Leadership can be a tough road. Like everything else on this side of eternity, it is filled with seasons and the ups and downs that come with it. There are times when a leader will face pressures that others may never fully understand, but you can be sure that God will be before you every step of the way. Nothing reveals the true that you enjoy the challenges of life itself.
Related: 5 negative traits of insecure leaders
Here are 10 signs of a desperate leader:
1. Desperate leaders hold too many meetings.
(This point is the longest...don't get bored.)
As a church leader, meetings are an important part of my life, and I think that would be true for most leaders. Hebrews 10:25 tells us that we must not “give up gathering together” and goes on to explain that one of the primary purposes of gathering is to encourage. But while some meetings are crucial, many aren't.
If the momentum has slowed or the pressure is building, it's easy to think the quick fix is to hold another meeting. You can fall into the trap of meeting with your top leaders, who then have meetings with their leaders, who in turn meet with their top leaders, to prepare for the meeting you all meet in the first place. I think of all the meetings that take place within our church across age groups, departments, and all layers of church life, and it is frightening. The answer to everything is not to hold another meeting. I believe that too many meetings burn out good churches, demotivate congregants, and eat up vital time.
Here's the real problem:I've never seen a church grow by holding more meetings. (Obviously, I'm not talking about weekend services, but rather the myriad of meetings that can rise up within the layers of any organization). Keep in mind that if your teams are constantly in meetings, no one is out there doing the real work. Of course, there is the question of the length of our meetings, but that is another story. Remember, as a general rule, no one cares about your meetings as much as you do. If you're struggling, trying to build momentum, or feel like you need to do something to move forward, pressuring people with more meetings isn't usually the answer.
Ask yourself this question:Are all the meetings I oversee productive or counterproductive?
2. Desperate leaders lead a tense and stressful atmosphere.
Confusion among people can easily occur when something goes wrong. People can say something is wrong, but no one seems to know what's wrong. A heavy cloud could descend on the atmosphere, while generosity diminishes and joy disappears. A desperate leader may feel the ship is unstable and the natural reaction may be to press harder, try harder and push people harder, when the best thing you can do may be to consciously relax. the atmosphere. Bring rest to the situation, release the pressure, strive a little less and it's amazing how the ship will right itself.
Desperate leaders strive, while comfortable leaders thrive.
3. Desperate leaders create too many crises.
I sometimes joke that in some churches, instead of having an Annual General Meeting (AGM), they have an AGC:Annual General Crisis. It is as if, in the absence of a crisis, a desperate leader feels compelled to create one. They make mountains out of molehills and begin leaping in the shadows, all the while dramatically stoking a fire that could easily have been extinguished.
I learned in the Big Picture of Life that if this is not a crisis for me, it is not a crisis for people. A perfect example of this is during persecution or opposition. A struggling leader gets defensive, constantly talks about injustice, camps around issues, and takes all the oxygen out of the atmosphere. You can create a crisis or extinguish a crisis by your own behavior.
Speak life. Talk vision. Keep the smile. Look up. Trust God. Look what it can do.
4. Desperate leaders oversee too much confrontation.
Constant confrontation is a telltale sign that a leader is struggling and feeling like they are losing control. Some leaders find confrontation easy. Remember that just because it's easy for you doesn't mean you're good at it. What about collateral damage? There is no excuse for team members to have angry arguments and especially not in front of other people (as I have seen more than once). Desperate leaders often oversee a culture of misunderstandings, infighting and fallout; tensions they themselves have created by their own penchant for confrontation.
5. Desperate leaders have too many sleepless nights.
“Anxiety in a man's heart causes depression, but a good word makes him happy. —Proverbs 12:25 (NKJV)
I had sleepless nights – tossing and turning while focusing on issues that seemed more important during the midnight hours. It's not a healthy way to live and it's yet another sign that a leader is in trouble. The psalmist put it this way in Psalm 16:7:“My heart instructs me in the night seasons.” Our heart also instructs us in dark times, so what instruction does your heart give you? Panic? Worry? Fear? David continues, “I have always put the Lord before me.” If Christ is our goal, then our sleep can be sweet, and sweet sleep is a scriptural promise (Psalm 127.2). Stressed and over-anxious leaders may not live up to that promise.
6. Desperate executives make too many changes to the program.
Several years ago my favorite football team had an amazing player they nicknamed “The Zip Zip Man”. He could change direction on a play – without slowing down – and even his own teammates never really knew what he was going to do. This ability has served him well as a great player on a great team. But constant changes of direction in a business or church will usually make all of your passengers sick as you continue to steer the bus around blind corner after blind corner.
This is the sign of a leader desperate for change the vision, the program or the emphasis – and to follow each new trend that arises. People get worried every time their leader walks into a conference, wondering which way they'll head next. That's no way to lead. The most resilient churches have consistency about them, where people know they can believe in the vision and trust the direction their leader is taking.
Related: 15 traits of a terrible leader
7. Desperate leaders make too many position switches.
When I was little, my parents were pastors in a denomination where every two years they had to be transferred to another church, in a different part of New Zealand . My dad remembered that every time he took a little traction, he was moved and had to start over. If a leader is constantly stirring people up in an organization, it can thwart progress and slow momentum. Desperate leaders tend to constantly change position within their team, forgetting that it affects everyone below the person they are moving, and often causing unnecessary turmoil among the troops.
8. Desperate leaders are far too involved in the smallest details.
Micromanagement. Is it a strength or a weakness? It depends. There are clearly seasons when judicial leadership is needed to identify issues that may need to be addressed. However, desperate leaders take their eyes off the road focusing on the pothole directly in front of them and losing their vision of the wide open spaces available to them.
I oversee a church with a global footprint and I am fortunate to be able to trust my team to carry much of the daily load, allowing me to be a forward-thinking and visionary leader. That doesn't mean I don't know what's going on. Every Friday, I receive detailed reports from every key department in our church, allowing me to not dwell on things that others are well equipped to handle. Remember:It's been a 33-year journey of investing in people to get to this point.
Desperate leaders find it hard to let go and focus on the road ahead.
9. Desperate leaders suffer from a decision freeze.
There is a real psychological condition that causes people to freeze – afraid to move, lest they make the wrong decision. In this condition, you are inactive and frozen in an almost comatose state. After the Rwandan genocide, there was a condition called “inactive,” where a person stood motionless in a field for hours because they had nowhere to go. Their home, family, and everything they held dear was gone, so they stood still. A desperate leader can get to this point.
I knew an old pastor who would discuss agenda items at length in a church board meeting and never come to a conclusion – no decision was made. was taken. It was a sign of his old age, but for some it is a sign of fear-induced procrastination and indecision.
There are times when any decision is better than no decision.
10. Desperate leaders stick their heads in the sand.
Are there times when you'd rather not know that something is wrong or desperately needs your attention? Do you prefer to be surrounded by the reality that under your direction something is moving backwards? It's much nicer to arrive at the conference unknowingly and tell your peers how wonderful things are going. It's so much easier to emotionally shut down certain realities and not know there's worry in camp, finances desperately need your focus, etc.
I've already mentioned that 'As leaders, we don't need to know everything, but living in a bubble of self-imposed ignorance doesn't make anything go away. Don't let your team "protect" you from things you need to know in order to make the right changes or choices. Take your place of leadership and refuse to live for fear of bad news. The captain of a ship must know that the ship is leaking, no matter how big the hole.
"I don't want to know the numbers," says one leader, while another asserts, "Everybody tells me say everything is fine." Is it possible that people are afraid to tell you the truth because of the reaction that might await them? Personally, I don't want to drive like an ostrich with my head firmly buried in the sand. I want my team to arm me to stay ahead of the bell curve by giving me the necessary information. Nothing gets better by ignoring it.
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So how about you? Do any of these thoughts resonate? Do not live in condemnation, but do all you can to lead the people entrusted to your care with wisdom, boldness, courage and conviction. If you are struggling, talk to people you trust and ask the Lord to guide you on what to change and how to move forward. Lead from a place of quiet confidence and live in favor of our Almighty God.
Be blessed, my leader friend.
Related: 7 personality traits of a great leader
This post originally appeared on BrianCHouston.com .
