I ran across this post from November 2008, loved the practicality and decided to rebirth it.
How far can you see?
It has been said that leaders can see farther than those they lead, but do we?
I was in a meeting yesterday with my Pastor and he showed an incredible ability to see far into the future. He had such a great view of the next few years, that it made some of the more immediate decisions easier to navigate.
As a leader do you tend to only look at the near future? Do you/can you see farther into the future? How do you articulate that to the people you are leading? When do you let them in on it?
My observations:
Reasons we can’t see very far into the future
1. We haven’t spent time with The Father. He sees it all. The more time I spend with Him, it’s quite possible I’ll get a clearer picture of what He’s up too.
2. We aren’t planning to be here that long. As the statistics of pastors and youth pastors tenure grows shorter and shorter it’s harder to make plans much beyond 12-14 months.
3. We aren’t organized. The more organized I become, the farther I’m looking into the future. It’s a natural by-product.
4. We don’t take the time to look. I have to have a day every month or so that I pause from the busy-ness of my normal routine. Those days I do 2 things. I reflect and project. I got this from my former pastor. Once a year we made a presentation to the whole church called, “Reflections and Projections”. We looked back to highlight wins and in that context presented the future. It was time consuming to plan and pull off, but well worth it.
How can you improve your ability to see the future?
