Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of being thanked for my contribution to the church I have been serving. It’s quite humbling to know that people noticed and appreciated the work that I’ve done with them over the past few years. I have been overwhelmed by the love shown and I am grateful. As you know, I am always on the lookout for leadership lessons as they appear in the course of normal activities and in the midst of these festivities, I came across some important things a leader should do.
This little bit of inspiration came as I watched a compilation video of seven years of musical production the team and I had done together. It was great to watch the fun and see the complexity of the final product we produced, plus, a few things about leadership jumped out at me as I watched. The primary reminder is that a leader can take a group of normal people and do extraordinary things when they work together, (that’s not a putdown – let’s face it, most of us are normal). Before I point out those things, here is a link to the video. If you can, watch at least the first few minutes and then I’ll explain what I am talking about.
Here are some quick lessons a leader should keep in mind:
1 – Vision
As I mentioned, the people on the video are normal! They have a wide range of giftedness, but none of them are touring the world as a performer. However, they came together to do some awesome performances, partly because of the vision that had been cast to them. It was painted clearly during the preparation time and they made it happen. A big part of this is that they believed they could do it. The expectation level of performance was set high and they were told from the beginning that they could and would rise to the occasion. They believed in the vision of what they could become and no one told them differently. They made it happen because they believed in the vision.
2 – Mission
This group was not merely doing a performance. They had a message to deliver and they were on a mission to make sure that the message came across clearly and with excellence. Performances like these, especially for “normal” people, are challenging, but because they believed in the mission, they worked through the stress, fatigue, and consuming schedule. A leader needs to make sure that people understand why they are doing the work.
3 – Teamwork
The final quick lesson here is that this group wasn’t a hundred individuals, they were one team. One of the things that can bring a group together like this is to avoid stardom from sneaking into the ranks. As with any organization, there will always be some who are featured and called upon to do more than others, but the mindset must be that everyone’s role is of the same importance, be it the big solo or a member of the chorus. The people on the video worked as one collective group who were sold out to the mission and with the vision that they could do a performance together that was greater than anything they could do individually.
As we lead, let’s remember that “normal” people can do extraordinary things!
Lead well.