5minutesORLess

Alignment: Assuring A Spiritually Centered Ministry - Part 1

Key Concept of Alignment

Whether you are sighting in for target shooting, calibrating an analytical instrument, aligning the wheels of a car or organization, or spiritually centering a ministry or personal life, one fact holds true—if you don’t have influence over the forces controlling accuracy, you have no mechanism to assure you will hit anywhere close to your intended target or goal. Optimal functioning requires alignment.

Fundamentals of Alignment

Intentional progress for any ministry is a stewardship issue. Ministries have been given destiny, resources, and the time frame to accomplish a divine appointment. Unfortunately, many are the ministries that have crashed and become unable to relevantly serve the community in which they exist. Why? Because every ministry is on a journey and the ministry is like a vehicle. Some ministries fail to negotiate the metaphorical curve resulting from a changing culture or failed leadership; as a result, upend, crash or go through rough terrain trying to get back on the road.  some survive the crash only to get stuck in mud up to the engine and slowly sink in a quagmire of muck weighted down with excess program baggage and useless ministry accessories than even a rescue tow truck can't pull them out.

In a sense, these ministries were driving through their rear view mirror and navigating based on historical success (trailing indicators) rather than seeing the curves of the future (leading indicators). A continual process of alignment keeps a ministry on the road with eyes focused on forward progress, not recent history. However, alignment is not solely right and left and between the lines.  Continuing with the driving metaphor, especially with traffic, alignment is also being aware how close or far other drivers are in front and behind you.  If this is true in driving and ministry, then recent history is as helpful as current data for alignment. 

Successful businesses undergo a rigorous alignment process because profitability demands it. Ministries must undergo a continuous alignment process, not because of any business survival issue, but because of a stewardship responsibility to be salt and light—instruments of righteousness and love within the community. The day is coming when spiritual leadership will be asked what it has done with what has been given.

Understanding Alignment

Relaxed Static Stability  The newest fighter jets, particularly the F-117, are a contradiction of avionics and aerodynamics. When these fighters are in perfect alignment, they are the fastest, climbing-est, banking-est and diving-est fighter airplanes ever built. But the stealth jet design makes these airplanes unstable and impossible to fly manually without a sophisticated onboard avionics system.

To balance the contradiction, the redundant onboard computer system takes thousands of pieces of data per second to make the micro adjustments necessary for the jet to fly. This is known as relaxed static stability. Without continuous monitoring and adjustments, the newest generation of fighter jets would break up and crash to the earth. They simply cannot fly without a continuous process of alignment.

Organizations, contrary to what seems to be apparent, cannot function effectively without relaxed static stability in relational processes as well as in technical programs. Crime laboratories, for example, cannot produce reliable results unless their testing instruments have been calibrated using a known reference standard to maintain accuracy or get re-centered again. The instrument cannot assure accuracy by performing tests on itself. Error simply compounds error. In fact, there is not an analytical instrument built capable of perpetual accuracy. And when that piece of mechanical and electrical gadgetry won’t calibrate, it means something is functionally wrong with the instrument; it needs repair. Most instruments can make minor “fine tuning” adjustments, but no instrument can fix itself once broken.

Likewise, in a ministry, if alignment can not or is not being achieved with day-to-day adjustments, then something is functionally wrong with how the ministry is organized or operated. Dysfunction necessitates intervention.

Organizational alignment involves a process of continual monitoring against a known standard, a periodic refocusing of the lens and an identification of external reference standards to make sure the adjustments are truly centered rather than simply mirroring what has already been done. A ministry in a process of continuous alignment assures that actions yield results in line with intentions.

Most ministries today have invested time and effort into creating vision, mission, values and guiding principle statements. The only means of preventing this good work from becoming cliché, or worse, a cynical reminder of who they aren’t, is to regularly engage leadership in an alignment/realignment process. 

Perceptions Are Not Alignment

Many organizations including ministries make a fatal error in thinking self-perception or ministry-perception—what we think to be true without the discipline of rigorous self-examination—is reality. The cliché that perception is reality is only partially true. A more accurate statement is that perception is apparent reality. Foundational to having a successful working system of alignment is procuring accurate data contributing to sound decision making, and then going beyond perceptions, hopes or group think.

We like to think we are analytical and systematic in how we gather information and evaluate the environment around us. But listen to Steve and Jill Morris from the book, Leadership Simple:

Biologists Humberto R. Maturana and Francisco J. Varela have observed that at least 80% of what we perceive to be information from our outside world actually comes from what we already know, from the experiences we hold inside our memories. We sense some events or things and then we draw from our knowledge additional data to fill in what we missed in the original communication or information. Or, we select out what is not consistent with what we know and replace it with knowledge we already have.¹

In applying their research, we know what we do many times a day is evaluate and compare current experiences and information against past history; we then make choices based on conclusions. That’s using deductive reasoning, understanding and wisdom. However, what Maturana and Varela found is that we often don’t know when we are substituting external data that we may not be comfortable with for already acquired, familiar, potentially flawed assumptions and perceptions. This can make our perception of reality highly unreliable unless we check it it against outside points of reference such as biblical standards, wise people, and feedback data.

If spiritual leadership does not engage in a rigorous and systematic process of alignment, then it will remain in a state of self- and ministry-deception about the source of problems and solutions. The authors of Leadership and Self-Deception – Getting Out of the Box make a clear case:

Self-deception is like this. It blinds us to the true cause of problems, and once blind, all the ‘solutions’ we can think of will actually make matters worse. That’s why self-deception is so central to leadership—because leadership is about making matters better.

Next Post:   Lack of Alignment--A Common Challenge to the North American Church 

On Becoming a Leader--Warren Bennis Why Follow A Leader?: 2. Congruity

Warren Bennis, in his book, On Becoming a Leader, identifies four ingredients leaders have that generate and sustain trust in followers.  They are:

1.  Constancy, 2. Congruity, 3. Reliability and 4. Integrity.  In the previous post we looked at constancy.

2. Congruity  If constancy can be likened to a horizontal line, congruity would be the vertical line.  Whereas constancy implies a steadiness over time, congruity goes deep into the core soul of the person. 

Congruity is the match or alignment between our being and our doing.  Most people think good thoughts and want to do the right thing.  Fewer are able to consistently live out their intentions.  Those who do have congruity.  Why is that important for those who follow?  Bennis says, "Leaders walk their talk.  In true leaders, there is no gap between the theories they espouse and the life they practice."  At a basic level we follow people who make us feel safe.

Does congruity produce constancy or is it the other way around?   Do they come as a package?  Or, are they mutually independent?  The answer is probably, "yes."  What we do know is if constancy and congruity are both present, good leadership happens.  I've seen good, decent, solid-to-the-core people who, for a variety of reasons, were incapable of leading a team  forward (creating a desire and intention to follow) through the good and bad times because you never quite knew how they would act when push came to shove.  I've also experienced good people who were also cowards.  They also had a problem with congruity.  No doubt they genuinely wanted to do the good.  It's just they did a poor job of consistently living out their beliefs under easy circumstances and were even more inconsistent in times of tension and stress. 

If it gives us any comfort even the Apostle Paul struggled with congruity.  And he was courageous enough to display his struggle so we can indentify with him. (Romans 7:7-25)  I saw this when I came upon the horrible head-on crash in December, 2008.  As we were futilely trying to put out the car fire with two trapped inside, to tend to the injured, and frantically trying to find anyone with blankets or fire extinguishers, I still can see people in cars on cell phones telling someone how horrible this accident was--people who may have had a congruity problem.

I've been in other situations where the leader was constant--constantly duplicitous and incompetent.  They wanted to do right and to follow through on convictions, but you never knew what they would do from one situation to another and from one day to another.  As a follower, the first order of the day was to check leader's mood to see what kind of decisions were best sought that day.  For me, I'd rather serve a Patton-type autocrat who I could trust and believe in than a wishy-washy, temperamental, blowing in the wind nice person. 

When it comes to merging constancy and congruity, it seems what we begin to see in a leader is a person who has a steady temper(ment) and a deep awareness of doing right(eous) at all times.

The person who personifies the integration of constancy and congruity for me is Paul--the same person who struggled with it.  From the moment on the road to Damascus to his last days in prison, his actions and his attitude never varied much.  His actions as described through the eyes and pen of Doctor Luke were consistent with the admonitions he gave, for example, to Timothy and Titus.

But Paul wasn't perfect.  He too struggled with hypocracy and inconsistency (opposites of congruity and constancy) but he worked at and overcame his struggle with the help of the Holy Spirit.  Isn't that a part of what transformation is all about?

In 2 Timothy Paul admonishes his mentoree Timothy, "Yet I am not ashamed because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.  What you have heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.  Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you--guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us."  (2 Timothy 1:12b-14)  That speaks to Paul's congruity. 

In Acts 28:29 Luke records Paul's words to the Jewish leaders of Rome, "Therefore, I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"  Luke's last words on the life of Paul follow in verses 30 and 31.  "For two whole  years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him.  Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ."  That speaks to Paul's constancy.  Whether it was on the ship in the storm (Acts 27:13-26), speaking before Peter and the leaders of the new church in Jerusalem (Acts 15), addressing the Greek scholars in Athens, toiling as a tent maker in Ephesus for three years with Priscilla, Aquila and Apollos or planting a church in Corinth, Paul's inner core, his soul (congruity) and his resulting witness over time (constancy), was in excellent alignment.

Dictionaries in defining congruity put an emphasis on agreement.  Agreement certainly is a part of congruity but, for me, congruity conveys more of a sense of fusion than merely agreement.  Agreement of walk and talk are critical.  But a fusion means the soul, the talk and the walk are no longer separable; they have become one. 

Question for Reflection:  What gives you confidence you are displaying congruity to those in your care?  At your next staff/team meeting why don't you ask them to give you some examples?

On Becoming a Leader--Warren Bennis Four Ingredients-Curiousity and Daring

4. Curiousity and Daring   Bennis previously talked about four essential competencies—1. engaging others by creating a shared meaning, 2. having a distinctive voice, 3. having integrity, and 4. having adaptive capacity.  He now adds to that with four ingredients that constitute an effective leader.  The first is a guiding vision.  The second is passion.  The third is integrity.  The fourth is curiousity and daring.

Bennis says, "Leaders wonder about everything, want to learn as much as they can, are willing to take risks, experiment, try new things.  They do not worry about failure, but embrace errors, knowing they will learn from them."  The ability of a leader to ask questions is not an expression of doubt but an unrelenting unwillingness to accept the status quo as an acceptable answer or solution.  This is one of the most telling discriminators between a manager mind and a leader mind.  The manager mind wants to control, create predictability, order and prevent the unknown from happening.  The leader mind is unwilling to accept today's answer as anything more than a reference guide to tomorrow's unknown challenges.  The leader mind knows today's answers are totally inadequate to properly and relevantly respond to tomorrows challenges.

Every good leader has within him the discipline of a manager and every good manager also has the spark of leadership.  Leadership is the capacity to influence others.  Management is the ability to create order.  To be a good leader, you must be disciplined in both.

A manager mind asks "what," the leader mind asks "how" and "why."  A successful spiritual leader's curiosity goes below the surface of "nickels and noggins." The successful spiritual leader wants to know how a successful ministry functions successfully.  The effective spiritual leader wants to know how they  deal with conflict, change, risk, decision making, power struggles and alignment/misalignment issues.  They want to know when ministry staff and volunteers are failing to perform effectively, how do they address the issue?  How do successful ministry leaders plan for succession, build teams that last and frame, form and influence the culture internally and in the community where they minister.  An effective leader is never satisfied with today's answers and is never fully fulfilled--knowing something more and better can be done to make the ministry more effective, more productive, more efficient, more spiritually rooted in their reason for existence.

A successful leader is willing to challenge but not be defient, take risks but not be reckless and ask questions without sowing seeds of doubt.  Curiousity and daring; essential ingredients for leaders of influence.

Questions for Reflection:  When things in ministry are going well, am I satisfied or challenged? 

When things in ministry are not going well do I look for tried and true solutions or am I more inclined to be open for new ideas? 

When is the best time to be curious and daring--when things are going well or when faced with challenges.  In your experience how has your answer proven to be correct or unsatisfactory?