Irritable church folk

There is a guy in my church who is not happy with one of my staff members.   It doesn't happen all that often--if you've got good staff members.  He's written my staff guy two emails and copied me on both of them. He doesn't feel his student is being take care of properly.  Both of the emails were caustic, negative, and demanding . . . you know, the kind that if they said that to your face you'd punch 'em in the nose!  But because they can hide behind the distance of an email, they take their cheap shots.

I don't like getting involved supervising a staff member who is not one of my direct reports.  I prefer to let the supervisor handle it.  I have a three-pronged strategy: 1) Ignore, assuming the staff member will handle it properly; 2) If the issue is not resolved, ask the staff member and supervisor what the status is; 3) Get involved in the solution.  So, I ignored the first one.  After the second email I sent an email to my staff guy and his supervisor asking, "What's the status on this?  Do you need my help?"  I want to make sure my words to my staff don't assume they haven't dealt with it.  I also want to offer my help: sometimes staff feel unequipped to deal with these kinds of situations.  I never, never want my staff to feel like I'm not supporting them.  I back them publicly and then deal with them privately.

My staff person just emailed me 5 minutes ago and told me he had in fact emailed this guy & had tried to call him.  If I had expressed doubt earlier that he was responding properly, damage in the relationship would have resulted.  I gave him two options:  1) copy the guy (and me) all the emails, asserting he had responded, and then call him and try to get a face-to-face with him; 2) Just call him and try to get a face-to-face. I suggested he could do it solo or with his supervisor.  At writing, not sure which he will do. At this point, I have no intention of responding directly to the congregant.  

Irritable church folk can be land mines: handle them and your staff carefully.  Don't slug the member in the nose and don't cut your staff off at the legs!  A measured response is best.

leadership chaos

One of the most important tasks of a leader is to create chaos.  I know--that sounds funny.  But great leaders create chaos. Martin Luther created a lot of chaos.  Abe Lincoln created a lot of chaos.  Martin Luther King, Jr. created a lot of chaos.   Rick Warren and Bill Hybels created a lot of chaos.  In the creation account, notice that God created the chaos first.  Then from the chaos, He brought order.

Great leaders create chaos and then from the chaos bring a new order; a new way of doing things.  I was reminded of this principle recently as we were preparing to go into our third worship service.  Things were going so well.  We were growing.  All of our ministry positions were filled.  All of our systems were functioning well.  But I had a growing sense that we needed to shake things up--to create some chaos.  So that's what we're doing.  Beginning a third worship service on Sunday morning with quick turn-around times will definitely be chaotic.  I'm sure there will be some grumbling and complaining from a few who liked the old order.  But eventually, if I'm a good leader and God grants me favor, the new chaos will become the new order.  And for awhile, I'll be content with it . . . for awhile!

Bad leaders don't create chaos.  Bad leaders only create chaos.  Good leaders do both.  Chaos first, order second.  In the creation account, night was first, then the day.  Leading from the inside out begins with an inner turmoil, born out of a desire to do the best, be the best for God.  Be a great leader--go create some chaos!

First blog

I've been leading people for almost 40 years.  Along the way I've learned a ton--more from my mistakes and failures than from my successes.  'Inside the Office' is going to be a view of leadership from my position as someone who has led in four great churches and still is passionate about leading and learning to lead better.  

My best leadership lessons come from difficult circumstances.  Anyone can lead when the sea is calm or the path is clear.  When you're faced with a decision that you assess is 70-30 (you're 70% sure you know the best choice), those are pretty easy to make for any good leader.  The tough decisions are those when your best assessment is 51-49, and great leaders make those decisions successfully most of the time.  And when they are wrong, they know how to recover.

Hope you're learning all you can about leadership--it's the key to a great future!