by Dr. Chris Hobbs, BCSL Advisory Board Member
I recently moved to Houston, Texas to accept a new school leadership position, and a big move brings with it new experiences. One of those new experiences was our first tornado warning in Houston. The ordeal resolved peacefully, but it was another tumultuous experience in what seems like an endless list of tumultuous experiences. I’m now referring to a third school year dealing with the unthinkable storm of a generation-defining crises. A global pandemic combined with intense cultural unrest closely associated with a presidential election, and accelerated by the bizarre paradox of personal isolation (lockdown) and virtual connectivity (social media) has created a nightmarish leadership storm.
I spent 18 months guiding and encouraging the people I was leading with statements like, ‘when this is over…’, ‘this won’t last forever…’, and, ‘What we do well now will return 10-fold after the pandemic.’
And that was almost 18 months ago. Why is this still going on? What is happening? When will it be over? When will things be normal again?
I was an athletic director in central New Jersey during Superstorm Sandy. The storm was so intense in some parts of the state that the physical landscape was permanently changed. I have had experiences over the last three school years that have kept me connected to the national landscape of Christian schools and churches. What I’m hearing, observing, reading, and experiencing is that the cultural landscape has changed. The storm has created new norms. Some of the norms are good, some are bad, and all of them are complicated.
NT Wright in his book, ‘God and the Pandemic’, says that we often bemoan tragic circumstances by wondering why God doesn’t just send a thunderbolt and fix it. ‘The answer is that God does send thunderbolts – human ones.’ – N.T. Wright You and I are God-sent thunderbolts to extend His love, grace, mercy, and justice to our communities. We need to lead people forward through this new and unknown landscape. Here are a few suggestions that I have seen work in leading people during this intense cultural storm and I believe these things will continue to ring true for the foreseeable future.
How to lead your people when the storm creates a new landscape:
What’s true about influencing people is still true. I intentionally use the word ‘influence’ here and not ‘lead’. John Maxwell states that leadership is influence. Merriam-Webster defines influence as the power to cause change without directly forcing it. Directly forcing people to do anything in this new age should be a leader’s last resort. Leaders that encourage, teach, exhort, coach, serve, and pray for their people will find their ability to influence in this new landscape as powerful if not more powerful than it has ever been. How intentional are you about influencing the people around you?
Stand boldly yet empathetically on the truth.
The truth of God’s Word never changes, making it a powerful foundation. We can confidently stand on it amid the waves of cultural change. But because it is so powerful, it needs to be handled carefully which is why we need to be empathetic as we stand boldly on it. How do leaders do this? Ask questions. Asking questions uncovers the truth. Asking questions also demonstrates empathy allowing others to unpackage all that burdens them and inadvertently opening themselves to the truth. How much time do you spend asking people questions?
Know the age.
Over the last 20 years, we have transitioned out of the industrial age and into the information age where knowledge is the driving force of the economy and technology is its vehicle. Did you know we consume more information in one day than someone centuries prior would consume in their entire lifetime? The ease of access to information is not without its challenge. Information always comes packaged with ideas and ideas, as author Richard Weaver said, have consequences. Are you keeping your leadership radar tuned to the ideas that are packaged inside of all of this information? Do those ideas complement or conflict with the truth?
Spend time reading and thinking to develop your decision-making matrix because your decision-making matrix will be challenged every day.
Dr. Don Davis, Head of Schools at Second Baptist in Houston, said to me, ‘My decision-making matrix is being challenged every day’. I call this ‘threading the needle.’ It is not just that a leader has to make lots of decisions, they have to make those decisions repeatedly under fast-changing circumstances. Leaders need to pause often to read, think, and pray to solidify their decision-making matrix so they can ‘thread the needle’. Jesus Christ set this example by getting alone often, even at seemingly inopportune times, to steady Himself (Luke 5:16). How often are you getting alone to read, think, and pray so that you can re-emerge ready to ‘thread the needle’?
Know and lean on expertise.
The information age has given us endless access to information allowing anyone to become an expert. Here’s a quick way to assess expertise; if a person possesses multiple of the following: 1) degrees 2) certifications 3) is paid to do it 4) is paid to present about it 5) has been assigned to learn about it and report back. What’s the point? The point is that your leadership team is probably full of experts, and if they aren’t you can task them to become an expert. Dr. Tim Elmore of Growing Leaders describes this shift in the leadership landscape as, ‘no longer being a sage on the stage, but being a guide by the side’. Are you inspiring your people to become experts and engaging them when they do?
Things are different now.
The landscape has changed. There are new opportunities to be seized and more people to be impacted. As NT Wright stated, ‘you are God’s thunderbolt’ to extend a resounding boom of His love to those around you. Lead on!
Bonus content!
Resources to help you dig deeper into this topic:
Books:
- God and the Pandemic, by N.T. Wright,
- Facing Leviathan, by Mark Sayers,
- Winning the War in Your, Mind by Craig Groeschel,
- Getting Over Yourself, by Dean Inserra,
- The Future Leader, by Jacob Morgan,
Blogs:
- The Carey Nieuwhof blog
- Bite Down and Don’t Let Go
Podcasts:
- Entreleadership,
- Church for the Rest of Us
Vlogs:
- 4 Major Cultural Shifts by John Stonestreet and the Colson Center
Dr. Chris Hobbs is the Director of Institutional Advancement at Second Baptist School in Houston, Texas, and an advisory board member for Baylor’s Center for School Leadership. He and his wife, Jen, are Christian high school and Christian college alumni and career-long educators. He can be reached on Twitter @Dr_ChrisHobbs