A great tension exists in every organization.
Leaders make most organizational decisions, yet those further down the organization are primarily responsible for executing these decisions.
This is the tension. Consider how this feels when you’re not included at the decision table. You’re working extremely hard to orchestrate the current strategy and expectations. The “leadership” sets these strategies and expectations. You see the gaps and issues firsthand, though. After all, you’re closest to the implementation. It’s easy to assume the decision table is too far removed from their decisions, making their choices frustrating for people like you. This tension causes all sorts of issues in your heart and the hearts of your teammates.
When this tension festers, it births:
- Irritation and anger
- Poor morale
- Reduced Innovation
- Decreased Trust
- Lower Employee Engagement
- Resistance to Change
- High Turnover
- Ineffective Decision-Making
- Communication Breakdown
It’s easy to see why this tension cannot exist unchecked.
A Quick (and Bad Leadership) Story
I served as the lead pastor of Woodstock City Church for nearly 13 years. At our peak, we had 8,000 attending weekly, supported by 65 staff. With 36,000 people on our active roster, planning for things like Easter and Christmas was complicated. How many services should we offer? What times should we offer services? How many people can we fit with overflow spaces? When do we anticipate children attending?
These types of decisions are data-informed, but historical data alone isn’t predictive enough to simply replicate last year’s plan.
I remember sitting with our senior leadership team debating this very topic. How many services should we offer for Christmas? We studied the data. We ran some predictive guesses. And we made our decision. The following Sunday, we announced our plans to the church. One problem. We didn’t ask our preschool staff members what they believed was possible. Or smart.
In a church, preschool ministry is a bit like the Waffle House – it’s always open. I wanted preschool available for kids (and their parents) at each of our 10 services. Yes, you read that correctly. From the top of the organization, this seems wise. Let’s make church easy to attend regardless of when you attend. However, opening our preschool environment 10 times over two days is a logistical nightmare. The sheer number of volunteers required makes this impossible. Not to mention, toddlers aren’t easy to keep at 8:00 p.m.
It was my mistake. I didn’t bring the preschool director into this decision, even though the decision directly affected her, her team, and the kids and parents she leads.
I could give you more examples, but you get the point. It’s all too easy for leaders to make decisions that will be executed by those not involved in the decision.
Listening To The Boots On The Ground
The solution is pretty simple: We’ve got to invite those who will be affected by our decisions to participate in the decision.
