Long Short
(Note: This blog is the second of a two part series. Click Here to read part one.)
Last month I shared on the potential growth and development we can capitalize on when we are squeezed by pain, pressure and change. Just like squeezing a lemon reveals what is actually on the inside, these three “squeezes” have a way of bringing out our greatest weaknesses. I shared the embarrassing story of when I tried to usurp the authority of our worship team leader during a practice one week after my patience had been squeezed and I, out of weakness, acted out as if running practice my way was more important than maintaining unity in the team. This month we continue the conversation as we explore the other lesson I learned that night at the practice: aligning actions with vision.
Unacceptable Leadership
According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Americans spend more than $15 billion on corrective eyewear each year. When your safety and effectiveness at everyday tasks depends on your ability to see objects that are far away, clear vision is a must (#2020vision). Yet while we “clearly” see the need for good vision, we as leaders often fail to revere the sacred burden of clarifying our vision for our people and then acting in accordance with that vision. How sad it is that we so strongly value the ability to read road signs yet when it comes to nurturing our vision for our people, we quickly accept mediocre nearsightedness. I know that this is far too common, as is evidenced by how I exchanged the vision of team unity for one of team control. Nearsighted leadership is understandable but it is not acceptable. Perhaps that comes off as harsh to some, but is it really? After all, we are talking about the difference between floundering and thriving! The world needs effective leaders and organizations too much to allow nearsighted leadership to become acceptable.
“Nearsighted leadership is understandable but it is not acceptable.”
Short vs. Long
This tension between clarity and nearsightedness is often described with the metaphor of playing “short game” vs. “long game”. These terms are often used to explain whether our actions are supporting what feels right in the moment or what we know will help take us where we ultimately want to go. Why, you might ask, is this a problem? When we hear these two compared to each other, it seems obvious that the wise and effective leaders should remain focused on playing long game rather than short game. So what keeps us from doing so?
The answer is delayed gratification. We hate it. Put a bowl of candy in front of a child and ask them to wait to eat the candy for five minutes in order to get even more candy and you’ll see what I mean. Our desire for the pleasure we receive from saying or doing what feels right in the moment seems almost overpowering. We want gratification and we want it NOW! My friends, this is a ticket to the Minor League short game and I guarantee that is not where any leader should play. In the short game, players might play with the passion, speed, and strength of elite athletes. The only problem is they don’t even know how to win the game. When I tried to take control of our worship team practice that night, I was charged and ready to knock it out of the park on Sunday morning! You might say I scooped up the ball and threw it as hard as I could, thinking that my intensity and drive would win the game. It’s just that I threw it in the wrong direction. You see I live for the high that efficiency gives me. Unfortunately, this desire for efficiency can often suffocate my relationships. For example, when I’m playing short game as a leader, I tend to treat conversations like cold showers: they’re uncomfortable and should be finished as soon as possible. At worship practice that night, my addiction to efficiency was insatiate. I CRAVED the feeling of being efficient and I tricked myself into thinking that that feeling would be the best thing for our team. I was playing short game. If the practice had been a game of chess, I would have just sacrificed our team’s king for the opponent’s pawn.
“In the short game, players might play with the passion, speed, and strength of elite athletes. The only problem is they don’t even know how to win the game.”
Grab a Jersey
If you are a leader, you signed on to play long game. Congratulations! Now grab a jersey because this isn’t a game…I mean it is… you get what I mean. Playing long game as a leader means ignoring the bait of easiness and pursuing the prize of excellence. It means fighting to maintain the culture you have worked so hard to cultivate when everything within you begs you to satisfy your thirst for a quick “win fix” by taking out a pawn because pawns are easy and killing them makes you feel good.
“Playing long game as a leader means ignoring the bait of easiness and pursuing the prize of excellence.”
When I was in high school, I discovered in Mr. Neff’s geometry class that I couldn’t read the notes from the back of the room and needed glasses. Sometimes our unaided vision as a leader is insufficient for the task we are given. In the same way that I was forced to admit my need for tools that helped me pass geometry, leaders also need tools to help communicate and adhere to their vision. To assist you in delaying your personal gratification as a leader in order to strengthen the goals and objectives of your people, check out these three simple steps to help you increase your effectiveness.
Paint the Win
If you start playing a game of chess without knowing that the objective is to kill the king, winning is unlikely. However, unlike playing chess, world changing leaders get to decide for themselves the objective of their game! To do so, you must first ask yourself what winning (or in other words “effectiveness) looks like for you and your people. How many customers could your business serve? What is the best culture you could imagine for your family? In what ways would the world be better if you operated at the peak of your abilities? (If you’d like more help on how to write a vision and mission statement, you might want to read this previous blog .)
Work Backwards
Once you have “painted the win” to yourself and your people, it’s time to work backwards. Some master chess players are able to think ahead 15-20 moves! In the same way, we must learn to see our “checkmate” and then work our way backwards step by step until we find ourselves in the present. Whether you want your business to have the most hits when customers google “electricians near me” or you want your family to live in harmony with one another, you must start with that end objective and then work through each necessary step that will take you there. To help you with this process, start by filling in the blanks in the following statement:
In order to (INSERT GOAL), I/we must first (INSERT OBSTACLE TO GOAL).
Once you’ve done this once, you then continue this process over and over until you have clarified all of the steps you will need to take and the order in which you will need to take them to achieve your objective. By working backwards, leaders can systematically lay out each move they will need to take in order to win whatever game they have decided to play.
Sacrifice the Pawn
I love challenging authority. It’s the best. It’s probably because what I lack in tact I more than make up for in tenacity (that’s a nice way of saying I am a bull in a china shop). Yet after many painful life lessons from teachers and bosses, I’ve finally started to realize that not every battle is worth fighting. Just like a good general knows which fights are worth fighting, leaders must be willing to “sacrifice the pawn” when it is necessary to achieve the ultimate objective of a check mate. While I might have felt that forcing my own hard style of leadership during that worship practice was critical for our team to be successful, wisdom would have said that protecting our team unity was worth the sacrifice of not leading my way. If I had been playing long game, I would have seen that the value of a team where authority was respected and supported by other leaders (aka: “yours truly”) far outweighed the value of man-handling the practice so that it went the way I wanted it to.
“Just like a good general knows which fights are worth fighting, leaders must be willing to “sacrifice the pawn” when it is necessary to achieve the ultimate objective of a check mate.”
Winning the Long Game
If you are a leader, I want to congratulate you: you made the team! Now it’s up to you to decide which field you and your team will play on. I admit, the short game field is a lot easier. Practice is a piece of cake or non-existent, you don’t have to run drills, and there’s no incessant reminders of plays and strategies by the coach (which is you by the way). If letting your team play by any rules they want while they pick their nose and run after squirrels is more your type of game, have fun! But if you’re serious about maximizing the effect of your influence on your people and the world around you, you’d better double knot those cleats.