Two years ago, I started consulting with churches and mission organizations. The one church asked me to become their Interim Pastor, but my gut instinct told me I could simply offer to be their Transitional Coach for 10 hours a week, and rely on the gifted staff team they had, and get them just as far. It worked out better than I even imagined, but I didn\u2019t quite understand why. One day, one of the leaders simply said, \u201cJoel, your 10 hours a week goes much farther, because what you\u2019re offering is out of all your accumulated skill.\u201d Even under time-crunch, or unforeseen pressures, I had templates for what to do that assisted in all kinds of ways. It was shocking, but somehow true.<\/p>\n
For me, the resonance in Eve Poole\u2019s Leadersmithing was with the longing refrain she received from many leaders\u2019: \u2018I wish I\u2019d known that I can do it.\u2019 [1] This has perhaps been diminished under my commitment to life-long leadership development. Have I perhaps discounted the templates, skills, and mastery which has been forming over time? In my own life, it has been extraordinary helpful to review my own timeline while studying Dr. J Robert Clinton\u2019s Leadership Emergence Theory [2]. While looking back, I reflected in a journal in 2021 how amazed I was at my foolishness to transfer \u201cfull potential\u201d from God\u2019s work IN me as work achieved. It is as though being an achiever takes every gift and converts it to a further goal for improvement. <\/span><\/p>\n This is a bit of the crucible of the current season leadership, to actually thank God for the skills and templates that I have been given, and apply them in the current season with confidence. \u00a0It is an opportunity to observe the neurological shortcuts, courtesy of templating [3] that are part of this chapter of my leadership journey. <\/span>\u00a0This is where Poole\u2019s example of looking at the chronological work at Monet\u2019s work account for the depth and accumulated skill so evident once he settled into them [4].<\/p>\n So, I do love the deck of cards, and while I intend to continue to hone my King of Spades (Numbers), Three of Hearts (Thank yous) and Nine of Hearts (Storytelling) [5], I intend to persevere at getting better, while celebrating more the Mastery that has been forming over time.<\/p>\n ____________<\/p>\n [1] Poole, Eve. <\/span>Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership<\/span><\/em>.<\/em> London\u202f; New York, NY: Bloomsbury Business, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017, 181.<\/span><\/p>\n