EAST TO WEST FOOD FOR THOUGHT & PRAYER[“east to west” is one of the charities Runnymede Deanery has worked with for many years, providing support workers with a Christian background for some local schools and hospitals.]
November Musings To me, November feels like the darkest of months. October feels autumnal, December has Christmas and January offers glimpses of a new year ahead. But November, as a month, needs brightening up with the lights of Diwali and the fireworks and bonfires of Guy Fawke’s Night…which were traditionally topped with unflattering effigies of world leadership figures as people made their feelings clearly known. But what’s behind that bonfire tradition? We will all be aware of Guy Fawkes and his plot to assassinate the king during the persecution of Catholics in the 1600s. To this day, there is still a sectarian history to our re-enacted celebration pyres and burning of effigies. Whilst the symbolism and meaning have been largely lost what remains is the remembrance of the actions of a desperate group of people, persecuted for their faith and willing to do something dramatic to instigate change. Thankfully, today we are more welcoming and inclusive of cultures, creeds and denominations. As we continue to explore our motivations in leadership, maybe we should bear this historical lesson in mind, as we look to work and operate in ways that include, not divide?
Exploring Leadership Motives Last month I introduced the concept that motivation is a strong influencing factor in people’s leadership style. I highlighted the two key motivating factors – reward-centred and responsibility-centred – and asked to explore yourself for which was your dominant motivating trait. [We didn’t have a Deanery Newsletter last month but you can find Dan’s article here. – Ed.] This month I thought that it was important to dive a little deeper into how these motivation styles are outworked, so that we can begin to assess each based on its merits and faults. Many of us categorically write off the notion of reward-centred leadership as being the antithesis of what it means to be a Christian and by proxy a Christian leader, thinking that we should summarily be called towards a responsibility-centred approach. However, I’m hoping that by addressing the pro’s and con’s of both we’ll begin to see the traps in that conclusion that could have us working against our own motivation, rather than with it. As a child, I loved drama and acting. The opportunity to share a character on stage and hear the audience applaud was something I quickly began to crave. I remember aged about 8 or 9, playing Charlie Bucket in a school production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the audience calling for an encore. It was like an addiction had been created. As I grew older, I lost sight of what I’d loved as a child. By the time I finished my A-Level Theatre Studies, I’d lost so much interest that I ended up with an ‘N’ grade (for “nearly good enough for an E”!). In short, I’d become reward centred – my desire for the crowd’s approval – and I’d lost sight of my own personal responsibility to deliver the best I could be. Someone became more important to me than something…in this case, myself. I’ve come to realise, as I’ve gotten older, that I actually prefer to be out of the limelight and whilst I can still stand up front and talk about the work we do at east to west, my motivation has changed and I’m much happier highlighting the amazing work of others. One of the other lads on my A-Level Theatre Studies course, Oliver, was a very similar character to me – with one clear difference. He spent his time doing two things: Firstly, he would do all he could to ensure he was the best he could be. He would know his lines, know other people’s lines and constantly think about stage directions, ensuring the audience got the best experience they could have. Secondly, he ensured that everything he did enabled others to shine. His performances brought out the best in others. His critiques were challenging but ringed in kindness and encouragement, and his appetite for learning was voracious. When his group did their exam piece, everyone in his group scored highly…except him. The moderator’s remark was that he clearly had ability but it didn’t feel like he was pushing himself. And yet, everyone else in that class knew that without Oliver their performance piece could have been a disaster. And Oliver’s response? “It’s great everyone did so well”…said with total sincerity and without a hint of irony, sarcasm or resentment. In a nutshell, here we have the two different motives for leadership played out. In my case, the draw of the crowd and their responses were key. When these faded and stopped, so did my desire to be involved. In the case of Oliver, his motivations were people…helping them grow and get better, and ultimately, to a place where they were able to outshine him. It’s a testament to the boy that he chose to celebrate their success over his. I was living for the now, he was living for the tomorrow… So, what does that mean for us today? Leadership is a tough place to be… As Harry S. Truman famously remarked, ‘The buck stops here!’ In essence, responsibility starts and finishes with the leader and this is often a lonely and difficult place. Growing projects or organisations, building culture can be a thankless and unending job, and the desire, energy and passion to keep doing it can quickly wane. If our sole motivation as leader is to accumulate wealth, further our societal status or reputation, while ignoring the hard stuff and focusing on whatever prickles our interest, then our leadership is doomed to fail. We’ll burn out quickly, become ineffective and remain in post not for the benefit of others but because we aren’t prepared to give up what we’ve ‘earned’. All this then taints and tarnishes the work we’ve done to get us to this point. In my introduction I talked about the darkness of November and the need to bring light into this darkness. I also highlighted how we’ve become blinkered to what is at the heart of the bonfire night celebrations – the persecution of a group of people. It is so easy to have blind spots and we need to be willing to both allow people to speak into our lives when there are blind spots and do so for others. It wasn’t until I opened that A-level envelope that I realised that for me the reward had become more important than the responsibility. It had become a blind spot for me… Over the coming weeks, there may be value in speaking to someone you trust, to see whether your motivation for leading (or in fact, involvement at any level) has become a blind spot for you…and if it has, talk through what (if anything) you’re going to do about it…
East to west Online Advent Calendar
And as always, east to west would appreciate our prayers as well. • Ant who heads up east to west, and for his family – eldest son Oli in his first year at university; wife Rachel who works as an infant schoolteacher; son Harry (year 11) in the middle of his GCSE mocks and Zach (year 8) Please thank God for: • The continued opportunity for the east to west EMERGE team at St Peter’s Hospital to support young people and their families during the November lockdown. This is such an encouragement to Eliz and her team of fantastic volunteers. |