Mike
Lag Time
One of the new features that I’ve noticed in hotels as I’m traveling is a large, walk-in shower, with a “waterfall” shower head at one end of the enclosure, and the handle on the opposite end. The advantage of this design is that you aren’t standing under the water when you turn it on, thereby avoiding an initial cold blast. One disadvantage is the lag time when you adjust the temperature. It takes several seconds between turning the handle and feeling the change in water temperature. It is tempting to adjust, not feel a change, adjust more, and then discover that you’ve gone too far.
Lag time can be a serious leadership challenge as well. Leaders, by definition, are working with other people to accomplish the mission of the church or ministry. Whenever others are involved, you can expect to encounter some sort of lag time. You give attention or direction to something (whether it’s a new priority or a challenging situation), but you don’t get immediate results. For example:
- Small group participation is low. You meet with the group leaders to discuss a more proactive approach for reaching out to potential group members. But participation levels have only improved slightly.
- You’re concerned that meetings of the governing body are too business-like. You want the meetings to be much more Spirit-led. You’ve talked about this with the board and have made several changes in how you lead the meetings, but the overall climate hasn’t really changed.
- Despite having preached often about engaging with the “mission field” beyond the church’s doors, people in the congregation seem content and are mostly concerned with internal programming needs.
When the shower is too cold, I know that I need to move the handle. But I also know that if I turn the handle all the way to “hot,” I’ll get burned. The same is true for leaders in each of these and many other situations. You may need to invest more of your time and influence, but turning up the heat too much has downsides. Church members that were gradually warming up may suddenly resist if they feel too much pressure. A staff member may feel disenfranchised if you step in to “get things done.” And every hour that you over-invest in one issue is an hour that you don’t have for something else that needs your attention.
Leadership is not a precise science. So keep the lag time effect mind as you try to decide whether to turn up the heat. It might keep you from getting burned.
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