Isn’t It Ironic
I had no idea there are so many contours to leadership! As a pastor, I have mostly subscribed to Bill Hybels definition of a leader as someone who brings a group of people from Point A to Point B. Nohria and Khurana’s collection of papers in Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice prove to me that pastoring a church involves so much more than guiding people to a new destination. Leadership research and academic writing virtually does not exist, Leadership is a complicated discipline filled with tensions, and finally, leadership is filled with, according to Wakeman and Hackman, irony.
Where are the Academic Leadership Books?
I can relate to the frustration that Nohria and Khurana feel over the lack of academic research and writing about the topic of leadership. I am running into the same thing with my research on bivocational pastors. I even had to turn in my “Sizing Up My Resources” assignment this week without five scholarly journals and books because they simply don’t exist. The authors lament that so many academic business schools claim in their vision statements and mission statements the desire to create top notch leaders, but none of them actually research and produce academic findings regarding leadership. One major sign of neglect explained by the authors is that faculty who teach leadership courses are repeatedly denied tenure tracks and are relegated to adjunct status. I think it more than interesting that the authors not only say, “We have what we deserve” (Nohria 5), but like Grenz’ critique of how churches have too much folk theology, Nohria and Khurana complain that most books written on leadership are popular and not academic.
Complexities & Dualities
The purpose of this book is to communicate the multiple meanings inherent in leadership.
1. There is a duality between performance and creating meaning.
This is a struggle for bivocational pastors because we often feel hindered by our “secular” job. So many times we focus on the creating meaning part by planning many events and spending a lot of time putting together an “entertaining” Sunday morning experience. The most relevant essay for me in this section is written by Hackman who asserts that the role of the leader (as a direct front against modernity’s loss of meaning), is to influence the organization’s culture.
2. There is a duality between seeing leaders as set apart as special people and leaders functioning in a more social role.
Many churches prefer a charismatic personality and many popular leadership books focus on leadership style and leader behaviors and characteristics. This works in the U.S. for many churches. However, much of current thinking of leadership says that leaders should focus more on “setting a vision, communicating a direction, empowering or delegating authority to others, ensuring execution, and modeling integrity” (Nohria 16). This last part of integrity is currently a big deal in my tribe, The Vineyard. Maybe it’s a reaction to all the “fallen” pastors of the 1980s and 1990s, but becoming an emotionally healthy leader with integrity is currently in vogue in the Vineyard.
3. There is a duality between leadership being universal and leadership being particular.
Leadership principles are not consistent across the board and in every culture. Here in the U.S. Vineyard, we preach a lot about the “servant leader.” However, in Uganda where I work to plant churches, the context is quite different and people respond better to a leader who is more authoritarian and acts more like a “chief.”
4. There is a duality between leaders exercising power and constraint.
Leaders are responsible for many areas of organizational life like, “direction, organization, selection, motivation, and implementation” (Nohria 19). Looking at leadership as “power” asks the question, What is the leader responsible for? However, asking the “how” question brings up the idea of restraint. Translated to pastoring, this means the pastor has to learn how to delegate correctly. Unfortunately, the history of my tribe is filled with many instances of pastors handing over a lot of responsibility, but restraining and holding onto the needed authority to faithfully execute that responsibility.
5. There is a duality between “doing” and “being.”
The authors conclude, that leaders can actually be made. For pastors, we like to talk about “gifting” and “anointing” for leadership. Currently, as stated above, the Vineyard, including myself, is focussing on “becoming.” Another term for this is spiritual formation. It is important for pastors to “be” before they attempt to “do” anything. It reminds me of what Martyn Percy told us in Hong Kong. He said we need to be concerned with loving God and then concerned with the things that God is concerned with. In order to do this properly, we need to be formed into the likeness of Christ more and more everyday.
Ironies
Wagman and Hackman (Chapter 17) point our four ironies of leadership.
1. Even though leadership teams are composed of powerful people, they tend to underperform.
This sums up many teams in the church I pastor. The Hub has great people However, many of our teams are underperforming. I learned that I need to give these teams a greater purpose and resource and lead them more.
2. People desire to be on teams, but no one is really sure who is in or out of the team.
I agree with Wagman and Hackman that many people seek team membership for it’s power (Nohria 485). I also am guilty of blurring the lines often of who is on a team and who isn’t. This was a difficult and challenging section for me to read because I need to grow in this area.
3. Members are busy, but tend to waste time.
Exactly! Not much to say here except that this is the typical person that attends the Hub. People are over committed (I blame Globalization) but also great at wasting time.
4. Authority dynamics have a strong bearing on teams, but members don’t discuss it.
No one likes to talk about the elephant in the room mainly because it has to do with relationships. Churches I think, are more guilty of this because we believe in loving neighbor and sometimes act more out of codependence than from discipleship and good theology.
About the Author
Aaron Peterson
I am a working priest which means that I am a husband(to Lisa), dad(to four wonderful children), senior pastor and church planter(The Hub Vineyard Church), and high school social studies teacher(Verdugo Hills High School LAUSD). I am currently working towards a DMIN in Leadership & Global Perspectives @George Fox Seminary.3 responses to “Isn’t It Ironic”
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Thanks Aaron,
A very interesting take on the reading assignment, you did excellent job!
I think the authors fulfilled their purpose of the book in communicating the multiple meanings inherent in leadership, in order for the reader to be able to discern true leadership from a faked one. In the business world leadership in many organizations is termed as the core factor of successes or failures, which is not necessary, the Christian leadership.
The book mainly concentrates on leadership in organizations; which seem to indicate how things rise and fall on leadership in a different perspective than in the church (biblical). Therefore it important as a Christian leaders that we take a closer look and see how we measure up with what the authors have said. Christian leaders have to measure up to what God has called the body of Christ leaders to do, and why? The church leader must focus on purpose and directions, and methods to make it work. It not about church growth is not necessarily about numerical church growth, but growth in the faith in Christ, which leads to the prime directive for the church: to worship Christ. When the church becomes strong in the disciplines of the faith and is communicable with Christ, people will be attracted to the church (not the building). The results will
Thanks for sharing! Rose Maria
Aaron,
I’m sure you know as well as I do that the challenge of quality leadership in the church is more complicated than in a business setting, where a supervisor has the authority of BE a boss. In the church we lead volunteers who can walk any time.
As you assess your learning from the Leadership Handbook, what principles from these scholars translates best into the church culture?
Aaron,
Take a look at the best leader in your church. Can you imagine a scenario where you or that person would be the best candidate to pastor any church? Of course not…the problem is not your ability to lead a church but your ability to lead a church with the same culture as your existing church. I believe we have many great leadership books but they never mention that leadership is connected to culture. I know I’m a great musician but my skills could create a mess in your church culture. I love John Maxwell’s teaching but I understand that cultural integration is necessary to integrate his approach in my church culture. When Jesus taught the people, He always integrated their culture. We as leaders tend to focus more on making sure we have the suggested characteristics found in books. If everything rises and fall on leadership, should I feel guilty if I’m placed in a culture that’s different from my norm? Think about how easy it is for a guest speaker to blame people’s lack of engagement during a service and never thought about the possibility that he simply couldn’t engage with their culture. We need more leadership books that teaches balance with leadership and culture.
Garfield