Archives:10-70-10 Leadership

From The Archives: 10th Most Read Post of 2010

I Tweeted this a couple of weeks back as we started a new building project for our student hallway at North Point Community Church.

“Getting ready to start a project I am 100% responsible for, 70% sure of, and 10% in control of. Welcome to leadership.”

From the response it was clear that I hit a nerve…so let’s talk about it.

The 100 is simple…If you can’t take the spotlight, the questioning, and the skeptics then leadership isn’t for you.  It just gets uncomfortable sometimes.  We chose a color for a wall the other day.  Guess what?…some people won’t like it.   If you disagree and you really think that you can make everyone happy or  “show them all one day”…Let me know how that works out for you.  BTW…you only get to take 100% of the responsibility for the failure…keep reading to see what happen when it works out!

The 70 is a little more complicated. When are you sure enough to start a project?  How much of a gambler are you?  How comfortable are you taking a chance?  How comfortable are you when you’re swimming in the other 30% of uncertainty? You need to decide to step forward at some point.  Take hiring for example.  How sure do you really think you can be about a person before actually working with them for the long term?  My personal opinion is that if you do some thorough interviewing (involving lots of people), some personality tests, call the references listed, and figure out why other references weren’t listed, you can be about 70% sure.  Some say I’m high! (my percentage that is…I think).   Leadership involves risk.  No one follows a chicken for long and “mavericks” only last until their luck runs out (Ice Man really was the better pilot…He didn’t kill his best friend).

The last one is the magical part for me.  I love to watch great leaders lead in this last 10%.

• These are the leaders who empower their team.
• They allow the team to take chances and learn as they go giving them autonomy…energizing them!
• This is where the real courage comes into play as this leader will allow a younger less wise team member to do it differently than the leader had envisioned it…while at the same time, having the wisdom and emotional currency to step in to correct the catastrophic mistakes only seen because of wisdom (often the tough, hard earned kind that the leader is not afraid to admit they’ve been through)

The magical part is that, when done right, the care is not contrived or manipulative.  A true leader actually cares about their folks.  They also believe that the best results will come as a result of a team effort, not their own.  They actually believe that the best ideas may not be their own.

Those core beliefs are key.  Without them you are either manipulating or controlling.  (Sounds like another post for another day!)

And in the end, the great leader takes very little of the credit.  That 10% actually means that’s about all the credit you can take.

So…Ministry leader.  How does this apply to you?  Think about your vols.   Think about your team.  Where are you manipulating?  Where are you controlling?  Why?