Unity, one of the most crucial ingredients to making any plan succeed. If you have everyone believing in the same goal, the same mission and are working together to see it thru to the end, almost anything can be accomplished; even more when you have God's help. But lets get into the mix of what truly makes up this spice called unity. In every good rub you have a mix of spices that makes your steak or burger or ribs more than what they are. Unity is no different. In this mix you have your leader, you have your inner core and you have your followers. The Army is no different, we just know them as Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Enlisted personnel. Separately not one of these ingredients can make up our "rub" and just having only two of them would make it incomplete. But as each has its very own purpose, not one could produce what is needed without the other. But one thing every good cook knows to be certain, you need to have the right mix in order for your special mixture to turn out just right; if you don't your batch turns out too spicy, too sweet or too salty. Too many Officers in our mix and nothing will get done, they are designed to give guidance and direction. Too many NCO's and the Officers will be absolutely ineffective as they WILL take over. Too many Enlisted personnel and nothing will get done as their are not enough people to guide and direct them and make them do work when they just don't want to.
But unity is about more than just working together. It's also about the timing of putting them together. You put them together too soon and one will over-power the other, too late and they will not blend in time to produce the effect your after. So what am I getting after with this whole unity/recipe thing. Try to stay with me...Leaders love to lead, they like to be in charge, just like that really potent ingredient in your rub. They are the ones really pressing to accomplish the mission or the goal desired. But if they are with the other two for too long, pretty soon, the other ingredients will not be allowed to do what they have been designed to do. The result - absolute frustration from the inner-core and the followers. They will feel like they are being looked at and judged constantly for there performance. Soon you will have your NCO's making decisions that they aren't paid to make and because they have greater influence on your followers, the leadership will become ineffective and the end-state will be lost. Now for your NCOs - these guys are like the main bonding agent that keep the bigger more bland ingredient (Enlisted personnel) and the really potent one (the Officers) together when needed but separate until desired. If the inner-core (the NCOs) isn't allowed to provide separation from the other two, they will soon loose their ability to manage the mix and your ability to affect your goal will be lost. Finally your Enlisted, this is the biggest ingredient and comes in many different flavors, how it's doled out will largely affect whether you have a more bold flavor or more of a sweet flavor. A good cook will be able to tell what the right consistency is when mixing this one up and adding it to the other two.
Well, now that I've talked about the dynamics of the recipe, lets talk about the management of it. Nowing when to put it together, how much of each to use, knowing when to take some of it out, but also knowing when to let some of it just...breathe. Jesus understood this aspect of unity like a chef trained at the Cordon Bleu. As a Leader, He would separate Himself from both the inner-core and the followers but knew the exact time when He needed to put Himself into the mix. He also knew when the best time was to take some of the other ingredients out. He had a very keen eye to know when those who could deeply affect His mission, were about to spoil the batch. He spoke or acted in such a way to make them see that they were not going to work at this time but always left them with the feeling or the mindset that they could be very crucial in the future, as long as they did what they were called to do. How many times did Jesus tell someone who wanted to follow Him that they weren't ready, whether it was to tell them a story about making choices or to give them the requirements of what it would take to have them as a part of the plan.
Another thing He allowed for was breathing room. Knowing when it was His time to step in and take control and when it was His time to let His disciples and followers ask questions and vent their frustrations. A wise leaders understands that everyone needs to have the ability to "breathe", in other words, vent their frustrations in their own way separate from each other. This is one thing that the Army has put much stock in and allows for because it has understood the importance of letting Soldiers "breathe". How we accomplish this is by separating the NCOs and enlisted from each other and from the Officers as well. Each has times and places in the group they belong to, to get things off their chest without having the ability to spoil the rest of the mix. This is an extremely important lesson for leaders to learn and understand. Having this ability has saved more plans than it has killed. A good leader understands that your informal leaders have as much if not more influence when gathered together. You've probably seen these people in just about every group. They are the ones who will both challenge authority when orders are handed down, but when properly motivated and allowed their own time and voice to be heard, will be your biggest ally in accomplishing your mission. The biggest issue that leaders have is knowing how mentor these informal leaders so they can be prepared to take over the legacy and continue it. If not properly mentored, these very influential people will cause your plan to fail quicker than you can lay it out.
So, how do we keep this whole mix together, knowing that we have so many dynamics to work with. Well, two parting thoughts to tie this all together:
1. Leaders can influence unity by showing complete faith and confidence in the mission but the followers are the key. The inner-core has the biggest influence in that and they can make or break your plan because of their direct acces to other followers.
2. Unity can be destroyed by anyone from a selfish player on the team to a disgruntled member of your squad or congregation. Leaders and the inner core need to know these people and give everyone a chance to talk about their unhappiness and vent their frustrations (at appropriate times) to make them feel like they have some say in what's going on. Wise leader will allow for time in their organization for formal "complaint" sessions but will also allow followers to gather without leadership present so they can voice their frustration to, if nothing else, get things off their chest without fear of retribution from those that lead. This is healthy and should be allowed and should be expected. Leaders should also have an avenue to vent their concerns without followers present to let feelings out without giving others a feel that things aren't going right and have them loose faith in the plan. This is exactly what Jesus allowed to happen with both the disciples and followers. If you read, you will see that the disciples had times when they questioned amongst themselves but you will also notice that when Jesus had a concern He took it to the appropriate place He had available to Him - God! The magnificence, though, of Jesus' concerns was that He did it in a way that glorified God asking that His will be done; even when He knew that the odds were against US. This is what truly helped Him make the sacrifices He had to make, when he had to make them; in order to have the unity needed to continue His legacy thousands of years after He sacrificed himself for us.
This entry was posted
on 18 April 2009
at 17:05
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