A few days ago, I wrote about the benefits of organizational tension.  I proposed that our best leadership move is not to avoid the conflict or tension, or even resolve it, but instead to thrive in the midst of it.  I’ve had a lot of good feedback and interest in that proposition, with great questions about how to harvest all the potential benefits.  So, I’m feeling led by God to really flesh this out.  I’m spending all week fleshing out the five steps to harvesting the most out of organizational tension.  This will work in any organization, and is certainly not limited to churches.  As you read this, I want to encourage you to do two things:  1.  Think of an area of conflict or tension in your current environment; and 2.  Think of one other person you’d like to teach whatever you learn this week.

OK, being a big fan of starting at the beginning, let’s tackle step one today:

1.  Take the Lead

Let’s face it, none of us like conflict and tension.  (and those who like it aren’t usually the ones you want leading…)  But if there are so many great opportunities hidden in that conflict, it’s going to take a good leader to dig it out.  Maybe that’s you.  Here are four great questions that can help you identify if you’re the right person to take point.

• Can you clearly identify the issues? You need to have a pretty good idea what’s going on, not only from your perspective, but also from others who are involved or impacted.  This is not easy and it takes intentionality, an open mind and the willingness to do more listening than talking.  If you’ve got an insightful bead on a really important issue, you might be the right leader.
• Is this need worth your time and energy? We all have plenty to do, and rarely are any of us looking for more to do.  We must count the costs and see if this is worth investing our time and energy.  If you just can’t get it out of your head and your heart longs to solve this problem, you might be the right leader.
• Do you have or can you gain the necessary organizational influence? If complex problems could be solved without consensus, they’d likely already be solved.  Your relationships with others in your team are either going to open or close the doors of communication that will be necessary.  If you’ve got strong relationships with the stakeholders built upon trust and mutual trust, you might be the right leader.
• Do you have the discipline to see this through to resolution? Many people might want to lead, but desire does not equate to discipline.  It’s going to take hard work and perseverance to see it through.  If you have a track record of being able to assemble the right people, gain consensus upon a set of guiding principles, manage a successful implementation of the agreed upon solution, and help the team celebrate the win, you might be the right leader.

Tomorrow I’ll tackle step two:  Assemble the Right People.

One of the greatest challenges that came from our church going multi-site a few years ago was the organizational tension.  When we moved from a traditional hierarchy to a matrix organizational structure, we positioned ourselves for rapid growth.  But with that came confusion and even some tension.  We now have a great Central Support area that is responsible for DNA, curriculum, coaching, standards, procedures, etc.  We also have great Campus Teams that are responsible for relationships and all manners of ministry execution.  This separation of duties works like a charm, except when it doesn’t.

But sometimes it doesn’t work perfectly.  The Central Support staffers have their ideas, believe they know what is best, and fight passionately for maximum influence over ministry decisions.  The Campus Team staffers have their ideas, believe they know what is best, and fight passionately for maximum influence over ministry decisions.  You see where this is going.  Conflict is inevitable, normal even.

In my role, one of the most frequent requests I get is to help clarify which side gets to make the call.  “Who gets the final call on whether a video gets shown?”  “Who gets to decide whether the offering is before or after the message?” “Should our monthly Worship and Communion service be centrally programmed or owned by each campus?”  The subject matter changes, but all these questions are seeking to ask the same general question – “Do I have the authority to make a decision that won’t be challenged or changed?”  It makes a lot of sense.  What folks want is to avoid organizational and relational conflict.  They believe that if a particular decision becomes a black or white matter, with unquestionable lines of authority, then conflict will be avoided.

While that’s sometimes true, most often it’s not.  Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury to live in black and white.  So very little fits into those two extremes.  Instead, I live almost exclusively in the gray, where there is no easy answer.  After all, if it was straightforward, it probably wouldn’t be making its way to me in the first place.

But let me put forth a radical thought – what if our best leadership move is not to avoid the conflict, or even resolve it, but instead to thrive in the midst of it?  If we depend solely upon organizational authority in figuring out the best course of action, we might miss the collaboration that comes out of constructive conflict.  Tensions that arise from the authentic and passionate difference of opinions is not an enemy to an organization.  Instead, those tensions can be our greatest source of innovation, collaboration, trust, and interdependence. When our Central and Campus teams work together toward a common goal, God always shows up.  We get killer solutions, but we also experience genuine Christian community.  And it doesn’t get any better than that.

Our world is not becoming more black and white, only more gray.  If we are going to lead effectively, we need to not only accept the gray, but embrace it with all we have.

Are there areas you lead that are prone to conflict and could those tensions actually benefit your organization?

This morning I was reading an excellent book recently referred to me – “The Hole in Our Gospel” by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision.  As advertised, it is an amazing book and I can feel my heart being molded and shaped by His hands as I continue to read.  Though I’ve yet to finish the book, I highly recommend it. But it reminded me of something that I had read (and forgotten) long ago.

Amy Carmichael was a Christian missionary to India.  The following is a dream, called “Thy Brothers’ Blood Crieth” she had while serving.  This is simply the most disturbing thing I’ve ever read.  I pray it will wreck you, too!

The tom-toms thumped straight on all night, and the darkness shuddered round me like a living, feeling thing.  I could not go to sleep, so I lay awake and looked; and I saw, as it seemed, this:

That I stood on a grassy patch, and at my feet a ravine broke straight down into infinite space. I looked, but saw no bottom; only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled, and great shadow-shrouded hollows, and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth.

Then I saw forms of people moving toward the edge. There was a woman with a baby in her arms and another little child holding on to her dress. She was on the very edge. She lifted her foot for the next step… Then, to my horror, I saw that she was blind. Before I could say anything she was over, and the children with her. Their cries pierced the air as they fell into the inky blackness of the ravine!

Then I saw more streams of people flowing from all quarters. All were blind, stone blind; all walked straight toward the edge. There were shrieks as they suddenly knew themselves falling, and a tossing up of helpless arms, catching, clutching at empty air.  But some went over quietly, and fell without a sound.

Then I wondered, with a wonder that was sheer agony, why no one stopped them at the edge. I could not.  I was glued to the ground, and I couldn’t even yell; though I strained and tried, only a whisper would come out.

Then I saw that along the edge there were sentries set at intervals.

But the intervals were too large; there were wide, unguarded gaps between. And over these gaps the people fell in their blindness, unwarned; and the green grass seemed blood-red to me, and the ravine yawned like the mouth of hell.

Then I saw, like a little picture of peace, a group of people under some trees with their backs turned towards the ravine. They were making daisy chains. Sometimes when a piercing shriek cut the quiet air and reached them, it disturbed them and they thought    it was a rather crude noise. And if one of their group started up and wanted to go and do something to help, then all the others would pull that one down.  “Why should you get so excited about it? You must wait for a definite call to go! You haven’t finished your daisy chain yet. It would be really selfish,” they said, “to leave us to finish the work alone.”

There was another group.  It was made up of people whose great desire was to get more sentries out; but they found that very few wanted to go, and sometimes there were no sentries for miles and miles along the edge.

Once a girl stood alone in her place, waving the people back; but her mother and other relations called, and reminded her that her furlough was due; she must not break the rules. And being tired and needing a change, she had to go and rest for awhile; but no one was sent to guard her gap, and over and over the people fell, like a waterfall of souls. Once a child grabbed at a tuft of grass that grew at the very edge of the ravine; it clung convulsively, and it called – but nobody seemed to hear.  Then the roots of the grass gave way, and with a cry the child went over, its two little hands still holding tight to the torn-off bunch of grass. And the girl who longed to be back in her gap thought she heard the little one cry, and she sprang up and wanted to go; at which her friends reproved her, reminding her that no one is necessary anywhere; “The gap would be well taken care of!”,    they said. And then they sang a hymn.

Then through the hymn came another sound like the pain of a million broken hearts wrung out in one full drop, one sob. And a horror of great darkness was upon me, for I knew that it was “The Cry of the Blood”.

Then a voice thundered.  It was the voice of the Lord, and He said, “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.”

The tom-toms still beat heavily, the darkness still shuddered and shivered about me; I heard the yells of the devil-dancers and weird, wild shrieks of the devil-possessed just outside the gate.

What does it matter, after all? It has gone on for years; it will go on for years. Why make such a fuss about it?  God forgive us!  God arouse us!  Shame us out of our callousness! Shame us out of our sin!