Are you living with a high sense of momentum or have you fallen into maintenance mode in your leadership?
Years ago, when I was teaching school, the younger of us would use a term to describe the more senior teachers – hentak kaki. Marching on the spot. Movement without motion. These were seasoned teachers who were just going through the routines of the job without heart or passion or any conviction. They had lost energy, passion or vision. I vowed to myself I will never allow myself to come to that place. And for a leader, maintenance mode is a dangerous thing.
When a leader hits maintenance mode he suffers from boredom, feels unchallenged, let’s opportunities pass him by, settles for good enough, has no more dreams of the future, no longer carries a passionate energy and worst of all he stops looking for God-sized things to happen. He stops praying big prayers. He does not desire for his faith to be stretched.
If you stay there too long it has a negative impact on your ministry or organization. Here are five common dangers when a leader gets stuck in maintenance mode
- It breeds a spirit of complacency among other team members be it staff, core-team members, cell members
- It causes the organization to miss prime opportunities. God may be leading you to walk on water, grow your faith but you are unchallenged. You prefer to stay comfortable
- It causes others to settle for mediocrity
- It reduces fresh movements from the hand of God
- It brings growth to a halt
Now what causes the deadly maintenance mode?
Here are a few questions to help assess what cause us to drift into maintenance mode and some suggestions for finding our way out.
- Is it a spiritual issue? You may be stuck because you’re simply not hearing anything new from God. He led you to the place you are currently serving and when you first arrived you had vision, momentum and inspiration. What do you need to do to get a fresh word from God again?
- Is it a physical issue? If you’re tired, stressed and unable to sleep then your maintenance mode problem may be because you have not enough rest, recreation and reflection. It’s difficult to build organizational momentum when you don’t have the physical energy to move things forward.
- Is it a mental issue? We can get lazy mentally when we are no longer on the cutting edge, not reading, watching others, or learning. Mental laziness can lead to a lack of creativity and innovation. Practice exposing your mind to something stimulating every week to keep your thinking sharp. Read, write, reflect, find a group with whom to bounce ideas.
- Is it an emotional issue? Sometimes as leaders we run so hard and fast that we get emotionally drained and it’s all we can do to maintain our baseline responsibilities. Practice the spiritual disciplines. Read the Word. Reflect. Let God speak to the soul. Pray unhurriedly. This time of quiet reflection will keep you emotionally filled and fuel your creative energies.
- Is it a relational issue? There are times we allow others to drag us into maintenance mode. Make sure you have people around you that challenge you, stretch your faith and thinking and dream about future possibilities with you. And on the flip side make sure you’re not spending too much time with people that drain you.
