1000 words - 4 minutes
This is the second of a series based on the original article found here by Jennifer Jordan, Michael Wade, and Elizabeth Teracino, which was originally published in February 2020 by HBR.org. Every Leader Needs to Navigate These 7 Tensions.
I like to have a dialogue with articles by taking them and applying them to the clients I serve.
In this case, I am applying them to clients served by the Senior Pastor Smart Succession ™ process to help a new leader take over from a long-serving Senior Pastor.
While everyone needs a unique leadership style, younger leaders are bringing an emerging style that can be different from their boomer predecessors.
The original article outlines the tensions. Part 1 of my application is found here.
Here is part 2.
“Tension 4: The Teller vs. the Listener”
The authors state that traditional leaders tell people what to do and how to do it. Emerging leaders, in contrast, listen before making decisions across a broad constituency.
OK – for Senior Pastors, one of their key roles is to be the teller. But the teller of the church’s story and where it will go. The story is the critical part of imagining the story and how everyone can fit into it.
But to do that well, it needs to listen to a broader audience than just their own heart and even just the staff insiders.
Good leaders recognize that God’s story is told not just through scripture but is being written in the lives of believers so that the mission can go forward.
Let’s be honest: Pastors must be tellers. That is a weekly role explaining where they believe God is taking the church.
But when it comes to leading people – it is just as important to be seen as someone who listens deeply to the other leaders to help frame and form that story that carries the whole system forward.
One of the challenges I often see with internal candidates in the Senior Pastor Smart Succession ™ process is that they are seen as leaders who “never listen.”
What ChatGPT thinks illustrates the article - Meh
“Tension 5: The Power Holder vs. the Power Sharer”
Traditional – lead from the top with independence from the system.
Emerging – empowers others to make decisions to achieve the goal.
Here’s the thing—younger staff expect to have agency over many decisions. They hope to have input on many choices. They will be open to undermining those decisions when they do not.
That is the environment they have tended to have inhabited for many years.
This can frustrate many older leaders who were raised in a different understanding.
Boards also begin to assert similar feelings when there is a pastor change. Many have felt excluded from decisions in the past or not fully briefed. Some of those boards see that past decisions that led to negative consequences could have been avoided if they had been brought in earlier.
Do not misunderstand: Succession transfers power, leadership, and authority from one leader to the next. However, how a leader exercises those three ideas looks different for each generation and context.
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A few clients transitioned to new leaders this summer, and I can reveal them to you: Venture Church and Ingleside Church. Both did a great job through the process. I am currently working with 7 others still in the quiet phase.
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“Tension 6: The Intuitionist vs. the Analyst.”
Traditional – go with your gut.
Emerging – look at the data.
I can't entirely agree with the authors' description that traditional decision-makers acted more from the gut than from data. Of course, that is my gut speaking!
Organizational leaders must use both gut and sound data to make wise decisions. Both gut and data are always imperfect. You can’t have all the data all the time.
Almost every week, a pastor says, “My gut says…..” Most of the time, I feel they are directionally correct but have missed some critical details in the data that must be considered in the conversation and decision.
The key here is recognizing from both perspectives which side you land on and how to correct and adjust to bring the other side into a critical decision.
One of the reasons I get hired often is to bring outside data and experience to a church team and pastor that are overly reliant on their “gut.” Once they see some other examples, they can correct course and adjust.
“Tension 7: The Perfectionist vs. the Accelerator”
Traditionalist – deliver a perfect product.
Emerging – fail fast and iterate.
This is another disagreement I have with the authors because I am not sure the characterization of a traditionalist is a caricature.
Most of the larger churches I have served have been great experimenters. They start things but end them quickly if they don’t work. A few delay launching until something is perfect, but not many.
Jim Collins gave me the phrase: bullets first, then cannonballs. Test and iterate on a small scale, see if it works, then go all in.
A few younger leaders want to go broad scale with a “whole new plan” before good tests are run to see if it would work in their context. They have chased silver bullet thinking.
Now what?
The authors suggest that you know your preferences and tendencies. Some of that comes from your experience in other churches and contexts.
Try it the other way: If you are a natural “emerging,” sometimes you need to test the other way, which can be done by hiring a coach.
Recognize the context: This is one of the critical aspects we work on in the succession process—what is the current understanding between staff, board, and senior leaders about how we arrive at decisions? How should we adjust in the future?
The authors also suggest practicing a bit of reverse mentoring. I recommend a similar pattern for leaders but in a different way. A new pastor should hold a few “pizza lunches” a year with small staff groups.
If they are an older pastor – invite eight younger staff. If a younger pastor – invite the eight oldest staff.
Use the time to ask questions and listen deeply. You don’t need to speak about any actions. Just thank them for educating you a bit on the context.