Last Thursday and Friday I attended the Willow Creek Association's Global Leadership Summit. It was two days of very stimulating leadership training and inspiration. Presenters came from the business, church, science, and other fields. Liz Wiseman's presentation on Multipliers and Diminishers drew sharp contrasts between leadership styles that elevate and create success among staff members, and those who suppress creativity and initiative.
I worked for an incredible Multiplier in Oregon. He encouraged each staff member's creativity both for church projects, as well as outside the church. He understood that when a member of his staff received recognition for their accomplishments, the senior pastor shared in that success. When one of the leading church music publishers published one of my choral songs, I brought one of the first copies to the pastor. He had already heard the song because we had performed it from my handwritten scores. Now it was in polished, printed form, ready for sale. He looked at each page, smiling and nodding, and then told me how proud he was of this accomplishment. Then he asked me if he could have the copy. When I told him I had brought the copy for him, he opened a large file drawer with multiple files in it. He explained that he kept physical copies of all the accomplishments of his staff members, both past and present. He already had created a file for me, (that says a lot about his confidence in the people he chose to work with him) and put the copy of my music in it. Liz Wiseman says multipliers are Talent Magnets, Liberators, Challengers, Debate Makers, and Investors. An investor is defined as one who gives other people the ownership for results and invests in their success. Pastor Allen Groff was certainly an investor.
At another point in my pastoral career I worked for a Diminisher. Wiseman's definition of a Diminisher is an Empire Builder (hoards resources and under-utilizes talent), Tyrant (creates a tense environment that suppresses people's thinking and capability), Know-It-All (gives directives that showcase how much they know), Decision Maker (makes centralized, abrupt decisions that confuse the organization), and Micro Manager (drives results through their personal involvement). Within a few weeks of joining this church staff, I became painfully aware that the staff was terrified of this pastor. There was no sense of teamwork, or working together. In 7 months, we had 3 very short staff meetings. We had no staff social gatherings, any kind of gatherings that included our spouses or children, or any hint of a desire for personal relationships. I finally realized, too late, that this pastor, and his wife, were incredibly insecure. The only way to deal with that was for them to be oppressively controlling and micro managing every aspect of the church. Basically, the pastoral staff were credentialed go-fors. Kathy and my years of experience and maturity as pastors were completely ignored. Sadly, this church congregation suffered being fractured and split apart by this destructive behavior.
Are you a Multiplier? A Diminisher? I believe Christ has called leaders to be Multipliers. I know from personal experience that I must be a Multiplier, at home, and work.
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