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Leading Up: Part 3
When leading up, here are some random thoughts to remember:
- Your leaders are thinking about a lot of things besides your area. Don’t forget that.
- If your leader seems scared of risks, he or she may be. Don’t look down on your leader because they’re cautious. If you had some of their battle wounds, you might be more cautious too. Be patient and prayerful. (My team has had to wait for my spiritual courage to grow many times!)
- Maybe part of your role is to minister to your leader more than change your leader. Several staff members have helped hold me up when I’m down. They’ve loved me through insecure times until I was ready to stand on the front line again.
- You might have a good idea, but it is the wrong place or wrong time. (In 1993, in my early 20’s as an associate pastor, I tried to help our Methodist church go to two locations. Right idea. Wrong church. Wrong time.)
- If you always point out problems, but never offer solutions, you’re part of the problem.
- To the leaders: you don’t know it all. God may want to speak to you through a layperson or staff member. Don’t wait for them to come to you. Get out of your office regularly and ask questions. It is amazing what you’ll learn!
How do you think God wants to use you to minister to your pastor/leader?
How do you think you can be part of the solution?
How has someone “below” you in leadership impacted you in a positive way?
I’d also love to hear from someone who “led up” successfully.
Dive in! It’s not as much fun when you don’t contribute!
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A) I deeply appreciate your humility and honesty, Craig.
B) I’ve always been more effective leading up when I’ve respected the leader’s personality and leadership style. I tend to be wired to say ‘here’s the problem. here’s a solution. let’s go.’
Some of the leaders I’ve worked for haven’t been nearly as quick as decision-makers and have been much more influenced by relationships in decision-making. (LOTS of times that’s a VERY good thing.)
Being sensitive to that and tailoring my communication to that has saved me numerous headaches. (And caused more than a couple when I wasn’t sensitive to those issues.)
Craig,
Great insight again. For those of us in the Lead roles how do you suggest being firm about bad ideas without sounding like a jerk or a control freak.
I’m in a different situation than you. I’m trying to lead our people to become more missional and definitely more contemporary. I get bombarded with ideas that are well meaning but not part of the vision I believe God gave when I was called here. Any suggestions?
I’m curious about what you look for in a satellite location and a campus pastor?
This topic is so relevant to me right now. As a youth pastor who interned at a large church firing on all cylinders and moving to a small congregation that is fighting stagnation, I have been trying to find ways to influence the church in positive ways. I have been learning a ton in the process. Here are some things God has been teaching me:
1.Speak the truth in love. You may have the greatest idea in the world, but if your motivation is anything but love, and if you can’t communicate that, then you will fail. (connected to the point Craig made that presentation matters)
2.Learn from the journey. Half of getting there is learning the lessons God is teaching you along the way. Remember that for many of us trying to lead up your present position/church is not your final destination.
3.Respect authority. You have to get under what God’s put over you in order to get over what God’s put under you. Don’t forget God has put the leader you are working with in the position for a reason. This can be tough when you feel you have something to bring to the table, but it is getting passed on.
4.Believe in your leader. This is directly connected to the previous point. If you believe your leader is truly seeking the will of God, then you have to believe in them. Don’t just think it; tell them you believe in them. Give them a great reputation to live up to. When they know they have the support of those around them it often emboldens them to take the risks you would like to see them take.
Kevin asked, “For those of us in the Lead roles how do you suggest being firm about bad ideas without sounding like a jerk or a control freak.”
Good question. I try to say “no” by saying “yes” to a bigger vision. When a church understands the vision, it makes sense why we don’t/can’t do everything. When they don’t understand the vision, everything seems like a good idea.
Craig,
Great insight. I love how you write, and your ideas and style.
Loyalty to your leader is huge. I believe that loyalty and trust must be established before anyone even thinks about leading up. If a pastor of a church goes into a new environment and tries to change everything in the first week, he will meet some opposition. But if he gets a great relationship with his people and they become loyal to them, he can generally say or do anything and they will accept it.
To me, loyalty and trust in your relationship with your senior pastor is HUGE.
“If a pastor of a church goes into a new environment and tries to change everything in the first week, he will meet some opposition.”
That was exactly me Jeremy. After accepting a children’s ministry position 2 months ago, I wanted to change everything. Quickly the lesson was taught that because something was different from what i would have chosen, it was not wrong.
The true challenge I am struggling with is merging the two. The members are comfortable in their ways and some are, for lack of a better word, offended by the change. How do you teach an old dog new tricks? Is it possible to cultivate a aggressive, forward-moving mindset in the kids ministry if the adult church is less than? Any experience would be much appreciated.
my senior year in college, I was the captain of the wrestling team. That previous off-season, I had dedicated my self to the sport like never before in my life. I had earned the role of captain.
However I was surprised that our team lacked unity and we were getting beat by teams that we shouldn’t.
I was ranked #3 in the country and my own teammate was ranked #4 at the same weight.
So I decided to bump up a weight class.
And, our team gelled like never before. We went on to win the National title and set new NCAA records.
However I did not all-american.
I still believe that it was my greatest act as a leader.
Sacrifice.
Craig, what about the leader who is completely insecure? I worked with my best friend in a church plant from 1994 - 2001. His pat answer for every suggestion or idea was “I’m the pastor and I’ll make those decisions.” Our leadership structure completely changed over 3 or 4 times in the first 5 years, because “he was the pastor and knew best about every ministry about every situation.” It is quite difficult to work with someone like that…and our back door was like the hanger for the space shuttle and people left in droves. Finally, after seeing person after person literally crushed and abused by his attitudes and action, I left… sometimes I think not soon enough.
As a pastor in a very large church one of the things I had to learn was that sometimes I had to say no to good ideas.
For the most part, every time a member has come to me with a great idea, they usually have the right heart to do something good for the Kingdom. But what I had to learn was that just because something is good doesn’t mean it’s something we should do.
The truth is that if a church does everything everyone wants to do then they find themselves being mediorce at a lot of things instead of really good at the things God has called them to do. Also it’s important to know that God uses different churches in a city to do different things for the Kingdom.
We had some awesome people who came to us to do a Celebrate Recovery at the church, but there was already five or six being done on pretty much any night of the week at other churches, but against our better judgement, we did it anyway and it wasn’t successful. Great ministry but it was already being done well and wasn’t something we should have said yes too.
I would also challenge anyone leading up to make sure the idea they have fits the vision of the church or the particular ministry. This is really important because your ministry leaders are following others above them as well.
And even when everything is done right, we pastors are just people and just like everyone else out there, we make mistakes, can be overwhelmed, and jsut have bad days.
Hope this helps a little bit.
Nate,
Great story.
Joe,
I don’t have any answers for you. Working with an insecure leader who always knows best will be torture.
John,
Good thoughts.
Joe,
An insecure pastor is a man just like you. When you try something new every man, woman, and dog wants to give them their “two cents”. A man that is insecure does not need nor want correction or advise. But what will change his life is unconditional love from friends, wife, and support team. Those that will build up his confidence that God can work through him while asking the right question for him to come up with the right answers.
God gave me this great thought.
“You will never come up with the right answer, asking the wrong question. But to every wrong answer, there is a right question.”
Sorry Craig I don’t mean to answer the question for you, just thought it might help.
Brandon,
I completely understand where you’re coming from. You can have the best of both worlds. When I came into the position that I am currently in, I embraced everything that was here: the traditions, the former leader, etc. It’s important for people to see that you respect their “traditions” even if they aren’t the best things to have. If they see a lack of respect, they will not get behind you.
I SLOWLY began to change things. I began to get people to buy into my style of leadership, my vision, etc. Build your leadership team around people who will buy into your new style and way of ministry. Get people on board. Don’t let your critics be on the sidelines, but let them see the way you do ministry firsthand. Teach them, and lead them, and I believe you will have success.
I heard that Perry, Tony and the NewSpring team are checking out Life this week. I love what they are doing in Anderson. I sure wish I could sit down with all of you and pick your brains a bit.
-Micah