Getting the job done

I had a very interesting conversation this afternoon with a colleague from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. We had been talking about coaching - not sports coaching but coaching leaders in Christian ministries. Someone else in the group had just said that in 'relational societies' (as contrasted with task orientated societies) it is impossible to get leaders to set goals and keep to them. Over coffee afterwards, Ruslan (not his real name for security reasons) suggested to me that that was rubbish - relational people have many goals, they just don't look like goals to task orientated people because they are not 'task' goals, they are 'relational' goals. Interesting!

As we talked we came to agree that in some societies we set our task goals, our speadsheets, our outcomes, etc. and then as we get going in the business venture, or whatever it is, we begin to form relationships which in the end can become very strong relationships. In other societies, however, we set relational goals - I really want to get to know that guy, I would love to spend more time with her, I could learn a lot from that person, etc. and then as we begin to work on the relationships we discover things we could do together, a business (or a mission or a church) is born and before we know it all sorts of 'task goals' have been achieved simply because some folks enjoyed spending time together.

So ... tasks that build relationships, or relationships that get tasks done - does it matter? Either way the job gets done. The question we parted on and did not answer was, "Did Jesus have "realtional" or "task" goals in his ministry?"

Leadership and power - Nigeria and Britain

I connected with two great guys yesterday who I used to work with in the '80s. Ken is now Bishop on the Niger (Nigeria) where he has a couple of years left to serve before retirement. He is also chair of the Church of Nigeria Missionary Society (part of Faith2Share) so we had business to do. The more interesting part of the conversation however was about leadership in a Nigerian culture. Ken has a great vision for the real potential of lay leadership in the church in Nigeria, but (outside his own diocese where he is 'king') constantly comes up against rampant clericalism. He as a Nigerian and I as a Brit. were trying to analyse how much of that style of leadership - bishop/knight/chief - is cultural (and perhaps even appropriate) and how much is simply human power games. No answers but a good discussion.

Then in the evening Bob rang. He was Dean (big boss) of a cathedral in the UK and at Christmas decided to step down from all that and find a humbler way to serve. Risky - he doesn't have a job yet - but a great witness to those who see promotion and titles as the ultimate objective!