Tag: decisions

Three leadership questions

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As a leader, asking questions is a valuable way to steer your team or a specific individual forward. Even though these seem fairly simple, these leadership questions can help you bring a diagnosis (if necessary) or identify potential solutions.

1. What’s the bottom line? When you are navigating a situation or challenge, it’s easy to get caught up in all the details and chaos associated with it. Try to think through it to identify the root of the issue. Then you can work on that. Don’t waste energy working on subsidiary problems.

2. What’s the question here? Team members often bring me an extended summary of a particular matter with multiple levels of challenge or concern to be navigated. Identifying the main question will make it easier to weigh it out and provide direction.

3. What’s the next step? Every journey to a destination begins with a single step. Rather than getting caught up in thinking through a whole project, I find it helpful when there are multiple projects swirling around to identify the next step in each. Then I decide which of these steps I can take now and how to begin moving forward. Maybe a simple phone call or email would move the ball “down the field”.

Any useful questions that you have identified in your leadership?

Tips for Dealing with Confusion

strategies for dealing with confusionI was praying with a young man recently, who admitted that he was dealing with confusion about a number of things going on for himself and his family.

Boy, if I could count the number of times that I’ve been there. It’s the scratch your head kind of confusion that leaves you going in circles. I want to walk the plan the way God intended it, but it still seems like there are multiple choices and I’m unsure which way He wants me to go. Two significant seasons come to mind for me here:

  1. I was in college and really wanted to travel the career path God had for me. One strong marketplace option was on the table, but my heart was really feeling pulled toward ministry. I’m thinking, if I’m feeling pulled toward ministry, of course that must be God. But the other is a definite job offer, while ministry is a complete unknown. Hmmm…
  2. More recently, as I’ve moved into new levels of responsibility in my current organization, I’m finding there are rarely black or white decisions. It’s no longer as simple as: 2+2=4, therefore the wise choice is XYZ. I can’t think the problem toward a solution. It takes praying while making a decision, and then trusting God to guide your steps. Often, the proof that it was the right call may take months or even years to be confirmed.

Confusion Tips

Here’s what I’ve found as my strategy when I get in seasons of confusion like this, where I am lacking clarity:
  1. Recognize that God wants to make His purposes and direction clear in my life. Exodus 13 shares how God led the Israelites via a cloud by day and fire by night; every day they made a choice to move in a direction or stay put, based on His daily leading. I pray that I can follow Him that closely. James 1:5 tells us that God wants to give wisdom, all we have to do is ask. John 10 reminds us that God’s sheep will know His voice. I reflect on these Scriptures and pray over the areas I’m navigating.
  2. Brain dump. Sometimes the confusion is because I’m turning circles in my head. Whether it’s journaling or just downloading the projects and tasks to paper, moving the confusion out of my brain always has a way of generating clarity for me. I don’t try to organize as I write, but as I write, organization happens.
  3. Use peace as my guide. Isaiah 26:3 promises that “[He] will keep in perfect peace all who trust in [Him], all whose thoughts are fixed on [Him].” Once I’ve considered my alternatives, which one gives me a deep seated peace?
  4. Seek counsel. Proverbs 15:22 reminds us that receiving advice will help us succeed.
  5. Make a decision. Trusting God’s voice in my life and the wisdom He has placed inside of me through the Holy Spirit, the time comes to make a decision. Often, making the first decision acts as the first step to get me moving in the right direction.

Links to associated blog posts:

Spend Second

I’ve been on a “blogs about decision making” roll lately, so I thought it might be good to offer a word of balance. Depending on your circumstances, spending money can be the right way to go as I mentioned in my last post, but I had a valuable revelation recently. 

I was walking into the office one morning and thinking about a situation I was navigating with one of our team members. It was a fairly simple thing but was potentially going to cost about $500 depending on how we went forward. $500 may or may not be a lot of money depending on your total budget, but it was a “Spend or Don’t Spend” decision that I thought merited consideration.

As I weighed the questions, I determined that the spend option would be investing in a tangible asset that would have long-term value for the team, and it would help multiple team members be more efficient. And then I had an idea; there was a chance, albeit remote, that we might have an alternate solution in storage that didn’t cost money. I asked my team member to check it out before we made the final decision. Turns out there were no alternatives so we will be investing, but I still contend there was value in taking a few minutes to consider and check things out. 

Just so you know, I’m not talking about a long deliberation (google the words “analysis paralysis” to keep you on track here); I’m talking about an intentional few minutes to consider alternatives. When I’m rushing along in the flow of business, I don’t always take time to explore options, and some decisions don’t require it. When needed though, it can be a valuable thing to do. In any situation, we may need to spend money but there is often something we can or should do first. Check with someone, pray over the situation, think about it differently, ask for a volunteer or a donor to help with the need, etc. 

I am committed to making the spend decision when it’s needed but I’m convinced it shouldn’t be my first go-to.