When Things Don't Go Your Way

If I'm leading something, people should just follow me mindlessly right?  WRONG!  People come to you with their own experiences, talents, wishes, etc., etc.  When I lead something, it rarely goes how I envision it in the first place - thankfully!

Have you ever led anything that wasn't followed exactly as you had instructed?  If so, you had some choices of how you could react.  First, you could have gotten mad and demanded that things be done your way.  Or you could have silently cursed the disobedient follower, not ever letting them know your disappointment.  You could have also prayed about it and made changes - either in your event or in you - or a myriad of other possible reactions.

Nine times out of ten, problems work themselves out.  There have been plenty of times that someone didn't follow how I wanted them to, and I had built something up in my mind that they had ulterior motives for trying to take my leadership position from me.  When in reality, they just wanted to help.  I prayed about my attitude and continued working with those people later and it was nothing like what I had made up in my mind.

I tend to be more of a team leader, where I lead a group of people, get their input and make the final decision as leader.  I realize other people who lead have different personalities than I have and would do things differently than me if they were in my position.  But whatever your personal leadership style happens to be, my encouragement to you is this:  think before you act.  If I acted in haste all the times I got mad that things weren't going my way, I would have created a mess behind me that would be hard, if not impossible, to clean up in order to move forward.  Which is really the point of leadership isn't it?  To move forward?

If you are facing a difficulty in leadership right now, I encourage you to pray, wait, and then act, if needed.