I read. A lot. While reading has always been an interest, I’ve done a lot more over the last few years. Besides books, I subscribe to a few dozen blogs. And thanks to Flipboard, I read interesting articles from all over the place. Recently, I came across an article on leadership. As a church leader, I’m always learning, always trying to get better. There was one quote in this whole article that really stuck out to me. The subject is consistency, and how important it is for a leader to be consistent.
Consistency Matters
“It’s important that people know you are consistent and fair in how you think about making decisions and that there’s an element of predictability. If a leader is consistent, people on their teams experience tremendous freedom, because then they know that within certain parameters, they can do whatever they want. If your manager is all over the place, you’re never going to know what you can do, and you’re going to experience it as very restrictive.”
– Laszlo Bock, Google’s Senior Vice President for People Operations
Are You Consistent?
Think about that concept for a little bit. If you know what your boss or pastor wants from you, there is tremendous freedom to figure out how to do it, what tools to use and even what the end product looks like. But if he’s all over the place, you never really know what you can do and what you can’t.
Consider how you deal with your teams. Do you micromanage one person but never say anything to another? Or do you sometimes micromanage the tasks one week, but not the next? Do the parameters for “success” change week to week?
“I’ll tell you if I don’t like it…”
Do you (or does your boss) not give any parameters for the result, but simply point out what you don’t like? That is the worst way to lead creatives. When someone tells me, “I don’t know what I want, but I’ll tell you what I don’t like,” I cringe. If I have the choice, I won’t work with that person.
With no guidelines, the poor creative simply throws a bunch of stuff against the wall hoping something will stick. The only hope is to avoid being scolded too severely if they miss the mark that wasn’t there in the first place. There are few better ways to demotivate creatives.
The Box of Freedom
We implemented a process that we call the Freedom Box. We got the key stakeholders together and defined some parameters—in this case for lighting. As a team, we drafted an outline of things we definitely don’t want, like shining lights in the eyes of the congregation. We also defined lighting levels for various parts of the service. The parameters are not good or bad, they are simply what we do or do not want to see.
Inside of those parameters, the guys can do whatever they want. Now that the lighting guys know what not to do, they have a ton of freedom to do what they feel the moment needs.
Consistency Wins
We no longer have to get on the guys for doing things we don’t like. It’s consistent because everyone knows the expectations. I spend less time policing them, and they are challenged to come up with different looks and effects within the bounds we defined.
When everyone knows the expectations, the stress level goes way down. We have a lot more fun, and our team gets better results with more longevity. We can apply this principle throughout the church. Define the parameters, then give the team freedom to do whatever they want inside those parameters. When we lead with consistency, everyone wins.
Mike Sessler is the Technical Director at Coast Hills Community Church in Orange County, CA. He also writes ChurchTechArts.org and hosts the ChurchTechWeekly.com
Enjoy this article? Don’t miss these 50 Inspiring Bible passages about leadership.