One of the truths of growing into senior leadership is that relational issues become more acute the larger the church gets.
By the time the church is the size of a Willow Creek, Saddleback, James River or Northpoint, the technical aspects of church are generally handled by specialists.
It's the senior leadership of vision casting and people development that separate continually growing churches from the also-rans.
In his book What Got You Here Won't Get You There, author Marshall Goldsmith articulates 20 workplace habits leaders need to break.
These are what Goldsmith defines as transactional flaws performed one against another.
When considered in the work of a pastor, the changes that occur when these 20 are addressed can be profound.
In many cases churches have grown to their current level in spite of these 20 habits being present in the life of the lead pastor.
However, in every church, sooner or later, those same lead pastors have to come to grips with these habits when they want to reinvent or move the church to the next level in the journey.
Listed below are the 20 habits and descriptions as provided by Goldsmith*.
The bullet points are mine in describing how it plays out with lead pastors in churches.
1.
Winning Too Much - The need to win at all costs and in all situations; when it matters, when it doesn't, and when it's totally beside the point.
Lead pastors of larger, growing churches love to win.
That is in part what makes the church large and growing.
However, when winning the comparison game, the numbers game, the "who's who" game, etc.
, become more important than winning the mission game, everyone loses.
It is critical for lead pastors to know where to win and where to let it go.
2.
Adding Too Much Value - The overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion.
• Lead pastors must be confident in their role of leading and empowering those around them.
To have the sense that the mission of the church cannot move forward without their verbal or other input only serves to increase insecurity.
Rather than adding value it adds none.
3.
Passing Judgment - The need to rate others and impose our standards on them.
• When soliciting feedback from others, lead pastors need to always be aware of their response to the feedback.
Those providing feedback will make mental notes of feedback they offer either with, Wow, I said the right thing, or Why bother? This assures less than truthful feedback in the future.
4.
Making Destructive Comments - The needless sarcasms and cutting remarks that we think make us sound sharp and witty.
• Lead pastors should conduct themselves with truth and sincerity.
While humor is good, sarcasm and cutting remarks are not-and they certainly don't make the leader look sharp and witty.
Speak well always.
5.
Starting with "No," "But," or "However" - The overuse of these negative qualifiers which secretly say to everyone, I'm right.
You're wrong.
• Starting with negative qualifiers over time sets a lead pastor up for diminishing good feedback from staff and volunteers.
When team members sense that the leader is always posturing themselves to be right, those same team members shut down offering information.
6.
Telling the World How Smart We Are - The need to show people we're smarter than they think we are.
• It would be nice if lead pastors were automatically humble.
Unfortunately, they are just as much a part of the human family as everyone else.
There are those whose insecurities drive them to regularly communicate their value to the church.
My recommendation to them? Get secure and let others determine your leadership smarts.
7.
Speaking When Angry - Using emotional volatility as a management tool.
• One of the strengths of strong lead pastors is the ability to drive forward and make things happen.
A great weakness of many of those same leaders is the sin of anger.
Wise and discerning leaders, in the heat of emotion, take stock in their words before releasing them.
Those who don't, lose.
8.
Negativity, or "Let Me Explain Why That Won't Work" - The need to share our negative thoughts even when we weren't asked.
• For churches this one ranks right up there with "We've never done it that way before" or "We tried that and it didn't work.
" These are absolute total disincentives.
There is plenty of negativity with critics in and out of the church.
Leaders should not contribute! 9.
Withholding Information - The refusal to share information in order to maintain an advantage over others.
• Information is power.
To withhold it undermines the efforts of churches to attain mission.
Lead pastors sometimes have occasions to share information on a need-to-know basis.
Most of the time, however, sharing information strengthens the leaders ability to influence direction.
10.
Failing to Give Proper Recognition - The inability to praise and reward.
• Give credit where it's due.
While a lead pastor may chafe at the thought of having to pat everyone on the back all the time, it is critical that when good things happen, the good people who made them happen receive thanks and recognition.
11.
Claiming Credit That We Don't Deserve - The most annoying way to overestimate our contribution to any success.
• This habit doesn't even border on dishonesty.
It simply is.
Smart lead pastors always give credit where it's due.
As well, when these same leaders achieve success, they spread the credit for that success as far as they can.
12.
Making Excuses - The need to reposition our annoying behavior as a permanent fixture so people excuse us for it.
• There are not many things worse than for a lead pastor to make excuses for their own failures or lack of vision.
Buck up and be a man or a woman.
13.
Clinging to the Past - The need to deflect blame away from ourselves and onto events and people from our past; a subset of blaming everyone else.
• Lead pastors can celebrate the richness of the past.
They can acknowledge the shortcomings of the past.
However, to hang onto those things will only stymie the growth of the church.
Leaders accept the cards they are dealt and look to the future.
14.
Playing Favorites - Failing to see that we are treating someone unfairly.
• Playing favorites is child's play and has no role in the church.
If any entity on earth needs to operate with fairness, it is the church.
Lead pastors with this habit will need help from others in seeing and changing how they treat one person compared to another.
15.
Refusing to Express Regret - The inability to take responsibility for our actions, admit we're wrong, or recognize how our actions affect others.
• To say "I'm sorry" is one of the strongest tools of leadership.
It demonstrates humility and strength at the same time.
It disarms critics and moves the mission of the church much further down the track.
16.
Not Listening - The most passive-aggressive form of disrespect for colleagues.
• This is an all-too-prevalent bad habit for lead pastors.
As well, it is uncanny in its deception.
Many lead pastors pride themselves in listening well.
Not listening to key staff and lay people will ultimately be the undoing of some pastors.
Listen well.
Learn much.
17.
Failing to Express Gratitude - The most basic form of bad manners.
• Oh, the beauty of those two words "Thank you.
" Lead pastors of larger, growing churches regularly say, "Thank you.
" They understand that riding on the shoulders of others will go much further when appropriate expressions of gratitude are given.
18.
Punishing the Messenger - The misguided need to attack the innocent who are usually only trying to help.
• One of the quickest ways for a lead pastor to stop getting needed feedback is to punish the messenger.
When unpleasant news comes, discern its validity and, when necessary, take steps to address the issue at hand.
19.
Passing the Buck - The need to blame everyone but ourselves.
• This habit insures that the church, if it hasn't already, will soon plateau and decline.
President Truman's sign on his desk said it best: "The buck stops here.
" Every lead pastor must take responsibility for leadership and stop passing the buck.
20.
An Excessive Need to Be "Me" - Exalting our faults as virtues simply because they're who we are.
• Needing to be "me" is code language for "I don't want to change.
" Too often, being "me" in the life of the lead pastor is a primary roadblock to the church becoming all it can be.
Forget "me" and be who you need to be-both for you and for the mission of the church.
Spiritually discerning lead pastors want to address these habits in their lives.
They may deny some or all of them, but privately they realize something has to be done.
It is not easy to do but when it is done, the pastor and the church are on the road to the next level of growth God has in store for them.
So what are you waiting for? Get to work, get rid of the habits, and let God change you! * Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won't Get You There (New York: Hyperion, 2007), pp.
40-41.