Simplify

Leadership Straight from Bill Hybels Simplify There are some things you work on non-stop to simplify. There are other things you have to look at and say, "Wait. This does not warrant simplification. This is really complicated. We really have to live with complexity and embrace it for what it is. About half of what we do globally is really, really complicated. We are in 245 church-to-church partnerships. In other words, we have partnerships with 245 churches in under-resourced places around the world. Some of what our church partners are facing in their specific under-resourced community is multifaceted and evil. The river that they need to drink from is polluted. The factory a mile away is spewing poisonous gas into their village. There is no employment and the roads are bad. We go in there with our helping hands. You go in and they say, "Well, if you could clean up the river. If you could stop the company that is dumping the fumes on our village. If you could build a road. We do not want you to paint a fence with your youth group. We want you to help us resolve some of these very difficult, community-oriented problems that we have no power, we have no voice. We need some lawyers, these kinds of things. In church work, I like to figure out what is unnecessarily complicated. There are certain things in every church that become bureaucracies. And they drive people crazy. I am always saying, "What do you see around here that is insane? Does anyone see any tell tale sign of insanity? Because does anyone want to live with it? No. I do not either." Every time you find anything that has a shadow of insanity about it has to go. Let's bring it to the table. Let's solve it. Simplify it immediately. Then I say, "What else is around us that is exceedingly complicated and we need to call it such?" I go back and forth trying... Part of what you do... Remember Max DePree said, "A leader has to define reality." You have to walk into some situations and say, "Everyone stop. You are over complicating this. Stop! Let's say 'yes' and 'no' and move on." One of my favorite things in meetings in the last couple of years as we are 'batting' things around and everyone is 'weighing' in and I say, "Hey, let's decide something right now. We could decide something right now." In a collaborative environment, you wonder who gets to do that. And you state, "That would be us. We are the executive team of the church. We can decide something right now." I like to do that. Then I also like to define reality and say, "Hey, we are no where near being able to come to a decision right now. Do you understand that? We are weeks away from a decision on this. If you think I am about to call the vote, I am a long way from calling the vote." You have to keep defining reality on these kinds of things all the time.