Two Things I Believe Will Help You Make Difficult Decisions

Leadership is not easy - if it was then anyone could do it.  

The one thing I really wrestled with early in my leadership was NOT identifying problems (anyone can do that…just look at social media)!  It was actually making  the really  difficult decision I knew needed to be made in order to solve the problem.  

The main thing that will hold us back in our leadership (as well as the church/company we lead) is an unwillingness to make a difficult decision.
You are a smart person, if you weren’t then you would most likely NOT be sitting in the place of leadership you now have; however, often times leadership isn’t an IQ test, it’s a courage test.  

Most leaders already know the difficult decision (or decisions) they need to make—they just refuse to make them because doing so would cause things to get uncomfortable.  

I can remember wrestling with a leadership decision once that I knew was going to impact a lot of people, and most likely cause some people to not like me.  The decision was keeping me up at night - and I kept on delaying it (thinking things would just work themselves out).  

Finally, two points of clarity hit me that enabled me to make the decision I knew needed to be made (but didn’t want to make.)  

#1 - There is not one single example in the Bible of God asking someone to do something that was easy.  Courage is a requirement for leadership - and, the steps of faith the Lord will ask us to take as our organization grows will actually increase, not decrease.  

#2 - I can’t lead people if I need people!  If I need people’s approval, if I need everyone to think warm, happy thoughts when they think of me, if I am more fearful of being unpopular than I am unfaithful - then I will be significantly limited as to what the Lord will accomplish through me as a leader. 

With all this in mind - here are some questions to maybe chat through in your next leadership meeting…
#1 - What is the ONE THING we’ve been putting off because we know it will shake things up?  
#2 - What do we really think will happen if we make this decision?  
#3 - What do we really think will happen if we DO NOT make this decision?  
#4 - Are will letting our perceived popularity interfere with our willingness to make this decision?  
#5 - If we make this decision - what do we believe are the POSITIVE RESULTS that will follow?