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A Question I Didn't Want to Ask

Leadership

 It was a question I didn't want to ask. But it was too important not to. Plus, that morning during my reading, I got slapped by two separate authors with a message that removed the option. Another important reason that mornings matter so much is that if done right, God uses the quiet to reveal growth opportunities as you process the current events of your life. 

The day before, I was in a meeting with two people I have immense respect and trust in. Admittedly, I asked for the meeting out of a lingering frustration based on my observations of a particular situation I had been monitoring for well over a year. Knowing that clarity is kind and feeling that I hadn't offered enough, I decided that was the moment.

At the end of the meeting, while I thought we were in a better place in terms of what I was asking for, I had a lingering thorn in my side telling me I was missing something.

Separately, I asked each of them the question. "As it relates to this situation and your experience to my leadership in general, am I listening?" Ugh, I dreaded the answer. Thankfully, they both responded with a measure of grace, gratitude for being asked, and made it clear that I could do better. They also equipped me with examples to grow from and encouragement.

"The Lord is good and does what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way. The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his demands." (Psalm 25:8-10)

Being the expert means you have to have people around you who love you enough to give you the sober truth.

You also have to maintain a humble spirit to listen and have the confidence and courage to ask for it. God has put people in your life for that, if you take the steps to activate them.

He promises:

  • To reveal the proper path in every situation.
  • Teach you to do right if you have a humble spirit, desiring to learn.
  • To love you through the process. Everybody makes mistakes and has issues. His love doesn't.

If you want to be an effective leader, you have to learn to listen-- a leader of a team, a leader of your family, a leader of yourself. What you see and experience isn't the whole picture. When we think it is, we miss the beautiful layers that make up the whole scene. Other people see things differently, and so does God. Ask the difficult but important questions that dangerously reveal more than you can see. Humbly listen, take time to process, and you will find yourself on the right path more often than not. And when you find yourself going astray, just do it again. It’s a process, not an event.

 

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