This morning, I woke up thinking about leadership as a concept. My theory is that we, as a culture, abuse our leaders. I don't think it's necessarily something done intentionally, but I think we may place unreasonable expectations on them and then further the problem by not communicating that...and then get frustrated when those expectations aren't met and respond in trying to tear them down.
I barely goes a single day without seeing some derogatory comment or quip about our government (big or small) come across my vision...be it the news, facebook, or wherever. I sometimes wonder if we are overly harsh, venting the frustrations of the rest of our life onto our government (not unlike the person who sent the email in the video above), forgetting that our government is not one person and forgetting that tearing down your leader only makes it harder for them to lead well. Would it not be better to try and work WITH your leaders to help them lead in a better direction or to try and understand what could have influenced them to make the decisions they are making? This is the leader we elected, afterall (don't even start with the "we didn't elect him" crap...we elected those who elected him with full knowledge that they are the people who are supposed to represent us).
Switching scenes, I hear from people in my church, with surprising regularity, about our church leadership...some thing that they don't like or that doesn't speak to them or that they still don't trust Pastor X because he hasn't yet proven himself to them, or some other complaint over relatively minor things. This breaks my heart for our pastors who have to not only put up with the criticisms and battles from the culture and people outside of the church, but also have so many similar battles inside of the church. Further, I find it shocking that the same people who complain to me, resist the idea of going directly to them...to meet with them and discuss, to try and better understand and work WITH your leaders to help them lead in a better direction.
If the form of the complaints is so similar within the church body to what I see outside of the church directed towards other leaders, I if there is, perhaps, a larger problem of our views and expectations of leadership (as a whole) and if that is why we find ourselves so consistently dissatisfied.
The truth is, leadership can't be done in a bubble...it needs the support, feedback, and trust from the people your leaders are responsible for. They are people too and need support to lead well. I know a number of leaders who sometimes feel like they are asked to lead and find themselves feeling very much alone and it would mean a lot to them to have active support.
I'm not saying to support the things they do which you do not agree with...I am asking you to support them, as people. Talk with them with respect, work WITH them and hold them accountable with love, try and understand where they are coming from and help them understand where you are coming from, and most importantly, communicate with them that you still support them as a leader.
I am going to go out on a limb and ask for this for myself, too. To those who want me to "be a leader" or have asked me to lead something (this relates to church groups, it relates to relationships (both romantic and non), and it relates to work), I am asking for that same support and communication.
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