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Turning Vision into Reality
Leadership is not something you do to people; it's something you do with them.
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I once asked Don Shula, longtime coach of the Miami Dolphins, "What are your goals next year?" He said, "I think goal-setting is overrated." "What do you mean?" "Everybody in professional football has a similar goal," he answered. "If they have halfway decent players, they want to win the playoffs. If they have good players, they want to win the Super Bowl. So I haven't won more games because I have better goals. I've won more games because I'm willing to roll up my sleeves and do whatever it takes to make it happen." Leadership demands that we have the ability to realize our goals—to turn vision into reality. Those who have given themselves to leadership know how difficult this is. But effective leaders have a way of getting to the real issues. Vision AlignmentThe challenge for every pastor is to match his or her vision for the church with the congregation's. It's easier to match your vision with the church's when you create a church, like Rick Warren did in Orange County and Bill Hybels did outside of Chicago. The pastor creates the vision and then invites members who want to buy into the vision. It's more difficult in churches that have been around. Many churches don't know what business they're in; they try to be all things to all people. When the pastor creates a vision, it can go against the vision of the people who hold power. Then the pastor gets fired. I have been working with a minister in San Diego who has the potential to turn around a church, but it will be difficult. The older crowd wants hymns; the baby boomers want different kinds of messages. Especially in that situation, I'm not sure a minister can pull a vision from the crowd. Moses didn't go up the hill with a committee; if he had, he would never have come down. My advice to ministers: be clear about the vision. When you are in the process of developing a vision, the first secret is to decide what you want. What's your vision of perfection? Every great organization I know has somebody at the top who has a clear vision of perfection and is willing to put it to work. If reporters came to your church because of the excitement there, what would they see? What would the youth see? What would the members see? What would the staff see? What would this church be like? Developing clear vision takes time—something many pastors feel a shortage of—but that perceived shortage is the result of faulty values. A woman said to me yesterday, "In America, we don't value thinking." If people walked by the office here and saw the two of us talking, they wouldn't interrupt. But if they walked by and I was sitting alone, they'd knock. They'd assume I'm not doing anything. We don't legitimize thinking. Most people have a sign on their desk that says, "Don't just sit there, do something." What they need is a sign that says, "Don't just do something, sit there." |             |
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