All Aboard...Unanimous Never Happens

July 31, 2012

Found Online...

Seth Godin wrote a couple blog posts last week that I'll comment on this week. First up is Unanimous Is Not An Option.

Famous words that Lincoln didn't say: "You can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but you cannot please all of the people all of the time."*

Perhaps the worst thing you can do as a leader of any kind is try to make everybody happy. It'll never happen. You'll make nobody happy. Godin asserts that you have to work to "please precisely the right people, and just enough of them, to get your best work out of the door." Yeah, he's talking business (mostly) but think about anything that involves groups of people. You'll never please them all - but you need supporters of what you're doing - and in church work you need dedicated supporters. The bigger the risk, the more ardent the supporters need to be.

In my experience the only time you have unanimity is when nobody really cares about what is before them - then they either have nothing to risk or nothing to invest in it. Then, sure, I'll support it. What do I care if it fails? I guess I might care a bit if it succeeds...maybe. Probably not, though.

Godin says "Shun the non-believers."

When you're right. Shun them. Please the supporters - move ahead. Once a decision is made, move ahead with purpose and dedication, the "non-believers" (in this case, those not on board with the decision to move ahead - in church-land we've got to be a little more careful how we use this language...) become a distraction to the mission...

So - working with a church. The decision is to reach out into the community instead of do "church as usual" as has been done for some time (diminishing the congregation significantly). That decision is met with some resistance - some non-supporters. But those who are committed are committed. The decision is to move forward. The nay-sayers can be loud in their unhappiness. But the decision is vital for the future of the the church - the "best work" (as Godin calls it) of the church has never been how well can we serve ourselves, but how can we serve others?

Not unanimous but moving forward...

*Seriously, Google it - you'll find it as a Lincoln quote. Of course I know he might not have said FOOL the people... but not everybody doesn't know that, apparently...

Comments

Michael Airgood said…

But what if we promoted consensus instead of majority rule? When I was on the contemporary service planning committee we did everything by consensus. Often people would say, "well, I disagree, but I can tell that this is more important to you and that either way it won't destroy our church - so I can agree to what you think is best.". It was wonderfully freeing - because we went for what was best for the community and not what was best for ourselves. I disagreed strongly with some decisions, but I agreed that they might be best for the community at this time.

2:31 AM