This may sting a little...
Part of my morning rhythm is listening to Todd Henry's Daily Creative podcast. It is a quick hitting podcast (three minutes or so) that gives me something to chew on throughout the course of my day. Most days, I come away with a helpful insight that I can chew on. Then there were days like today... when I wanted to throw my phone across the room: Declaring Undesirables:
If you don't have two minutes to listen to the podcast, here's the bottom line:
Are you making promises that you may not be able to keep? Are you offering things that you can’t deliver? If so, you might be losing the trust of the people you count on.
As church leaders, we do this all the time. Thinking back over the course of my pastoral career, I have lost count of the number of times that I have said "we should have lunch," "I'd like to hear more about that," or promised to deliver something by a certain time... only to forget about the commitment I made or totally miss the deadline.
The truth is, every time we make a promise that we can't deliver on we impact the culture of our church and our team. People begin to realize that you can not be counted on to follow through on your promises and it becomes culturally acceptable to miss deadlines and make undeliverable promises. This impacts your credibility as a leader, and hurts the reputation of your church.
Next time you find yourself about to make a promise, stop and think. Ask yourself three questions:
- Do I intend to follow through on this?
- Do I have the capacity to deliver on this promise?
- Is this promise being made intentionally?
If you answer no to any of these questions, you may want to question your motivations.
