Toying With Leadership


Recently I grabbed onto a fun book, Toy Box Leadership by Roy Hunter, Jr. and Michael Waddell (http://www.amazon.com/). I immediately went for an ebay search for a Captain Midnight Decoder ring. I couldn't find a ring, but I did find a variety of other Ovaltine Captain Midnight decoder items.

I figure that a Captain Midnight Decoder Ring is an essential tool for interim ministry. With it we can dial decoder for the answer to the question, "what in the world is going on around here, anyway?" That's fun. But on the other side of Captain Midnight is the reality that the church is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be embraced. That's a quote I use so often that I no longer recall where I read it. Maybe the Apostle Paul?

In a FastCompany web site post (http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/michael-waddell/leadership-lessons/leadership-lessons-presidential-toys), Waddell wondered in writing which toy from childhood would represent the presidential candidates. He posited that a Weebles toy (remember them?) wouild represent John McCain's leadership style (maybe the fact that Weebles made their appearance during the late Viet Nam Conflict era is important?). "Weebles® teach a valuable lesson in endurance – specifically that for the successful leader staying down is not an option. John McCain has endured a multitude of trials and bounced back each time. I bought Weebles for my kids in the 70's and I still remember the ditty, "Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down!"

Waddell suggests that Barack Obama's leadership style is represented by Lite-Brite®. I admit that I had to go to Wikapedia to recall "LiteBrite". Hasbro introduced this toy in 1967 and it consists of little pegs that glow like an LED. When placed on a special grid one's illustration will glow "britely" (?) Lite-Brite® vividly teaches the lesson that to get your message across you have to illuminate to communicate. Obama is a master of crafting and delivering this type of bright, clear message.

Depending on your political stance, you may find another toy to represent this month's electoral choices, I'm sure. What toy would my congregation choose to represent you? What toy would you choose? Some of us are diagnosticians who love to fix churches - that might be the game, Operation. When I fall into my ill advised "super hero" moments, it is Buzz Lightyear for me.
I'm going to go the process direction rather than diagnostic and choose the Slinky. My Dad introduced me the inventor at a Christian Business Man's dinner in Collingswood, NJ. when I was about 10. He was a machinist like Dad. As he worked at his metal lathe he discovered the unique properties of the steel coils that he tooled off the ends of his project. He picked them up and found that if you pulled one end, the rest would follow - even down a slope or stair. I must have been impressed to remember all this 50 years later!

Transitional pastoral leadership is about the process of transition moving over time. Like a slinky our vision will pull the whole forward. If we to to fast, however, the rest may resist and sling forward in momumental finger snapping pain.

Take some time to "toy" with your leadership and let the world know in a response to the ShortStop Blog.

Bob Anderson
Interim Executive Presbyter
Pittsburgh Presbytery
901 Allegheny Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15233

My personal mission statement is that I will live my life in a way that brings hope to those in times of change. Actually, the statement changes slightly every time I write it. Guess my MBTI type!

Of course, what I consider "hope" is often not hopeful for those on the transition journey. When church leadership change occurs, I often observe the "holding on" to how things have been.



Sometimes the hold is a way to honor the last leader - create a legacy for her/him. Other times it appears to be a fearful "grasping" -a "if I let go, nothing will be the same" kind of perspective.



You may experience a number of variations on these themes. On my way to share hope I several times took a painful spill called "fault finding".



I didn't realize that in a tender transition, a simple question like, "tell me about the Christmas Eve Service" is heard as, "Bob hates our service and is going to change it from our beloved tradition. Nothing was broken until he got here." I'm not sure there are easy answers. I do have some ideas based on my experience.

• Be sensitive. The fear is as real as the loss the church experienced. The push back is about protection from more hurt.


• Be positive. Maybe if I had tried, "tell be what you love about your Christmas Eve service may have softened the edge that fed the fear.


• Empty your agenda. If you have a great idea that will "help" these folks, it probably is not a good idea because it is not "their" good idea. That agenda stinks all the way to heaven.


• Listen for the message. As you probe, listen not only to the words but what it is they are saying, "I'm afraid", "don't fire me", "we love the Christmas Eve tradtion, it binds our people as one".

Those are some of my thoughts as I consider my practice of interim ministry - S short stop on the way to God's future.



Bob Anderson