” As I had explained in the previous articles, this verse points out a sequential, three-step process of development that I believe is essential for the development of any individual Christian leader. Step one is “learn.” In a general sense, any leader of a team needs to learn the history and context related to the organization and the strengths and characteristics of the team members and needs to understand the issues to be faced. But at a deeper (and more important) spiritual level – shown by Ezra in this chapter – the Christian must learn to know God. He needs regular, intimate time with God, because this is what gives him the capability to lead. Step two is “live.” This means that the actions of the leader must reflect what he has learned with authenticity. He must “walk the talk,” demonstrating consistency between values and actions, and this is what gives him the credibility to lead. It is only after growing deep in his relationship with God, and then applying and reflecting God’s truth in his life, that he can move on to step three, which is to lead by teaching, guiding, and showing others the way.

Chapter 8 introduces us to the team, specifically in verses 15 through 18. Here we see that Ezra, before beginning any tasks or moving forward, took time to look at the people around him and gather his team together. The first thing he noticed is what he was missing on his team: spiritual leaders (“I looked among the people and the priests, and found none of the sons of Levi there.”) The rest of the team was made up of two different groups: 1) those he described as “leaders,” the ones who had previously demonstrated effective leadership ability and experience, and 2) those he described as “men of understanding,” or those with a gift of insight and understanding who would be advisors and counselors (the term “understanding” is the same one used to describe the wisdom and discernment granted to Solomon in I Kings 3:9-12). With these two segments of the team in place, Ezra selected a spiritual leader, and specifically one with discretion, before setting up the plan for the mission. Ezra knew that he had to have, as Peter Northouse explains in Leadership: Theory and Practice (2013), the right number and mix to have an effective team. Therefore, he was very intentional about putting together a combination of people who would meet the specific needs of the mission, reflecting the idea that “the most cohesive and successful teams possess broader groupings of strengths.” (Rath & Conchie, Strengths-based Leadership, 2008) He didn’t move forward until he had the right team in place, a team that was willing to submit to God and follow Ezra’s leadership. In the words of Jim Collins from his thoughts on Level 5 Leadership, he “got the right people on the bus, moved the wrong people off, ushered the right people to the right seats – and then [he] figured out where to drive it.” (HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership, 2011)

This takes us to the final piece of this puzzle: putting those two pieces together to establish the leadership of the team, which is presented in chapter 8, verses 21 through 31. Ezra had prepared himself, and he had assembled the right people for his team, and now they had a mission to accomplish. While the task was to be carried out by the team, not an individual, he as the leader of this team knew it was his responsibility to make sure they effectively accomplished the goal, and there were four components that he incorporated into that leadership. First, he set the example – specifically, a spiritual example – in attitude and humility, recognizing God’s sovereignty in their task (vv. 21-23). Then he assigned responsibility, by dividing up the resources that were to be carried by his team and giving them their instructions (vv. 24-30). Third, he provided motivation, reminded them of who they were and of the magnitude of their task (v. 28). Finally, he maintained unity in the group, as they undertook the mission together (v. 31).

As a Christian leader, these are significant and important lessons for your leadership development. First and foremost, intentionally recognize and submit to God’s sovereign activity, purpose, and process in your life, in the team and in the task. Make sure – and this one is absolutely critical, which is why I have included it so often in each of the articles in this series – that you are aggressively pursuing an intimate relationship with God and living a life consistent with God’s truth. Intentionally gather the right people around you, including those with leadership ability and those with wisdom, but especially include spiritual leaders who are humble and committed to God. Then, and only then, lead your team.

Collins, J. (2011). Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership (pp. 115-136). Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

The Holy Bible: New King James Version. (1979). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Rath, T., & Conchie, B. (2008). Strengths-Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow. New York, NY: Gallup Press.

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Quote Your Dad

“It’s better to be pro-active than reactive.”

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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 5: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 5 – Go!)

In my thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are leadership lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This particular series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament, the same lessons that I have published in my latest book. This week (along with the last two weeks, and in honor of the Olympic Games in Paris) we are starting the race of leadership. Today, in part 5, it’s “Go!,” when the starter’s gun goes off and the runners take off and run the race. This is when your actions of leadership begin. Here is the transcript of the podcast.

In this series we are diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying them to the practice of leadership. The purpose of the series, and of the website as a whole, is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that will help you grow in your leadership and make an impact. That starts with realizing that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it, and He has a part for us in this purpose.

Now we are in a 3-week subset in this series in which I am laying the groundwork for effective leadership. I am using the analogy of the starting blocks in a race, when all the runners line up and get into position, and the starter yells, “On your mark, get set, go!” (I know that the starter actually fires a starter’s pistol, and doesn’t yell “go!”, but you get the idea.) Those three commands capture the ideas I am discussing:

  1. “On Your Mark” – that’s all about getting to the starting line and in the right place. As a leader, that means getting yourself into the right frame of mind and equipping yourself for what is coming. That’s what we talked about 2 weeks ago.
  2. “Get Set” – that’s all about getting into position in the right form, so that you are best prepared to start well. As a leader, that means performing the actions that set you up to be followed and trusted. That’s what we talked about last week.
  3. “Go” – that’s when the starter’s pistol goes off and you start running. As a leader, that’s when the work begins as you start leading your people and your organization toward your mission, vision, or change. That’s we are talking about today.

In the work that is involved in leadership, there are two ends of the spectrum where you can go wrong, and when your hear this, it will make sense.   On one end is the mistake of doing lots of preparation but never getting started on the work. This is the mistake of all talk and no substance. This can stem from either perfectionism – you keep trying to get your plans to perfection before starting, but that will never happen – or fear and a lack of confidence, which causes you to continue hesitating. On the other end of the spectrum is the mistake of jumping into action before you know what you need to know.  This is the mistake of leaping before you look. This can step from disorganization (the opposite of perfectionism), which leaves you unprepared  and ill-equipped, so when you jump into the work you’re ready, or it can stem from ignorant arrogance or over-confidence (the opposite of fear and insecurity), which causes you to make foolish and damaging mistakes.. The answer to these extremes is simply, balance.

One of the best personal illustrations of this for me was an experience I had with my brothers and my father. I was in my early 20s, and my siblings and I, with our families, were all visiting my parents for a family get-together.  As my dad was cooking on the grill for everyone on the small slab outside the back door, he commented on his desire to build a deck there on the back of the house. We picked up the conversation and asked what was keeping him from doing it. The basic answer was time and help.  So we offered to help get it done.  My dad proceeded to draw out plans for the deck, and created a list of supplies based on those plans.  We checked the weather for the next day, and he placed the order for the supplies form the lumber store. The next morning, the materials arrived, and by dinner time, the four of us (my dad, my two brothers, and me) had built a beautiful 20’ by 16’ deck that became a favorite place of relaxation for my parents.

What had really happened was that my dad had reached the place where he was ready to build a deck. Then he planned and prepared everything that would be necessary to physically build the deck. And then we did the work, resulting in a wonderful outcome. First, he prepared himself, then got everything ready, then did the work. That illustrates perfectly this whole idea we have been discussing and reflects the balance between planning and doing. The work that you do stems from the preparation you did beforehand, and the preparation you did beforehand should set you up to do the work well. That was the point of the two previous lessons of “On Your Mark, Get Set!”

You see, once you have prepared yourself, and then put yourself in position, then you can begin to work.  Don’t wait until everything is perfect, otherwise you’ll never start; but also don’t run before you have your feet under you, or you will fall and fail. Where you need to be is in the middle. Intentionally ensure that you are prepared and equipped, and that you have thought through and created plan, and then get to work. Knowing that it won’t be perfect, you can give yourself the room to assess and adjust along the way, but knowing that you have prepared appropriately means you can gain momentum as move down the path.

As I said last time the bottom line is that leadership is like starting a race:

  • “On Your Mark!” – means to align yourself with truth by seeking and knowing God and knowing where He has placed you, and by establishing your foundational beliefs and values. This is where your capability comes from.
  • “Get Set!” – means to live your life so that your actions and behaviors reflect those beliefs, which is another way of describing a life characterized by integrity. This is where your credibility comes from.
  • “Go!” – means to step out and do the work of leadership. It’s hard work and therefore requires someone who is both capable and credible, and that’s why this step has to follow the other two.

In the last two weeks, we focused on the first two steps. But today, our focus was on the importance the starting the work of leadership. In the article that corresponds with this podcast episode, I talked in more detail about ten actions that make up the work of leadership anytime you take up a task, initiative, or project, so I would encourage you to read the article. But the important thing for you to walk away with right now is that if you have prepared yourself and if you gotten everything into position, then the starter’s pistol has fired, and it’s time for you to “Go!” and do the work in front of you.

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