Tuesday, December 09, 2014
Making It Work
Ron Edmondson - one of the smartest things he has ever said:
It is the deception that bothers me. A) pastors often purposefully accumulate the power while neutering their board's, thus violating the reasons the board is there to begin with. B) When confronted with, they dissemble. Look, power tends to flow to places where people know how to use it. That's a natural occurrence, but to deny that such is happening, that's deceptive. It should not be about denying reality, it should be about exercising the power accumulated in a gentile and humble manner.
Think about it.
church politics deception power
As a leader, it’s important that you not only concentrate your attention on what is easily measured, written in a policy manual, or even spoken as a value. Other considerations may be more important, even though they may have never been expressed formally. When change occurs or is to be implemented in an organization, paying attention to these unwritten rules is necessary for success.Consider just one of his "unwritten rules":
The real power structure – Who really makes the decisions? Is it a board? A few key people? A consensus of the largest percentage of people? Power structures are rarely as purely formed as what is written on a piece of paper. Knowing this is critical to navigating change.I understand exactly what he is talking about and sometimes it really honks me off. I cannot tell you how many times a church's board is used as cover by a pastor who is really making the decisions and pulling the strings. If you note that and take the matter to the pastor he will often hide behind the board, for any number of reasons. The line between the purity of the structure and deception or avoidance is a fine one.
It is the deception that bothers me. A) pastors often purposefully accumulate the power while neutering their board's, thus violating the reasons the board is there to begin with. B) When confronted with, they dissemble. Look, power tends to flow to places where people know how to use it. That's a natural occurrence, but to deny that such is happening, that's deceptive. It should not be about denying reality, it should be about exercising the power accumulated in a gentile and humble manner.
Think about it.
church politics deception power
