The Theory of Practice or Practise of Theory
A predecessor to Google Search for finding contacts before smartphones and search engines took over in the UK was called The Yellow Pages. It was a massive yellow book with a familiar strong smell, about the size of a small suitcase with all the contact information for different work sectors and friends and was the first place we turned to find the phone number or address of those people who we needed. In 1992, I handwrote a letter, photocopied it, and stuffed it into three hundred envelopes addressed to those listed in the Yellow Pages as church leaders in my city. Each envelope had a stamp bought and stuck on at a high cost as a penniless student. I was excited that I would be able to develop my leadership skills because the letter was asking for mentoring and accountability in my new role as church leader of this fast-growing group of peers. I had no replies. I never thought the lack of reply was because I was a nineteen-year-old woman. It took me decades before I realised that was a high probability and that others had a preconceived view that [1]‘was all about the leader as hero, triumphant in battle and a fine figure of a man.’ Undeterred, instead of being trained by other church leaders, I added training as a psychotherapist to my studies because somehow, I knew instinctively that [2] ‘pastors’ leadership ceiling is not ultimately how well they lead, but how well they are being led… The most perilous challenges are those that lurk in the pastor’s inner world.’ I chose to be a student and learn from teachers who knew about the inner workings of the human soul in a formal training so that I could lead with integrity.
I married and raised my four sons, being intentionally emotionally present while juggling leading a church and other organisations. After twenty years of leading with large buildings and staff teams and more than thirty years after asking for help from other leaders as a university student, I read my first book on leadership, other than the Bible. About five years ago, my eldest son, who was nineteen and had become an associate pastor in Oxford, suggested it could help! It was indeed delicious, and I was beyond excited, but it remained the only book on leadership I had read. I started this course and have now read many more books on leadership. I can’t believe that others have been saying things I have had to discover through carrying the weight and terrifying responsibility of leading many people over many decades. The [3]10,000 hours hypothesis created by Malcolm Gladwell asserts that practicing over a long period is a great teacher, Poole disagrees, but that has been my unplanned and unwanted pathway. I agree that many people along the way have believed that [4]‘right thought leads to right action.’ But surely, [5]‘in reality, leadership is not this theoretical’.
I am now in the early stages of assimilating leadership theories into my three decades of trying my best to help people through founding organisations. Do I regret it? I am not sure! Poole suggests that [6]‘In a straight fight, experience wins, because it suggests several alluring things: wisdom, measured judgement, less risk, and a knack of knowing when to panic or when just to wait’, which may well be true.
Poole proposes that it feels that the current climate is a VUCA world,[7] ‘a world that is ‘Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous.’ She then asserts that character is what [8]‘protects your future ability to lead because it is the very thing that will save you when everything else is stripped away. Courage, grit, determination- those character traits are the stuff of leadership when the chips are down.’ There is an old phrase that summarises my leadership values as ‘character over gifting’. I have always communicated that I would rather be a kind, compassionate person than someone with a million theories but who is unkind, dominating and with a subconscious that harbours hidden torment and rage. Character is surely formed with an attitude and a decision to be on a continual journey of transformation and is [9]‘built up over time as the cumulative effect of a series of decisions and behaviours’ and [10]‘not about doing but being. It is not an activity, but an intrinsic property.’ Transparency is also one of the listed character values on our staff values poster in the staff rooms and Poole affirms the need for this culture because the environment in which we lead is shifting, requiring us to need [11]‘radical transparency’ because ‘leaders will feel ever more exposed to scrutiny from all sides at once. And the only way to cope with this is to be wholly transparent.’
The Bible is clear that the role of leader should be one fuelled by authentic compassion and not [12]‘selfish ambition and vain conceit’. In Ezekiel, the analogy of shepherd is used to describe the role of the leaders of the people. They are reprimanded for not fulfilling their role and demonstrating bad character, which indicated power issues. [13]‘The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them’. I have been intentional about our vision, workplace culture and church culture, and many of my core staff have been working with me for over twenty years as they love what we do and how we do it.
In conclusion, I agree with Poole that [14]‘future-proofing your leadership means taking charge of your learning’ and so here I am learning on this course.
[1]Eve Poole, Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership. (London: Bloomsbury Business, 2017), 7.
[2] Tom Nelson. The Flourishing Pastor. Recovering The Lost Art of Shepherd Leadership. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2021), 47.
[3] Eve Poole, Leadersmithing, 42.
[4] Ibid., 2.
[5] Ibid.,2.
[6] Ibid.,13.
[7] Ibid.,8.
[8] Ibid.,47.
[9] Ibid.,51.
[10] Ibid.,49.
[11] Ibid.,179.
[12] Philippians 2:3-4.
[13] Ezekiel 34: 2-4.
[14] Eve Poole. Leadersmithing. 13.
About the Author
Betsy
2 responses to “The Theory of Practice or Practise of Theory”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Your reflection on women as leaders resonated with me. I was growing up in the 80s when women were rising in leadership, but this often meant that woman had to act more like men than being valued for their feminine leadership strengths
I read a Harvard Business Review article a few years back about the growth of emotional quotient and teamwork in leadership, owing it mostly to more women leaders who tend to be more relational and socially aware. This leads nicely to what Poole writes about transparency. Not to be too stereotypical, women tend to be more open with people (but not all). I have chosen to lead in transparency and authenticity and have often been told that this is one of the greatest strengths that I bring to a team.
You mentioned Poole’s thoughts on how character, being, and the cumulative effects of the journey are more essential than what you do. I agree with this and often have to remind myself of it. I, like you, would rather be kind to people than to bulldoze a bunch of people over getting things done.
Thank you for your insightful post.
You got an audible reaction with your description of the Yellow Pages. I’m not discounting the barriers to entry you carried as a 19 year old female. We had a middle-aged male pastor move to a different church campus and get a similar lack of response to his request to connect with local pastors, and he used that new fandangled thing called email. Paul’s letters are written to the Church of a city, not to one of the neighborhood house churches. It’s not a competition.
I also underlined the quote, “in a straight fight, experience wins,” though I would have argued otherwise as a 20-something year old. In many areas of complexity, Gladwell underestimates the time required for mastery. Your life is a testament to this. Based on your two phones and seven phone numbers, that’s 10,000 hours times seven or roughly 35 working years. You’re right on track!
I appreciated your words on what motivates you–being known as a kind and caring person. I once gave a three day technical training in Baku and had an Azerbaijani coworker accompany me. After the class, he grinned and asked if I wanted to know what the students thought of me. Of course. He said they were surprised to see that I cared about them. My two thoughts were to accept the compliment and wonder if I had done something from afar to give the opposite impression. Your reference to Philippians 2:3-4 is foundational.