So how do you know you’re a slave to leadership chaos?
5 Signs You’re a Slave to Leadership Chaos
1. YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE NO CONTROL
Probably the greatest source of anxiety for leaders is the sense that they have no control.
Because you’re so bombarded by information, opportunities, obligations and requests, there’s a constant sense that life is happening to you, and you don’t really have much choice.
You try to respond by becoming busier and busier, but it doesn’t help.
For every extra hour or every ounce of extra effort you put in, you get further behind.
What’s worse is that busy has a price. It’s not just a price you pay. It’s a price everybody pays: your family, your team, your church.
If being busy is your strategy to stay in control, you need a new strategy.
2. YOU DON’T LEAD. YOU PLAY WHAC-A-MOLE.
Ever go to the fair and play Whac-a-mole?
That’s the game where they give you a boxing glove and gophers pop up out of holes…and you have to whack them back in.
If you have 11 inboxes, lead a staff, and have a bunch of people you’re responsible for, that’s what leadership can feel like.
You answer one message, and four more come in. You solve one problem, and three more pop up. (Here’s a 20-second Whac-a-Mole video that can be a bit therapeutic…)
While successfully whacking all the moles in a given day can make you feel like you’ve won, you haven’t.
Because that’s not really leadership.
The best leadership doesn’t just respond to what’s happening, it anticipates and shapes what’s going to happen. And you never have time for that if all you do is respond to constant bombardment around you.
3. OTHER PEOPLE RUN YOUR TO-DO LIST
So you have a long list of things you need to do. You know they matter. They’re important.
Question: Why do they never seem to get done?
Well, when your leadership is out of control, other peoples’ priorities hijack yours.
Here’s an example.
For me, one of the most important things I can do is write.
Whether that’s my next sermon series, next message, next book, next blog post or questions for my next podcast, writing is hands down one of the most important things I do.
Yet every text, every phone call, every email, every knock on the door is someone asking you to get their priority done, not yours.
, then you’re a slave to leadership chaos.){kind=link}