Learning about Leadership

In my mid-20s, like most overly-idealistic young adults who still survive on the kinds of sleep and coffee habits that helped us plow (or plummet) our way through college, I was feeling anxious in my work life and in need of a new challenge. In a short time, I was saying goodbye to the solidly-built engine of a team that had laid a foundation for my professional life up until that point and was tasked to do what in the ministry world we call "planting." Planting, as is probably evidenced by the name, involves starting something new, hopefully with the right amount of nutrients and care to help it grow. It also, I found, exercised leadership muscles in me that I did not necessarily know existed. For the first time in my young adult life, I was leading my own teams, setting vision, and making decisions that impacted a broader range of people.

Many of the lessons learned through my leadership-muscle exercises seem almost insultingly obvious, but that might be the thing about muscles, right? We know they are there, we just take for granted how they support us, how they strengthen us, how they keep us in motion in the right direction. While my leadership muscles might bend, straighten, support, and yes, ache, in unique ways in ministry-life, I believe the lessons likely translate into your line of work, too. So, let me take you for a quick run through my lessons learned and hopefully by the end, you'll be inspired to hit the gym and work out your leadership muscles as well!

1. A leader needs followers: Okay, like I said, obvious. But how many of us who call ourselves leaders regularly take a look around and ask "So, who is following me?" One of the hallmarks for campus ministry programming is leadership development, where we invest time and energy in students who want to take our vision forward. But an odd thing sometimes happens in our chapters (what we call individual campus ministry groups). Sometimes we see a chapter of 80 total members reporting that, within that total, they have 40 leaders. It begs the question, "Who are these 40 people leading?!" Yes, it's inspiring that 40 people have a reported desire to be a part of leading that vision. Yes, many times leading does not always equal growth; you can be doing all the right things and still only have 1 follower. But we've found that of those 40 leaders, many are only there for the title or the resume. For some, being labeled a leader is something they feel compelled toward in order to find a sense of purpose. Their passion is not to gather and inspire others forward, leaving a large group of in-title-only leaders and a relatively small pack of so-so followers. I believe most of us will be called to situations of leadership in our lives. At the same time, we need to remember that following good leadership, playing your part on the team, carries a tremendous weight of purpose as well.

2. Most of your leaders don't know what they are doing: They may be smart, they may have vision, they may inspire you to the highest mountain top. But on their off days, when the mask of bravery can come down, they are sitting at their desk pondering the future of their project, company, or organization and just trying to make it up as they go. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you can grow in the confidence to add your unique voice to the conversation too, knowing that we are all just trying to figure it out together.

3. Good leaders want your success as much as their own, if not more: A mentor of mine told me that at some point, we all need to make the shift toward championing the next generation. It's the point when the story stops centering around us and our narcissistic pursuits alone and instead shifts to center others. Don't waste your time with leaders who seem set on clogging the leadership pipeline by starting and ending the story with them. Look for those self-assured enough to give generously of their knowledge and experiences and who are not threatened by what the next generation has to offer.

4. Sometimes leadership is more about helping others create rather than telling them the direction: The most effective leaders I've known spend a great deal of their time learning the art of conversation and communication. They know that buried deep under the surface of a team is an abundance of ideas and strategies and that the team's first step in success is to get those ideas and strategies to spill out onto the table in one giant pile of seemingly mismatched Legos, while hopefully not losing any of them to the floor to get stepped on (ouch!) The leader then continues in the art of conversation, guiding the team to put the pieces together until the best product comes forward.

5. On the other hand, sometimes leadership IS about naming the direction: By definition, "lead" means "to go before or show a way." Showing the way sometimes looks very similar to number 4--knowing your team dynamics and tendencies well enough and collaborating skillfully so that the team believes they can construct the best way forward. Other times, your team will actually need you to take the wheel. And truthfully, there is usually not a 100% correct way to do this. It's something learned over time, a dance where the choreography and stage positions might begin with a lot of people tripping over the other dancers in the group but eventually, will be a beautiful work of art.

6. Be a weirdo: How many of us are just walking around the world right now with unique solutions, crazy ideas that just might work floating around our heads---and yet, we stay silent. Friends, the time has come to put our high school fears of being the outsider behind us. Life is too precious and too full of possibilities to live with that. I know it'll be scary. I know some of us face more challenges than others based on our past experiences, the cultures we come from, and the current situations we find ourselves in. But we can take brave steps and we can help others take those brave steps, too. I'm not advocating weirdness for weirdness alone, but I have witnessed the power of people being courageous (or just slightly socially-unaware enough) to share their weird ideas and to see how some of them shaped up to be something brilliant. Share your ideas. Get feedback, experiment with it, and try again. The result might just be what your weird little community needs to move forward.