Adaptive Leadership
The staff member was new and passionate. She knew her job, and she was eager to do it. She challenged the young student to host a meeting in her “target area” dorm and assigned the tasks, which included creating an invitation, passing it out to everyone in the dorm, buying snacks, and reserving the room. The student diligently did everything she was asked to do. The evening of the meeting, not one person showed up. The staff woman was undeterred. “We will try it again next month!” The student was stunned and confused. Why do it again if it didn’t work this time? Should we not stop and evaluate why no one came before we go to the trouble of doing this again? And why did the staff woman assign her a target area where she did not live or know anyone? Maybe if she knew some of the people who lived here, she would know how to invite them, and they would respond better to the invitation.
I bet you have been in a similar situation. I know I have. Our purpose is not to implement tactics. It is to help fulfill the Great Commission through sharing the good news of Jesus and teaching people to obey Jesus. Our values are faith, growth, and fruitfulness. So why do we continue to do things that do not help us make progress in our purpose or live out our values? We have mistaken tactics for our mission.
If your strategic plan is not getting you closer to your goals, you do not need to keep doing the same things over and over again with more effort. That sounds a lot like depending on the flesh rather than walking by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. I am not saying that every plan you make as you walk in the Spirit will be successful. I am saying that if your plans are not producing fruit, do not keep repeating them, thinking that they will eventually work. Prayerfully evaluate. Learn more about the people you are trying to reach or disciple. Ask God for that wisdom that he has promised to give you. Then, try something new. You might tweak your original plan a little and try it again. Or, you might just scrap it altogether for something radically different.
As a leader, you are a Direction Setter. This means that the direction is not static. It will need to change based on the missional gap you are trying to reach and the realities of your context. You are also a Change Agent. That means that change is part of your job—not for the sake of change but for the sake of the mission Jesus has entrusted to you. You are tasked with stewarding resources towards the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
What tactics are you keeping in your plan that need to be abandoned because they are not producing fruit? What new approaches could you try this month, prayerfully asking that God would use your steps of faith to help you make great progress in the mission? It might mean that some of your comfortable, favorite plans need to be put aside. It also might mean that you try a lot of things before you find strategies that work. That is ok! Effective leaders are not leaders who always have the right answers. They are leaders who trust God to lead them even when the right answers are unknown.
