{"id":804,"date":"2013-06-14T11:18:55","date_gmt":"2013-06-14T11:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=804"},"modified":"2013-06-14T11:18:55","modified_gmt":"2013-06-14T11:18:55","slug":"the-cul-de-sac-and-the-indian-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-cul-de-sac-and-the-indian-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cul-de-sac and the Indian Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the issues with \u2018quitting\u2019 in the Indian culture is related saving face. Quitting is mostly equated with failure.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Leaders quite often fall short of their accomplishments because they fail to quit or change direction. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I must confess my own guilt in this regard. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Much <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>positive outcomes have been <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>missed and wonderful opportunities lost in circling the Cul-de-sac simply to save face.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Godin skilfully explains that quitting is not the same as failing. On the other hand it is choosing another path toward success.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>That is very helpful to know. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>This is a radical lesson for leadership in my cultural setting.<\/span><\/p>\n

My first thoughts after reading Seth Godin\u2019s The Dip <\/em>was that I wish I had known earlier about the Dip, the Cliff and the Cul de sac. \u00a0I am one who shares that deep longing and desire that most individuals have, to be a more fruitful; to press on to achieve just a little more.<\/p>\n

Looking back at the past, there may have been several instances where I would have just stayed in there longer and pressed on if I knew it was \u2018the Dip\u2019 and other times I would have quit sooner instead of wasting time, effort, energy and resources; going in circles had I known I was stuck in a \u2018Cul-de-sac\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 Reading Godin\u2019s description of the Cul-de-sac reminded me of Peter Drucker\u2019s wise words, that it is absurd to repeat the same actions but expect different results.\u00a0 It sounds quite plain and simple; yet an oft repeated mistake that has simply burnt up an immense amount of my precious time, energy and needless to say resources as well in the past. \u00a0But then that\u2019s hind sight.\u00a0 What happens from now on is what matters. The past cannot be corrected but the future can be well directed.<\/p>\n

Last evening I concluded a conference with 120 front line church planters in the city of Patna in Bihar.\u00a0 This state of Bihar lies in the central eastern part of India and has the infamous reputation of being the \u2018graveyard of missions\u2019. At the end of the conference, a plaque was presented to me engraved : \u201cThe graveyard is now a vineyard\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our organisation has worked in this region for over a decade seeing very little progress and results until two years ago when a breakthrough was experienced. \u00a0It came as a result of initiating some major changes that involved quitting certain practices, moving away from certain areas, \u00a0shifting our emphasis and changing strategy. \u00a0Letting go of age old practices, traditions and beliefs is just not easy.\u00a0 It is easier to stay with them than quit. \u00a0But quit we did.<\/p>\n

We had to take some drastic corrective measures.\u00a0 Some of them were painful and unacceptable to a few.\u00a0 As a leader, there were a few difficult calls to make. They were made nevertheless.\u00a0 Looking back, that situation can be exactly described as a Cul-de-sac in Godin\u2019s words. We were getting no where; we were in a rut.\u00a0 The efforts were draining everyone and every resource. \u00a0I even dreaded visiting this field. \u00a0However, with all the bold changes made, immediate and dramatic results were experienced.\u00a0 It was like a breath of fresh air and the dawning of a brand new season. \u00a0We experienced the remarkable results of quitting the Cul-de-sac.<\/p>\n

Two years \u00a0later the inital excitement is gradually fading and now it is time to press on.\u00a0 \u00a0I realize we are in the Dip.\u00a0\u00a0 We are past the first stage and at a place where we have to simply keep pushing on without giving up. \u00a0Our goal is to plant 500 house churches in the unreached villages of Bihar in the next five years. \u00a0This week\u2019s reading and gaining an understanding of the Dip and its implications was very timely.\u00a0 In fact, I quoted Godin as I closed the conference with a challenge: \u00a0\u201cit\u2019s not enough to survive your way through this Dip.\u00a0 You get what you deserve when you embrace the Dip and treat it like the opportunity that it really is.\u201d<\/span> CITATION God07 l 1033 <\/span><\/span><\/span>(Godin 2007)<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 Our quest as Godin explains may seem like a dead end at times but we will move forward with his encouragement to pursue this Dip and see measurable progress made toward a clear vision – A church in every village of Bihar \u2013 no longer a graveyard of missions but a vineyard with busy, bold and deliberate labourers.<\/p>\n

Godin, Seth. <\/span>The Dip.<\/em> London: Penguin Books, 2007.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the issues with \u2018quitting\u2019 in the Indian culture is related saving face. Quitting is mostly equated with failure.\u00a0 Leaders quite often fall short of their accomplishments because they fail to quit or change direction. \u00a0I must confess my own guilt in this regard. \u00a0\u00a0Much \u00a0positive outcomes have been \u00a0missed and wonderful opportunities lost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,317],"class_list":["post-804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-godin","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}