How to Lead When You Don't Know Where You're Going: Leading in a Liminal Season

by Susan Beaumont

Ending the status quo means allowing dissatisfaction to ferment—not with the leader, but with some part of the organization.

Tell the truth and tell it masterfully. Craft a message so people see how their typical behavior leads to failure.

When people acknowledge competing commitments, they are more likely to let go of stability, to discover new ways to satisfy more of what we value.

Innovation rarely emerges from the center of an organization, from the core group of authority figures who are thinking and acting on behalf of the whole organization. Rather, innovative thinking generally emerges from the edges of the organization, among those who are thinking differently about the challenges, and those who are not encumbered with daily decision-making.

Experimentation and learning happen best when we invite people to take responsibility for what they love about the organization and to act where they feel most passionate and engaged.

Too often, congregations fill volunteer slates based on organizational polity and traditionally defined needs.

Innovation happens naturally when we empower people to solve problems they care about, when we let go of our obsessions with right order and proper channels, and when we let everyone have equal access to information and communication channels.

Let’s conduct a series of experiments with our remaining money, rather than limping along and spending down the endowment until our death. If we die more quickly because of the risks we take, so be it. At least we will have been faithful to our heritage and our call.