Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory

by Tod Bolsinger

And mostly they continue to reinforce that leadership begins with the transforming work God is doing in us before anything else.

For Christian leaders today, this is the moment of truth. Are we willing to take the risks and get up the nerve to lead a big adventure?

lead our people to face the challenge of a ...

acknowledge that what is in front of us is not at all like the world where we ...

clarify and cling to our core convictions and let go of everything else that keeps us from being effective i...

let go of the tried and true default actions that have br...

learn a new way of leading that begins with our ow...

Part Two THE ON-THE-MAP SKILL SET

No One Is Going to Follow You off the Map Unless They Trust You on It

- 4 - Competence and Credibility

Capt. Lewis is brave, prudent, habituated to the woods & familiar with Indian manners & character. He is not regularly educated, but he possesses a great mass of accurate observation on all the subjects of nature which present themselves. Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Benjamin Rush, February 28, 1803

The Advice of an Alaskan Homesteader and Dog Musher

When we asked Jon how they did it he said, “If you have someone to show you a few tricks, you can adapt to anything.”

Adaptation, even adaptive leadership, begins in the nuts and bolts of surviving and thriving, in the lessons passed on by those who are a few steps down the road, in the tricks and tips of “technical competence.”

Or to put it another way, unless we demonstrate that we are credible on the map, no one is going to follow us off the map.

From the Frontier to the White House ...

Technical Competence

Surprisingly, transformational leadership does not begin with transformation but with competence.

But in reality, the opportunity to lead usually begins with technical competence (see fig. 4.1).

Now, certainly, if technical competence is the only criteria for leadership, it can lead to significant problems (think Enron, the so-called Smartest Guys in the Room), but before calling a community to change and grow, a leader must demonstrate the ability to serve the needs of his or her charges right where they are.

Before going into uncharted territory, the leader must ably navigate the map while fulfilling the expectations he or she has been authorized to accomplish.

Technical Competence, Stewardship and Credibility

Another way to say this is: Stewardship precedes leadership. Biblically, stewardship is about faithfully protecting and preserving what is most important, about growing and developing the potential of everything and everyone under one’s care.

is about faithfully discharging the duties and carrying out the responsibilities that we have been authorized to do. It is the first and most basic act of being human, the first charge given in the garden to “cultivate and keep” (Genesis 2:15). Jesus used the metaphor of the steward (...

be sure, stewardship is not just maintenance; it is also about growth, protection and taking care of all God has delegated to us (Matthew 25:14-30), so that God will be revealed in the world. Stewardship is a response to God’s “manifold grace” and is expressed in serving “one another with whatever gif...

Stewardship, therefore, is on-the-map authorization, and technical competence describes the leaders’ ability to do the job they were hired to do—to navigate the known territory—before ...

Usually, before a community of faith will even consider undergoing costly change, there must be a sense that leadership is doing everything within their power and their job description to be as effective as possible. Note again the word competence.

While high achievers are often considered for leadership roles, it isn’t necessary for transformational leaders to be experts in all technical skills. Leadership first requires “threshold competence,” a demonstrable competency as stewards of the basic roles and responsibilities of their position.4 *REORIENTATION* Before people will follow you off the map, gain the credibility that comes from demonstrating competence on the map.

a pastor is not a good enough preacher, if a manager is not good enough at meeting budgets and deadlines, if the leader of a sales team doesn’t perform to some level of expectation, they will have no credibili...

Very often the underperforming technical leader becomes the scapegoat for the systemic i...

To be sure, many gifted preachers and teachers are less gifted in administration; many gifted pastoral counselors and spiritual directors are less-gifted preachers and teachers; but in order to exercise leadership, authorities or positional leaders must first demonstrate basic stewardship of at least three key areas of ministry.

Again, the focus here is on developing credibility for potential leadership that mobilizes people to grow and address their biggest challenges, not expertise for problem solving.

So to that end, let me suggest three basic tasks that leaders must exercise with technical competence before they have the credibility to g...

Of all the competing demands of leadership in every sector, perhaps the most difficult for a Christian leader is when the tough decision that will strengthen or even save the church, organization or institution creates difficulty for individuals.

Leadership professor Scott Cormode often says to his students, “We don’t have followers; we have people entrusted to our care.”a

For Cormode that trust is about both individual people and the collective work of a people. This stewardship extends to both the souls and the institution.

Competent stewardship of Scriptures and tradition.

There is a delicate balance here. Usually, the pastor is the resident expert on the Scriptures and theological tradition. This is the one arena of life in which we usually have more training, experience and education than most (though not all; I have had many congregants who were every bit as knowledgeable as me).

Having the role of pastor also means that we are expected and authorized to stand before the congregation every week (or more) and interpret and teach the Scriptures and the traditions.

At the same time, every congregation has a history, a set of core values and beliefs, a cultural and shared DNA, a church code.5 These shared values, or what Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom, authors of The Starfish and the Spider, call “ideology” is what gives the organization life. If shared values are not “protected and passed down” then the organization ceases to be.

In order to earn the credibility to lead people into what can be, we have to demonstrate fidelity to what is.

In a presentation to Duke Divinity School in 2008, Ronald Heifetz put it this way: Most real change is not about change. It’s about identifying what cultural DNA is worth conserving, is precious and essential, and that indeed makes it worth suffering the losses so that you can find a way to bring the best of your tradition and history and values into the future.

Competent stewardship of souls and communities

And before we can lead our people into uncharted territory, they have to believe that we will spiritually protect and personally care for them along the way. To be truly credible we also have to be shepherds. We have to tend the flock and protect them, keeping watch over everyone God has entrusted to us (Acts 20:28

Indeed, most congregants prefer shepherds to leaders, but in the Old Testament particularly shepherd is the biblical metaphor for Israel’s leaders.

This theme continues in the prophets, with a passionate admonition that those who lead be good, fair and especially caring leaders—leaders after God’s “own heart” (Ezekiel 34; Jeremiah 3

Jesus is, of course, the quintessential Shepherd, and for pastors called to shepherd the flock (1 Peter 5:2)—just as it was for Christ—that love is both intrinsic to a loving God and necessary for a larger purpose: that the people of God would fulfill the mission of God to the glory of God.

We are called to offer both love for people just where they are and to call and equip them to be part of the kingdom mission of Jesus in the world around them. But to be sure, people need to experience the love of God as they are led into the mission of God.

Competent stewardship of teams and tasks.

Pastors of congregations need to be both personal and organizational. If they are not, they likely are not pastors. Spiritual directors, certainly. Evangelists, possibly. Prophets,