• Leaders: Are Proactive #8
#8. Leaders: Proactive!
Proactive is the opposite of Reactive. It is as simple as Pitching and Catching. Leadership is not just about waiting for others to set the agenda for our ministry. It is true our job description is a document that dictates some of our ministry agenda. We definitely need to react to those clear items of agenda. However, there is great latitude in how we achieve our ministry by how we work with our team or our constituency. Others look to us to lead, set the agenda, move forward, establish goals, attempt new things, take a few risks, evaluate work, experiment and try to improve things. Being proactive means that you are not just “willing to do” the hard thing, you “actually do” the hard thing.
A leader who is able to make things happen is one who knows when to catch and when to pitch. There is a time to allow leadership to come from others, a time to listen, a time to gather more information and time for consensus. Pitching, on the other hand, is speaking up—taking some initiative, sharpening the focus on what needs to be done, assigning tasks and determining just how things can be accomplished. It involves setting the agenda, delegating some responsibility and helping others to be accountable.
Having a clear vision in your children’s ministry is the greatest reason this proactive leadership works. Knowing what you are trying to accomplish helps in working with your team. Even delays, set backs and problems are potential opportunities for implementing your growth agenda. So knowing when to push forward or linger and wait is what is involved in proactive leadership.
Here are some of My Best Twelve Proactive-Leadership Tips:
1. Look over your daily “To Do” list and see if you have anything that “Initiates” an action, rather than a follow-up or an implementing function. I try to initiate something, which is pitching, not catching.
2. Pre-think every meeting, so you know what you are working towards. This can help you prime the pump of potential agendas.
3. Learn how to brainstorm with your self about any potential obstacles and opportunities. This helps you work through various scenarios.
4. Prepare “on paper” as much as possible, even if no one else sees it, but you. This forces you to think through your ideas.
5. “Staging” is my term for stacking in one place what will be needed to for the next meeting. I pull the supplies, resources, files or information required, so when I leave, I take it with me. I am ready. I can either pitch or catch, as needed, with this preparation.
6. Work with your calendar daily and re-think often “how-to strategies” on how things need to work in order for events to happen on time. Keep making adjustments by recalibrating your available time lines.
7. Create a typical procedure for initiating or implementing what you want to accomplish. This might look like a list of all the steps to accomplish the goal. Notice the critical path that must happen to support the minor parts of the plan. The critical path involves pitching.
8. Work on establishing goals and objectives for all the areas of the your responsibilities. Initiate movement and steps towards accomplishing those goals. You have to involve others to succeed.
9. Training your leaders to be working as a Team with you to accomplish the vision of the ministry is critical. Pitching to your team helps. This communication is the key to forward motion and making something happen that is progress.
10. Share your ministry process with others who are doing what you are doing, and learn from the process of others who are also learning about proactive leadership.
11. Become a student of proactive leadership by reading, asking better questions from good leaders, create procedures that work, and be willing to take risks and learn from your mistakes.
12. Be open to getting some outside Professional Coaching about Proactive leadership. This can be a real help to clear the clutter.
Check out Karl Bastian’s Proactive Article: http://www.kidology.org/zones/zone_post.asp?post_id=11425
Note: This is a new series to discuss some basic qualities of leadership and how it might apply to those in children’s ministry. You can find the other seven articles under leadership on the sidebar.
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