3. Create dissatisfaction with the status quo
In his famous (and also very helpful) leadership book, Leading Change, John Kotter articulates that the first step to creating change is creating a sense of urgency—and that urgency is created around what must change. In other words, leaders must create dissatisfaction with “what is” so people will embrace change. In local church ministry, I don’t believe this is the healthiest or the most effective way to inspire change. I say “yes” to urgency but hesitate to use “dissatisfaction” or “disgust” as the tool to drive urgency. We are not merely introducing change into an organization. The Church is His Body, His Family, and His Bride. So, I want to be careful of how we speak about her. People have been served and shepherded within the current reality. In a local church context, I find it wiser and better to create urgency around our unchanging mission and shared values.
4. “The customer is always right.”
For decades business leaders have used the phrase “the customer is always right” to create a customer-centric culture where the organization does everything possible to serve the customer. Of the aforementioned commonplace phrases, this is the one ministry leaders must not adopt at all. While we must have a servant’s posture, the Church does not have customers. The Church is a community of people gathered together that exists for Him and to serve the world. Not only is there not a customer to be right—none of us are always right. Only He is. I need His truth to guide me, not my own opinions. The Church must continually submit to His truth, His declared Word. If “the customer is always right,” the Church would keep shifting and would always be drifting.
I am thankful when marketplace leadership authors take the time to articulate leadership principles they have observed, and one common principle is the importance of leaders knowing their context and adjusting their approach to serve the people in their context. The context of the local church must always be remembered by us (ministry leaders) when we consider applying insights from other contexts.
This article on marketplace leadership originally appeared here, and is used by permission.
