Matt's Muzings
Dealing with the "Tough Issues"
To help you think, ponder and reflect on the human side of leadership
November, 2006 Volume 8, Issue 71
A friend of mine was talking about a revelation he had and is working on in his life. He said it this way, “I am interested in my comfort, God is more interested in my character.”
The challenge for my friend and for all of us is that this creates tension in our relationship with God because these two different areas can create a very different focus.
Ron Heifetz, linked this to leadership when he wrote, “Directing attention is the currency of leadership.”
Getting people to pay attention to tough issues rather than diversions (comfort) is at the heart of leading in a changing world. Comfort diverts us from the real issues we must face.
To face the tough issues or not?
I know in myself that my natural tendency is not to face the tough issues. So I have to look to God and ask, what does He do?
We can see this clearly in Jesus. He came to personally, lovingly and wisely help us deal with the tough issues of our life. He turned up the heat by confronting us with the essence of our condition. Jesus was the perfect leader in the midst of change. He asked questions, provoked, rebuked and taught to help us keep our focus on the really important issues of life, and all this without judging us.
If a leader is not interested in the organization’s character growth (or don’t have the character themselves) they won’t raise the tough issues. If they are only interested in task they will only raise the issues needed to getting the task done.
Task issues can be very different from character issues. Task issues are problems to be solved, figured out and controlled. Character issues are areas of values, thinking and pain. They make us feel vulnerable. We don’t like that.
Most of us as leaders don’t like the mess of transformation. We don’t like the struggle, challenge, or pain of confronting our own inadequacies and changing our thinking and values to be more like Jesus.
Now the challenge is we love our own comfort and don’t want to face the heat and challenges of growth. If a leader raises tough issues, we often will shift the blame or avoid it all completely.
The task of leadership is to frame issues so that people will feel the heat and comprehend the choices needed to move forward. Leaders need to give the people the information they need so that they can own the problems (dilemmas) and grow up. Leaders in this process need to make a safe place for people to deal with the tough issues involved so they can gather the courage to grow.
A leaders work is to get people to grow up. He or she does this through the art of focusing the people‘s attention in the right places. Then the work is to get them to talk, and through dialogue, the living Word might be manifest in our midst again and again.
May God richly bless you,
Matt & Celia
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