Unleashing the Leaders Around You

The need to control may be one of the most destructive traits in church leaders. The attempt to dictate the outcome of every decision, to weigh in on every proposal, is like acid rain, which poisons the environment of leadership.

The most damage is often done by the leader who manipulates subtly, who outwardly talks about team leadership, but rules like an iron-fisted Kaiser. I think it was Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, who said to beware of the person who talks loudly about participatory leadership; that person is likely a dictator.

In ORBITING THE GIANT HAIRBALL, Gordon MacKenzie, longtime creative director at Hallmark, describes what, in that environment, seems to me to be a healthy team leader:

“My last boss at Hallmark, a fellow by the name of Bob Kipp, sat at the wheel of one of the corporate speedboats. I was at the end of a towline on water skis. We spent our time together skimming across the great Lake Hallmark. Kipp was so sure of who he was and why he was where he was and where the power was that he was not threatened at all when I would ski around in a wide arc until I was up even with the boat and sometimes even past it. He knew I was not going to start pulling the boat with him in it. It just doesn’t work that way. The power remains in the boat. But, in allowing me to ski past him — in a sense, allowing me to lead — he would unleash in me an excitement about our enterprise that served our shared goals.”

Then MacKenzie drives home his point: “If you are in a position of power and want to lead well, remember: Allow those you lead … To lead … when they feel the need. All will benefit.”

—Dave Goetz is editor of ChurchLeadership.Net and executive editor of PreachingToday.com. E-mail him at Newsletter@LeadershipJournal.net to comment on this article.