Breaking out of the ivory tower …

When the hit show “Undercover Boss” first previewed, I commented about it in a previous blog. In recently reviewing the show, I saw that my first impressions remain true about many business leaders: they lead from an ivory tower.

The most consistent issue among the different executives on the show is there is a huge disconnect between their company leadership and the employees in the field (the people actually conducting business with customers).

Episode after episode tells the story of leaders who are discovering what it really takes to perform the work of their business for the very first time (often after they have been in their position of leadership for years). Even worse, it tells the story of leaders who are meeting their most important employees — “frontline” employees — for the very first time.

Most of the episodes show CEOs, COOs, and other key leaders who are deeply impacted by the real life stories of the people they are supposedly “leading.” These leaders learn for the first time how great and deep their company’s “human capital” really is. They finally realize the greatness of the organization doesn’t originate from the ivory tower, but from the work these blue collar workers are accomplishing every day.

There is a similar “ivory tower” disconnect within many churches, especially among medium-sized and large churches. “Ministry” often becomes considered the work of pastoral teams and their “production teams” who love to exercise their creativity and brainstorm what ministry is for their local church body. Then they convey this message to the congregation, which is expected to actually execute the work of ministry as crafted by the leaders.

The problem is, these church leaders often have as great a disconnect with the people they’re supposed to be leading as do the CEOs on “Undercover Boss” when they lead from the church office rather than from relationship with the people.

Church leaders need to make building real, intimate, informative relationships with the people they lead to be so important it comes only after their relationships to Christ and their own families. Leaders need to be in the homes of the people they lead, not only hearing the real stories of their people, but seeing it and being a part of it.

Without a real understanding of the lives of the people they lead, how can church leaders accurately plan how to execute ministry from their local church body? It becomes a theoretical exercise where a team of leaders saddle congregations with their own dreams without an understanding of what their people really are capable of, how they have been gifted by God, and what truly could be accomplished by the lives of people they know intimately.

I observed a pastor of a large church in a Western state who had the habit of meeting with people at a local cafe every morning. Often, these people were other staff members or key leaders in the church. But this pastor thought he was learning a lot about people by getting out of the office and having this one-on-one time. I think the effort was a start, but there’s far more you learn sitting across a dinner table from a family in their own kitchen or dining room. When you sit in the home of a family, with their kids crawling all over you, their dog sniffing at you, their broken-down car in the driveway, and you see their hopes, fears, and realities for yourself, their stories become a real part of your life.

It will change your leadership!

That’s because you’ve broken out of the ivory tower and have become a family member to those you lead. In the church, regardless of what your title may be, you’re also a brother or sister in Christ’s family. You really are family! And when you understand your family through personal relationship, you will lead them better.

Scotty