Grey Leadership

Have you ever found yourself frustrated with all the decisions you have to make as a leader?
 

I think we would all agree that there is little about life that is easy to navigate. We face decisions, tough decisions every single day. And as leaders you not only face your own decisions, but you navigate the decision-making for your entire team.

I'm a bit of a leadership junky and one of the things that I'm really passionate about is acknowledging that leadership is really tough. Leadership is messy. It's not black & white. It's not always clear. It's exceptionally grey.

If you're anything like me, sometimes you find yourself frustrated with the complexity you face. Couldn't it be easier for just one day? Could I please have a day where I didn't need to make a decision?

Ever found yourself saying (or at least thinking) things like that?

But let me challenge you with this:
If all of life were clear shades of black and white – if there were no decisions to be made, no problems to be solved – there would be no need for leaders.

That's the game-changing reality for us as leaders.

The very purpose of leadership is to navigate the shades of grey that we find ourselves, our organization, & our staff facing. Leaders emerge most prominently when things are confusing and chaotic.

Confusion always hinders momentum. And as leaders momentum is one of the things that we need to most passionately protect. A leader's job is to make sense of confusion. To provide clarity and to create a clear next step for those you lead. Your job is to navigate the grey.

One of my favorite visionary leaders in the Bible is Nehemiah. I bet you're familiar with the story. In a nutshell, Nehemiah leads the Jews to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem that had lain in shambles for years.

I'm sure you're familiar with the story, so let me just hit the high points of how Nehemiah navigated the shades of grey.

1. He identified what was grey. Jerusalem's wall lay in ruins and those ruins symbolized a lack of hope, a lack of strength and a lack of direction for God's people.
2. He prayed for a vision for the future. He prayed for clarity so that he could lead others through the rebuilding of the wall.
3. He stepped confidently into it. He rallied the troops. He created a plan and he pushed forward toward the vision He believed God had given him.

When we fully embrace this reality. When we recognize that grey is where we live, it changes how we approach our leadership. We don't see grey as a frustration. We see it as an opportunity.

Leading in shades of grey is all about seeing through the chaos and casting a compelling vision to take people through it.

What grey leadership issue are you facing?

Let me challenge you to do as Nehemiah did...

Identify it. Pray through it. And step confidently into it!