by Sam Brock

You have two things to be happy about—one, you have a team; and two, they are moving. But you also have a problem—how do you stay in front of them? At times their initiative seems to be going the wrong way. You find yourself reacting to the team that you should be leading. As a manager of people, you can categorize what you do to stay ahead of your team in four areas.

Define Direction. Let your team know what their destination is. At times this may involve numbers and square footage, but many times this is a concept or a principle that you are trying to achieve. Define the direction of the improvements you hope to make this year. Define the direction of what projects you’re going to work on. Give your team a look at the big picture. We many times fail to share the big picture with our team, because we are overloaded with all the day-to-day crises.

Predict Needs. Now that you know where you are going, predict what you’ll need to get there. As a leader who serves, taking the time to figure out what people are going to need in six months is very helpful. Doing the work to make sure those things are provided in six months is what gets you ahead of the team.

Widen Bottlenecks. In every ministry there is something that is holding you back. Sometimes because of growth, something that was sufficient two years ago is no longer enough. The widening of bottlenecks is where change is happening in your ministry. You must be involved in the changes of your ministry. A list of possible bottlenecks could include ministry organization, computer system, single telephone line, slow internet connection, vehicles, chairs, electricity, staffing, storage . . . and this is just the list for the last few weeks. The moment you widen one bottleneck, you create another one. It is part of your every-day job to help your team widen bottlenecks. A good exercise for your staff team is to brainstorm on the perceived bottlenecks of the ministry. This becomes a nice way of saying, “I could get more done if my leader could serve me by . . .”

Remember Details. Tons of details are coming your way; figure out how to remember and deal with them. Just because you are the leader does not mean you can avoid getting involved in the nitty gritty. Think of the ministry that Joseph had. He shared the meaning of Pharaoh’s dream and immediately was installed to deal with it. He defined direction for all of Egypt. He predicted needs that would occur in seven years and began to work on those problems immediately. When he noticed bottlenecks, he dealt with them (e.g., building more barns). Joseph was second in command in Egypt, yet he was still involved in the details when his brothers showed up.

The most common problem we have as leaders is that we pick one of these areas, and we get stuck there. We have so much to do in that one spot that we never do the other three. Do you find yourself gravitating to one of these jobs and ignoring another area? Get ahead of your team by defining direction, predicting needs, widening bottlenecks, and remembering the details.