New Leader? Prepare to Screw Up

Last Thursday night’s episode of The Office where Jim began his position as co-manager was brilliant to the point of personal.  It hit home to me because I saw a lot of what happened to him as a reminder of my year in a position of leadership in college.  For those who missed it, Jim went from being a favored colleague to the sales staff to a manager struggling between direction and maintaining good morale overnight.  If you’ve recently become a leader, prepare for this to happen to you, and prepare to screw up.

I often think of my year as a student leader of a campus ministry as one of the most difficult, most challenging, and most beneficial years of my life.  The year leading up to my presidency in this ministry was totally awesome.  I got along great with just about everyone who came through the doors.  I took on a position as Communications Leader and continued to grow into that role really well, having fun doing it.  I was also drastically maturing as a disciple, and life was just good.  The year ended with me answering God’s call to become President the following year.  That’s when things began to change.

I was excited about what the next school year would bring.  I have a visionary mind, and there were a lot of ideas floating around in it; a lot of things I knew would work because, after all, they’re visions.  Right?  This was about to the best year ever.  Right?  Well, it would’ve been had I done more letting go and worked with the team of awesome people God had given me.  Instead, my downfall as President was that I always wanted the final say to be MY final say.  Not healthy at all!  In retrospect, the previous year sure would’ve been horrible had I not gotten to pitch in ideas to the President at the time.  Yikes!

I can’t pinpoint one thing about that year and call it the root of all my screw-ups.  However, a main factor was the self-induced pressure I was putting on myself to be the best leader possible.  I wanted to stay on top and sound like I knew the best way to go at all times.  When I became President, I didn’t remain a member of the team . . . I somehow became a guy who felt he had to prove something, and someone whose ideas should take precedence always.  At the risk of sounding corny here, I will say that “president” does not equal “precedence.”  We’re all in this together.

Hopefully Jim will find his way in upcoming episodes of The Office.  More importantly than a written TV show, hopefully you will find yours with those you are leading.  Yes, prepare to screw up, but don’t give up examining yourself and growing from your mistakes.  God is there with you every step of the way.