85% of my time as a pastor (maybe more) is invisible. It’s spent behind the scenes building teams. Not preaching. Not counselling. Not studying. Nothing worth sharing on social media. Not even praying.
Most of my waking, working day is spent quietly choreographing the space between lives, noticing, listening & over-communicating, trying to preempt problems. I’m aware that this is not the public perception of leadership (Note to self: if my profile pic ever shows me holding a mic what does this actually say?)
In the natural world we know that seeds germinate & fruit forms whenever the soil is healthy. As in nature so in super-nature: whenever teams are healthy, culture thrives, life reproduces life, fruit forms in season.
But when relationships go wrong everything swerves to rot. It’s exhausting & demoralizing. Businesses, charities & churches alike quickly become driven & machine-like whenever their leaders start prioritising productivity above people, results above relationships. They are held together internally only by an outward display of results.
I wish they spent longer on these soft skills in seminaries & business schools. I wish we looked for EQ as much as IQ in those who aspire to be our executives, our politicians and our pastors. I long for leaders who understand that being relational & nurturing healthy relationships is not just a desirable part of the job. It is the job.
In the famous words of the late, great Peter Drucker: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
And in the even more famous words of the greatest leader of all time (addressed to his own disconcertingly unimpressive senior team): “I have called you friends.” (Jn.15:15)
