The understatement of the century is that the world has changed. And we are all continuing to live right in the middle of this shift. We are being forced to create and adapt new ways of leading our organizations, engaging our families and supporting our churches and communities. New technologies. Shifting physical space boundaries. New rhythms in every sector. In each of our worlds—professionally, personally and at the church and community level—everything is on new footing, and even that footing doesn’t seem to yet be quite sure.
In the early days of the Covid 19 pandemic, Andy Crouch released an excellent paper entitled, Leading Beyond the Blizzard, Why Every Organization is Now a Startup” In that paper, Andy provided multiple helpful insights that inform what leading in a time of uncertainty should look like. The article began with this explanation:
… we will explain why we think that for most organizations — businesses, nonprofits, and even churches — this is a time to urgently redesign of our work in light of what we believe is not just a weeks-long “blizzard,” not even just a months-long “winter,” but something closer to the beginning of a 12–18 month “ice age” in which many assumptions and approaches must change for good.
You may be deep in the throws of trying to figure out how to lead in the midst of the current global crisis or perhaps you are in the midst of another type of transition in your organization, church or family. No matter the scenario, the important point here is that leading in a time of uncertainty requires as much clarity as possible regarding the season in which you are leading.
This is part one of a two part series where I will introduce you to the first five (of ten) principles that form a path for leading in uncertain times, whether that be a pandemic, blizzard, long winter, ice age or simply the tasks of everyday leadership.
Number One—Listen First
The number one thing is to listen first. Examine before you diagnose. Explore before you design the map. Listen first and listen well.
In my work with churches (multisite, single site, large and smaller) over the last 20 years, I often get asked the question, What’s the best model? And I always answer that question by saying, The best model is the one that’s right for you. Then I say, If you’ve seen one model, you’ve seen one model. And that’s pretty much the same with solutions, particularly in uncertain times. If you’ve seen one solution, you’ve seen just that, one solution.
Context creates very different kinds of challenges and questions that leaders are facing and asking. Listening allows you to lead with the point of view of those you lead at the forefront. This enables you to cast vision, challenge the status quo, hold accountable, address problems and coach for improvement (all important aspects of leading in a time of uncertainty) in a manner that connects with context and provides the means for those you lead to hear, understand and engage.
Perhaps you’ve heard the often told story of the woman who was traveling on the New York City subway with her children. It was late in the evening, and the children were running up and down the center of the car, playing a loud and unruly game of tag. More than once, they bumped another passenger, or rattled the paper of someone trying to get caught up on the day’s news. And all the while the mother sat silent as if she was totally unaware of her unruly children and the distraction they were to others during the commute. Several stops came and went and nothing changed until one passenger addressed the woman asking her to please do something about her kids. The woman responded suddenly, almost as if awakening from a dream. She was quick to apologize and in her words offered this explanation. I am so sorry. You see we have just left the hospital where my husband, their dad, just died. They don’t, I don’t, we don’t really know how to respond.
With a simple phrase, the interpretation of the situation was transformed from poor parenting of unruly children to a mom and kids grieving the sudden loss of their father, husband, provider.” Listening leads to understanding and understanding leads to appropriate responses.
Listen first.
Number Two—Remember People
Always remember that there’s a person behind the leader. Be sure to begin each of your interactions with the questions, How are you? not, How’s your organization or team? But rather, How are you? Leading in a season of uncertainty can take a tremendous toll. Remind those you lead that they cannot and should not expect themselves to be able to handle it all.
And that includes you. You know the truth. You’ve been trained and coached on the importance of not going solo in leadership, no Lone Ranger leaders. Times of uncertainty force that reality to the surface. This internal principle becomes an exoskeleton of reality. It’s in your face. You don’t have the opportunity to even think about it. In uncertain times, you don’t have all the answers that you need individually as a leader to be able to adequately address the pressing concerns. And add insult to injury, often times the people you lead expect you to have the answers … or at least that your answers line up with theirs.
In one episode of Carey Nieuwhof’s popular podcast, Lead Like Never Before, he encourages leaders to walk away. He was not saying that you should walk away from the whole scenario or the associated responsibilities, but rather to walk away from the immediacy of the present challenge. Give yourself some space. Two weeks into the Covid-19 pandemic, I was encouraged to hear the senior pastor of a large church in the Midwest say he was taking a half day off the next day to spend time with his family. Were the challenges of the transition dissipated? Were the solutions in place? No. But he knew that he needed the space to regroup, to be prepared for the next round.
Walk away. Encourage those that you lead to take some time to step away from the immediacy and the crushing stress that comes with profound change and uncertainty. Depending on the season, depending on the person, this may be one week or one day or one hour, but whatever the length of time, find a way to walk away.
Because we live in a digitally saturated world, one way to create space to walk away is to leverage popular apps like Pause and Pray.com. These tools, and others like them, give you ways to interrupt the intensity of your days with a reminder to pause, to pray, to be reminded of your humanity, to focus on the source of your strength.
Finally, be sure to stay connected to friends and family, people that you and the teams you lead don’t necessarily have to talk shop with, the people that just support and encourage. One of my lifelines is the group of eight guys that I meet for coffee nearly every Wednesday morning. These men care about me more than they care about what I do or how I lead. Their backgrounds are diverse but we share a common bond of friendship and as Christians, a common faith. We remember for one another that we are more than what we lead.
Remember people.
Number Three—Redirect Forward
Principle number three is to encourage and help to redirect energy away from anxiety and panic and forward toward possibilities and next steps. Anytime there’s change in the system, particularly for those people who don’t like change (which is most), significant anxiety is introduced. It’s important to help people begin to see beyond what’s right in front of their face and begin to be able to think about what they can do next. Anytime, you can help people see the next step they can take, you will help them be able to move forward with greater health.
In the aforementioned podcast Nieuwhof wisely stated, We need to help encourage the practice of leadership, not reactionship. The reality is that reactive leadership happens at times where the situation demands it. In the earliest conversations with multisite churches most of the strategies were very reactive in nature. Church leaders were responding to the fact that as growth accelerated, they were running out of space—in their parking lots and their worship centers. Solution? Secure more space.
And then what happened? It worked. What began as reactive became proactive as the vision for reaching more people in more settings and contexts grew. The same kind of thing happens in many times of uncertainty or challenge. There are new things in the system to which you must react, but then you must move from reactive to proactive. This shift is where traction is secured and positive, forward movement really begins to happen.
Redirect forward.
Number Four—Ask Questions
The fourth thing you must do is ask good questions. And then listen some more. I have a set of six questions that I learned from Janet McMahon and John Wentz in their excellent book, The Coaching Guidebook. I typically use them in all my coaching, and I’ve found them to be helpful questions when leading in uncertain times as well.
- First, How are you doing? Going back to principle #2, remembering that there is a person behind the leader.
- The second question is, What are you celebrating? Where are you winning? In challenging times this can be adapted to What’s still working well? There are some things that are still working even in the midst of a crisis, and everyone needs an opportunity to be able to celebrate some of those things, to be reminded of some of those things, and to be able to express gratitude for those things.
- The third question is, What challenges are you facing? In crisis situations, it often helps to adjust the question to add some focus—What is your most critical challenge?
- Question number four is always the one that surprises people when they first hear it. It does not seem quite that intuitive at first. The question is, How will you deal with that challenge(s)? One of the challenges of many leaders is to resist the urge to blurt out the solution as it often seems incredibly obvious. But give those you lead an opportunity to respond and share some things that they’re beginning to think about in terms of how they’re going to tackle the challenge. Then, as you’ve had the opportunity to hear some more, you can begin to reflect on what you’ve heard. Next, ask additional questions for clarification and finally, ask permission to share insights and feedback. It is also very important at this stage is to help them to identify and articulate the next step; not necessarily the solution to the whole problem they’re facing, but what’s the next step they need to take.
- The fifth question is, How can I help you with that next step? It may be pointing them to a resource. It may be connecting them with someone that can assist. Remember anything you commit to doing in providing help should assist them in completing the next step.
- And then finally, the last question I ask is, How can I pray for you?
As mentioned above, these six questions have become my go to tool in providing leadership in any of the teams I guide. But I think it is helpful to note that they are great questions in other contexts as well. I have used them in conversation with friends journeying through a hard time or trying to make a decision. They are also a great resource for leading your family.
Ask questions.
Number Five—Protect Mission
In times of uncertainty, it is important that you help your organization remain mission centric. This is the most important thing we can remind teams of as they navigate change and determine solutions to a new reality. In a changed and changing world, you experience volatility—the instability of the unexpected. You experience uncertainty—things are unclear and unpredictable and you don’t know what to think about tomorrow. You experience complexity—there are so many variables at play when experiencing unprecedented change. And you also experience ambiguity—a sense of uneasiness and a lack of clarity about where it is that you’re heading. Things seem to change every day.
As a result of many years as a member of the Leadership Network team, under the tutelage of its founder, Bob Buford, who was mentored by Peter Drucker, often touted as the father of modern day management, my understanding of mission was always shaped by an understanding of who is the core customer? Who is that you’re called to serve? What’s the need you’re called to meet? That’s what defines your mission. That’s who and what you must stay true to. In uncertain times the playbook must change, but the mission stays consistent.
As Crouch says in his article referenced earlier, in uncertain times, We’re all in the startup business. He encourages leaders to take their pitch deck and discard everything behind the first few pages that detail the organization’s core customer and clearly articulated needs as well as the fundamental vision and mission for how those needs can be met. The strategies, the tactics, the financial models will change, but the mission, if truly a calling, must remain central.
Important reminder—it’s the mission that must stay central, not the ministry strategies and models. The constant is a commitment to bringing people into a relationship with Jesus and helping to grow and serve. That will look different in person versus online. It will look different in mega and micro contexts. There are some generational differences and the culture is certainly different than that in which you grew up in, no matter your age. So flex to adapt to current realities, always keeping the foundation of a clear mission
Protect mission.
