 |
| Not the actual picture of what I saw, but an example |
When visiting with my dad who lives on the eighth floor of his building, it’s impossible not to become enamoured with the gorgeous artwork developing on the sky-canvas outside of his windows. On one such visit, I noticed a group of birds flying in large circular patterns behind him as we were talking. I’ve seen it before on nature shows, but in person it was even more captivating!
As my dad turned to see the birds, he asked, “How do you know which one is leading?”
This got me thinking. Although there is likely a leader in the mix, it looked to me as if the birds were moving together in a dance that had been rehearsed many, many times. As I watched more closely, it seemed like the birds were all flying close enough together to respond to the currents of wind in amazing harmony. It’s as if each bird that I was watching had hypersensitive receptors in its wings that instantaneously react to the subtle changes in the wind. If the wind moves up, the birds all adjust and move up together. If they encounter a side wind, the all adjust and move sideways together.
This is the type of team that I want be part of; a team that trusts each other to such a high degree that they are willing to do the work to achieve the mission in close proximity, like the flock of birds. Any subtle change in the wind swirling around them would cause a unified reaction by the group. There may well be a leader among them, but from the outside it would be very difficult to tell who it is because of how well the group works together. Awesome!
For Christian Leadership, the wind in this metaphor is, of course, God’s Holy Spirit.
We are encouraged to walk by, be led by, live by, and keep in step with the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5. My job as a Christian leader is to build a team that trusts each other and is led by God’s Holy Spirit. As the Spirit of God moves, the team would respond harmoniously.
How does one accomplish this?
The trust takes time to develop and involves significant and ongoing work. One must address every trust-breaker head on with consistency and fairness as they arise. You will likely know what the trust-breakers are in your context. Some possible examples may include: Previously unaddressed hurts, Poor communication patterns, and Attitude concerns including arrogance or entitlement.
To establish a team that is led by the Holy Spirit is another layer of ongoing and significant work. We must intentionally develop ‘the sensors in our wings’ to be a bit less responsive to the other stimuli in our lives and hypersensitive to the Holy Spirit. In my experience, a critical component to developing this at the team level is mutually shared modelling of healthy Christian practices. These include Bible study, prayer, & service at a local church. Teams must also enact consistent accountability amongst each other. Our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit really peaks with sincere humility on the part of each person on the team.
Christian leaders and children of God (Romans 8:14), let’s build teams that are so in tune with God’s Spirit that even the most subtle of movements on His part leads to an awe-inspiringly harmonious response on our part. This I believe to be our #1 priority!
May God bless you.
Follow @headofschools on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Comments
Post a Comment