Leaders Learn to Love Process

Proverbs 2:1-6 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom, and  from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Today's article is a continuation of "Did you Get Your Wisdom." It may be helpful to review this post.

If an organization is shaped well, its leaders have acquired a certain level of decision-making authority. Leaders make new decisions every day. Some are significant, and some are seemingly insignificant. Still others really are insignificant. For instance, some decisions can be as insignificant as deciding what kind of coffee to buy for the office.

Understanding the Difference Between Significant and Insignificant Decisions

Leaders need to be really good at discerning which decisions are really insignificant and which are only seemingly insignificant. You may redesign your office and think that moving someone's desk 5 feet is insignificant, yet you my find that to be very significant for the person you just moved. While you thought the person was just being petty, months later you may find that the person was somewhat claustrophobic and did not do well with his desk facing the wall. Your seemingly simple decision cost you more than you ever thought.

Most of us would think we are able, and have sufficient wisdom to decide how far a desk needs to be moved. However, most leaders don't need to learn the art and science of desk moving! Instead, they need to learn while moving desks. After mastering a process for seemingly simple decisions, then you can go on to make significant decisions, those that could threaten the life of your church or organization.

Leaders must take the time to make decisions carefully.

There are more, but here are a few signs that usually accompany a poor decision process.

• The leader thought he or she was personally significant enough to make the decision him or herself without counsel or advice.
• The decision was much more important than anyone thought 
• The leader made the decision too quickly.The leader considered the opposition petty so did not consider it.

As a sub-point, you and I both know that there are people with petty desires. However, you should try to discern who gains by the pettiness. Who is the focus of the decision? Who gains comfort? Whose time, stress, or energy does it cost? Genuine pettiness and comfort usually do go together. Time, stress, energy and pettiness don't. If a person voices a desire that you consider petty, but seems to be genuinely concerned about it, there may be another explanation.

Good Decision Process

Contrary to a poor decision-making process, a good decision-making process results in the following characteristics:

• Although the process may seem to take too long, in the end, everyone is happy.
• The decision usually contains the fingerprints of several people. 
• Smaller forms of dissatisfaction dissipate very quickly.

As another sub-point, review the speed at which dissatisfaction dissipates. If it does not dissipate quickly, don't be stubborn. Review the process and see where you might have gone wrong. Re-process. If you don't know where to begin, start with one source of dissatisfaction; then pursue the fruit of the Spirit in that source or person and in yourself. I am highly confident you will come out on the other side of the process with a better decision and higher degree of peace and unity.

The pursuit of wisdom in our scripture verse today is designed by God to be intense and even arduous. There are some of you that strain under and during process. However, read this scripture and take comfort in the pain you are enduring. This is a very good pain to endure. 

 "Read this scripture and take comfort in the pain you are enduring. This is a very good pain to endure."

Remember how Part 1 ended? What God has to give us is much better than the pot of gold at the end of any rainbow:  

"Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her” (Proverbs 3:13-15 NIV).

Process = Wisdom = Incomparable Satisfaction.

 

You are going to love it.