

Leadership is a balancing act, right now I feel like I’m on the tightrope halfway between “the old way” and “a new future”.
An organization has a tendency to fixate on a period of time and gauge all other events, epochs and metrics against that one period. In a church it is often the “Good ole days,” or as a friend from Carlisle once told me, “Back when the church had 4 busses and a bowling team.”
There can also be the dreamers and visionaries who are fully engrossed with the future. The future becomes the period they are fixated on. Earlier this month I resigned from the Executive Board of an organization whose vision was to unite the church in the greater area to work together for poverty (at least I think that was their vision at one point). They decided that vision wasn’t going to work anymore they want to build/renovate houses. They were paralyzed by an over focus on the future they couldn’t do any good right now in the present.
In the last week I have been focusing on leadership and I have come to a few conclusions that I wanted to share.
Balance. We need balance as we lead our folks. As I move forward and attempt to lead it will be with the balanced model of Know, Understand, Look Forward.
Know the History of the organization, where they have come from, what they went through. Honor the legacy and how God has used the past.
Understand the Present. We are not who we were, nor are we who we will be. The old ways may not be tried and true with a new group. Identify who you are working with TODAY.
Look Forward. There is no way to make any organization move without giving them a target they can see, and work toward.
Leadership is a balancing act, right now I feel like I’m on the tightrope halfway between “the old way” and “a new future”. Thankfully, this is God’s, and no one can accelerate, slowdown or thwart His plans.