The 4 Things To Consider Before Instituting A New Policy
Early on in ministry I felt that the solution to almost every challenge I faced was to create a policy – That staff member doesn’t reply to email…let’s set a communication policy. Student ministry volunteers are immature…let’s set an age requirement.
Basically, it seemed to me that the easiest way to problem solve was to institute a policy…that way the situation was dealt with once and for all. And in a sense, I was right…policies were the quickest, easiest solution. I could make a blanket rule and avoid having to think about the issue again. Next time something happened, I simply had to appeal to the rulebook and act accordingly.
What I failed to realize, however, is that excellent leaders spend a lot more time in the grey zones. Leadership isn’t straight lines and stark colors…it’s far more serpentine and fuzzy.
As I reflect back on my early and bad habit of policy making…here are some of my key learnings…
Being quick to make policies…
Allowed me to avoid personal responsibility.
Being quick to make a rule caused me to falsely think that I solved the problem, even though I never actually took time to reflect on what happened. Popping out policies hindered me from recognizing and assessing my own poor decisions. By jumping to a broad solution I could avoid personally admitting that I had made a mistake. Rather than admitting personal failure and taking time to learn from my mistakes, I could point to a policy that wasn’t in place and blame the fact that no one had thought to put that standard in place earlier. The truth of the matter was that I had led poorly and often put the wrong people in the wrong position, or failed to equip them as was needed. Great leaders analyze the situation and take responsibility for how they could have led better.
Enabled me to bypass thinking decisions through.
Now I could blindly point to a rulebook rather than boldly leading, casting vision and articulating the “Why.” Brashly establishing new policies allowed me to slack and be a boss who monitors policies, rather than a leader who motivates people. This removed my tendency to assess situations, and instead enabled me to think that simply since I had set a standard then enforcing it must be the best choice.
Made me proud I was treating everyone equally…when I was really just being a poor leader!
As leaders, our job isn’t to treat everyone equally. Leaders are called to leverage people’s unique gifts and skills. Policies blur past people’s talents, hindering a leader from having to think strategically about each team member’s gifts, skills and perspectives. Also, policies miss the fact that often times different standards apply to different people. A leader’s responsibility is to identify and empower people based on their gifts…not set a whitewashed standard. Expectations and rules that may apply to one person on your team may very well not apply to the next person. That’s not being unfair…that’s leading in a person-specific, talent minded, highly responsible way.
Attracted certain kind of people to my team.
The more rules I made…the more I drew rules oriented people. I began to attract people who didn’t know how to dance or flex or bend with the complexities of ministry….people without much intuition or adaptability. I quickly realized I needed a team of flexible people – and that meant listening more to the rhythm than the rulebook.
Certainly there are times for policies. Some things are nonnegotiable and unacceptable and should be clearly stated as such. But, over the years, I’ve discovered that those items are far fewer than I once thought.