Lynch on Leadership: New Year’s Day is mark for measurement. We tend to look at summarizations of the previous term. Reports are generated for various reasons because the turn of the year is a marker. So, leaders should embrace this opportunity to analyze the available data.
Every goal must be measurable to have real meaning. All our behaviors should stand up to scrutiny. Measurements can be both empowering and embarrassing, for sure, but they can also be exciting!
As a leader you make decisions and solve problems. Measurements help you with both these functions. Leaders use judgment to make judgments. This is the aspect of leadership described by Jesus, Paul, and the writers of Scripture in general: God, as a Leaders, makes judgements all the time because He makes decisions and solves problems.
One Biblical term that many believers misunderstand, misuse, and misapply is the term, “judgment.” Without judging little leadership occurs or that leadership short-circuits its designed function and assignment. Beware the tendency to make decisions and leave the problem-solving to someone else: you might “staff your weakness” as a leader – thought I take issue with that style – but you cannot get rid of authority and responsibility; that is, you can’t delegate any leadership away, only expand leadership through the hand-off to other leaders. So, just as God remains the Judge of all the earth because His delegation of leadership doesn’t empty Him of ultimate authority or responsibility, kingdom leaders maintain the level of authority and responsibility they’ve earned.
Judgment is always a good thing while poor judgment really means poor execution of decision-making and problem-solving. The absence of judging is impossible. Avoiding it merely moves the leadership dynamic into the hands of someone who shouldn’t be leading. Giving someone else the job of problem-solving means you’ve given them the reins of leadership. The problem-solver just took over.
Leaders are all assigned to judge. Not ultimately because God hasn’t delegated that authority, but leaders judge at the same level of their authority in the sphere of their assignment. To do less is to short-circuit the flow of God’s leadership strategy. Paul makes it extremely clear to the Corinthian Ecclesia that their leadership assignment requires them to judge, that they will judge angels so they should be able to make decisions and solve problems with respect to believers, that believers shouldn’t be taking their squabbles to the world for judgment when the issues between them are part of the kingdom business that kingdom leaders should judge. That is, matters that are kingdom in scope and dynamics should be dealt with by kingdom leaders, and those leaders function as judges in that scope and dynamic at the level of their leadership assignment.
Jesus says, “Judge not that you be not judged.” Don’t put “judge not” on your refrigerator and make the silly and erroneous claim that Jesus taught us not to judge. Duh. Read what He says before you decide what He means. Stop being victimized by the dysfunction of leadership that the Ecclesia has normalized through inferior leadership strategies substituted for the design and definition of leadership Jesus bestowed upon His Ecclesia. Stop filtering the words of the King through the framework of culture, philosophy, opinion, and religious order. God’s government, rule, or kingdom cannot function in the earth through our redesign and redefinition!
“Judge” means someone is making decisions and solving problems. Someone is leading. Where judgment, like all other usurpations and lack of submission issues, makes a mess is when we attempt to make decisions or solve problems beyond the level and limits of our assignment and leadership.
