Healthy Leaders | Issue 36
Keeping track of the three horizons.
Welcome to Issue 36 of Healthy Leaders. In this issue: keeping an eye on three key horizons at once.
Hello friends,
Welcome back to our ongoing conversation on healthy Christian leadership and leader development.1
As humans, we never do things perfectly the first time. Consider the last time you learned a new skill, such as a sport or playing a musical instrument. Did you do it perfectly the first time? Of course not! You had to take a risk when you first started — the risk of failure.
“The willingness to take a risk and to embrace the possibility of failure are essential to effective leadership. Anytime you begin to lead in some major change (which is the heart of leadership — helping people move from where they are to somewhere better), you will probably meet with resistance and things will probably go wrong — at least at first. You must persevere anyway! Risk and the possibility of failure are persistent elements of leadership.” (Malcolm Webber, from Leading)
The possibility of failure always exists when leaders pursue a vision that is bigger than they are, and only possible through God’s power.
But risk-taking doesn’t just involve aiming at some far-off goal to the exclusion of the work before you and your organization. We must be strategic, attending to multiple time frames at once — immediate responsibilities, emerging needs, and future opportunities. This is how we move the people toward the accomplishment of the vision before us.
Here’s Malcolm with more:
The following are some practical ways, taken from Malcolm’s book Leading, that will help you and your organization or church to improve in considering all three horizons.
Make a list of every task you are responsible for. About each one, ask yourself, “Why am I doing it this way? Why am I doing this at all? Can this task be done better? Does it need to be done at all? Should someone else be doing it?”
Regularly ask your leaders, “What specific action did you take last week to improve your effectiveness this week?” When you ask, be ready to give your own answer to this same question. Do this several weeks in a row so they know you are serious about it.
When you have leadership meetings, devote significant time (at least 25%) to improving processes and developing new ideas. In addition, spend significant time waiting on God for Him to reveal His vision (Acts 13:2).
Ask your people what really annoys them about the organization. Change the most frequently mentioned items that hinder effectiveness. Be sure to fix any processes that are identified as broken. Also, stop doing anything that is identified as being unnecessary.
Cultivate a positive attitude toward your people. Intentionally look for the good things in them, the potentials.
Look for ideas. Visit churches or ministries that are effective in the specific areas you are weak in.
Try something new. Do it on a small scale first, learn from it, then try again.
Reward those who take risks. Affirm them publicly. Give them the opportunity to talk about their experiences and share what they have learned.
Read biographies about God’s “revolutionaries” — those who challenged the status quo and birthed great new things. Learn from them.
Review your own vision. Identify “three horizons” in your own ministry. Please be specific.
There’s a lot to consider here. Practically speaking, however, there are only two questions you need to ask yourself about each of these horizons to begin the process: How well are you and/or your team doing in overseeing each of these? And what will you do to improve?
What about you?
You don’t have to do all of this alone! A good leader will be able to delegate tasks to the right people, those who are best equipped and qualified by calling to effectively fulfill the needs represented in the three horizons. The three areas of specialization are:
Effective Managers
Builders (Activators, Implementers)
Creative Minds (Lateral Thinkers & Visionaries)
Is everyone in your organization using all gifts and skills to the fullest potential?
Prayerfully consider each individual and ask God to show you how He desires the gifts and skills He has blessed each one with to be used in the work He has designated.
We’d love to hear your insights in the comments.
Until next time, we’re with you!
— Chris
Recommended Resources
Book: Leading
For more resources, visit our website.
Thanks to our friends at Fifty-Four Collective for putting together a comprehensive set of video courses for growing healthy organizations, starting with this series of courses on leadership by Malcolm. We’ll be using some of their videos and some of our own. Be sure to check out what they’re doing!