I’ve made a lot of leadership mistakes. One of the primary purposes of my ministry is to help others learn from my experience. So, I want to share some of the leadership mistakes I’ve made. I hope at least one of them encourages other leaders.
These are 10 of my biggest leadership mistakes:
1. Playing salesman more than seeking wisdom.
Among my leadership mistakes, I have had times I was so convinced I was right I used my skills as a communicator to get people on my side. In hindsight, I should’ve taken more time to seek other people’s insight and wisdom, because I wasn’t right after all.
2. Listening only to the yea-sayers.
The fact is critics sometimes have valid points to make. I prefer they find kinder and gentler ways to share them – and, even better, be brave enough to attach their name – but it’s a mistake to only listen to people who agree with you.
3. Ignoring my gut, because the crowd was excited.
We were going to launch a capital campaign. We knew we needed to do it at some point. Everyone was excited, or so they seemed. The momentum was high, but something inside of me said wait. When I began to get nervous about moving forward and went back to the excited crowd, and asked them to pray again, it was unanimous. They didn’t think the timing was right. We were moving forward in emotion, but not under God’s direction. I learned this one the hard way. Other times I’ve not been as sensitive to my gut or the Spirit’s leading.
4. Failing to remove the wrong people soon enough.
They say hire slow and fire fast. They weren’t necessarily in the church world, were they? Seriously, I’ve waited too long too many times. It only delays the pain.
5. Rushing too fast to fix things.
Some things need time to gel. I have learned that sometimes things get solved on their own. Conflicts are resolved and relationships saved, even strengthened, because I didn’t get involved.
