Entries Tagged 'leadership' ↓

As often as any important business has to be done in the monastery, let the abbot call together the whole community and himself set forth the matter. And, having heard the counsel of the brethren, let him think it over by himself and then do what he shall judge to be most expedient….

Now the reason why we have said that all should be called to council, is that God often reveals what is better to the younger…. But if the business to be done in the interests of the monastery be of lesser importance, let him use the advice of the seniors only!

- St. Benedict

Rack this one up in the “Duh!” category, but it just seems so obvious that a group of over-tired and fatigued people operating in a critical function are going to make serious mistakes. Do they not read some of their own research literature on the effects of sleep deprivation?!

I still do not understand why this persists, except for my experience in too many places where “doing what we had to do” is the rationale for continuing very stupid practices.

I was reading a bio piece by a former SAS guy recently, in which he talked about sleep as being a key factor in survival, and how he was fully aware that his lack of sleep was affecting his judgements and he made specific plans to ensure that he could safely sleep to get himself in good shape to do what he had to do.

I’ve yet to hear a good argument for allowing medical staff (both docs and nurses) to work in ways we would never allow airline pilots to do.

[Update... here's the official advice on what to do about fatigue if you're a doc who's exhausted... just drink 6 cups of coffee a day... :-)]

It’s been painful watching the Australian cricket team wobble from greatness to patheticness (is that a word?!) during this Ashes series.

Their loss in this final game was easily predictable, given the interviews Ponting was giving in the press before the game. He apparently had the game won before they even stepped on the field, and I thought to myself as I read some of this stuff last, that I just couldn’t understand the tack he was taking in the media. It’s one thing to be confident, but it’s another to be cocky. The line is a fine one, but cockiness will kill you every time.

I haven’t had time to properly reflect on it, but there’s obviously some big leadership lessons in this, and it is probably one of the key differences (in my mind) that separates Ponting from Waugh, who I believe was the greatest cricket captain perhaps in history, not only because of the way he led teams to victory, but also the way in which he reinvigorated Australian Test cricket with the traditions and history that fuel a game like this.

A number of years ago, a friend of mine through the Arrow Leadership Program, Jim Wallace (now with the Australian Christian Lobby, once himself Commander of the SAS Regiment, retired Brigadier), recommended a book by Sir William Slim, entitled “Defeat to Victory”, which recounted Slim’s amazing feat of leadership in turning the disastrous Burma campaign during WWII into a resounding victory for the Allies. Jim once served as some kind of military liaison for Slim, who had later become Governor General. He raved about the man and his ideas about leadership, and got me very intrigued about the book.

To cut a very long story short, the book was very hard to find, and in the end I paid a princely sum for a bookseller to locate a copy for me. It was months before I finally saw the book, and I’d pretty much forgotten that I’d ordered it by the time I got the call that it had arrived.

It arrived during a period of enormous stress and pressure in my leadership role. I found myself in a position where I desperately needed some space to think and get my head back in the game, given some of the very challenging things we were going through, and in the midst of all that I decided to start reading this book, more as a diversion than anything else.

Once I started reading, I was hooked! It was an amazing account of the emotional lows and highs of leadership, and a terrifically honest and authentic account. Slim is open about his weaknesses, his mistakes and almost blunders, and very modest about his accomplishments. It seems to me that he is perhaps the most competent leader of WWII that you have NEVER heard of because others managed to garner the limelight more effectively. But, in my book, Slim is a man every leader should study. For those who served under him, he remains legendary.

In the midst of my stress and exhaustion last year, I came across one passage in particular that just resonated with my soul and has stuck with me ever since. In fact, I made a commitment right there and then to change up the way I operate based on this piece of wisdom. In this paragraph, Slim provides a description of his daily routine during the peak of his leadership, as he prepared his army to go back into Burma to expel the Japanese.

Read it carefully:

“Life at the headquarters followed a daily routine. At six-thirty I got up; at seven, saw the important messages received during the night; at seven-thirty to eight, breakfasted with the air commanders and our principal staff officers. I attended the joint air and land intelligence conference, known as ‘morning prayers’ at eight-thirty, when the events of the past twenty-four hours were related and commented on and those for the next described to a considerable audience by British and American army and air officers. I then dealt with any urgent matters with my B.G.S. and Major-General Administration, and saw to the multifarious business that comes to an army commander for decision. We all met again at lunch and usually talked shop through the meal. I left my office at about three, read a novel for an hour, had tea, and went for a walk in the cool with one of my staff; dined at seven-thirty, talked at the bar of the mess till half-past nine, visited my operations’ room for a final look at the latest reports, and was in bed by ten. If, between then and six-thirty, when my faithful Gurkha orderly, Bajbir, roused me, anyone disturbed me for anything short of real crisis, he did so at his peril. I had seen too many of my colleagues crack under the immense strain of command in the field not to realize that, if I were to continue, I must have ample leisure in which to think, and unbroken sleep. Generals would do well to remember that, even in war, ‘the wisdom of a learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure.’ Generals who are terribly busy all day and half the night, who fuss around, posting platoons and writing marching tables, wear out not only their subordinates but themselves. Nor have they, when the real emergency comes, the reserve of vigour that will then enable them, for days if necessary, to do with little rest or sleep.“
[emphasis mine] – General William Slim, Defeat into Victory, 212-3.

These words are from a very active General, commanding a huge force during a time of deep crisis in wartime, and they are words every leader should pay attention to. This was no armchair reservist or casual Charlie. This was a wartime leader in the very fight of his life, in what seemed an impossible situation with minimal resources and a fearsome enemy, having already barely escaped complete decimation. Too many leaders (including myself) operate for too long with very little margin and think-space in their lives, and this kind of pace is both unsustainable and less effective than the leader who has space to think, to reflect, assess and make good decisions that aren’t emanating from a fuzzy and tired mind. William Slim’s advice is invaluable for every leader.

According to this bottom line piece, British forces in Hellmand Province, Afghanistan, have 20 helicopters to support 9,000 troops – not sure who’s running that whole effort, but that’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of in a modern war scenario…

This is just plain disturbing. According to a CNN piece, “the more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.”

“More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. Only 42 percent of people who “seldom or never” go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified — more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.”

I don’t want to believe it, but I’ve had enough conversations with certain types of Evangelicals to know that it has the ring of truth, and it’s very disturbing because it couldn’t be further from Jesus.

Torture is stupid, not just on moral grounds, but because it doesn’t generally work. The CIA has some interesting case studies of Vietnam-era examples of the manifest failure of torture to provide anything other than extraordinary examples of the human ability to adapt itself to survival.

This happens to pastors all the time, especially in smaller churches.

Never ceases to amaze me how far two sets of expectations can be from each other, and how the big evaluation every 3 (or maybe 5) years is a pretty stupid way to go. This is one of the key reasons I am committed to a 90 Day Goal process for all of our staff, where we have regular, small conversations about progress and expectations, rather than irregular, monster conversations every year or few years.

So, again, we have in the Australian parliament the case where a single senator gets to make the call on a huge issue. I don’t know, but this kind inordinate leverage these handful of senators have really irritates me for a range of reasons. I don’t like these guys nickel and diming for stuff on every piece of legislation that comes through. Seems ridiculous.

What seems even more ridiculous is that the tax money from the alcopop flip flop will apparently go back to the alcohol producers. This seems absurd since it was a tax… in other words, it wasn’t paid by the distillers but by the people who bought these drinks, so why should the money go back to the distillers?!? This money should go back into taxpayer coffers, not the alcohol producers.

Sometimes, truly, the law is an ass…

I really like this.

This is a real challenge for us in ministry leadership. Connecting with people on the basis of the their felt needs, but navigating them gently towards exploring their real needs. To do this well and genuinely is the sign of great leadership and love.

Sometimes we get it right in authentic and insightful ministry. Sometimes it’s ugly and looks like bait and switch. It takes Spirit-led skill.

I’m still amazed at how popular certain church/ministry conferences are featuring speakers/presenters who have no track record of success at all. I like ideas people, but I would rather take financial advice from Warren Buffett than an ideas man.

Mostly, these ideas guys are famous for writing books, not necessarily actually getting the job done effectively. Writing books is a huge skill, and getting them published is pretty amazing too. But writing books is not local church ministry.

Go through the list of some of the books being bandied around as key references for the future of ministry, the church and leadership, etc., and ask yourself whether any of these people have actually done what they’re writing about?

I have discovered that it’s one thing to have nice ideas – it’s quite another to make it happen in reality. Unfortunately, there’s a whole circuit of gurus out there writing books that others are trying to use as their guides to ministry success (however you want to define that), and it’s a bit like a guy who has never been married or had kids trying to give advice about parenting. It’s absurd.

I guess I’m a pragmatist. Sue me.