The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility… but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross… the downward-moving way of Jesus is the way to the joy and the peace of God”
– In The Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen
If you’ve led a team, you know trying to control everything is the easiest way to fail. You can make a spectacular plan, say all the right things, but when the unexpected happens the plan will fail and everyone will look to you and ask “What now?”
To be blunt, you will micromanage your way into a disaster. Why? Because you’ve shown you don’t value your Soldiers’ input, you don’t care how your Soldiers feel, and you don’t understand your team’s experiences.
So, what do you do? You follow Jesus’ model – humble yourself, follow Jesus’ vision of maturity, and put yourself into a place of servitude, then this is what you will find: Soldiers who want to teach you common sense, Soldiers who have simple and more effective ideas than your own, and Soldiers who will do anything to ensure you are successful.
In the desert of the Army’s National Training Center, I had to stop trying to control things and becoming a note-taker. I had to pull out an easel and paper, ask more questions, shut my mouth, and listen to their thoughts and criticisms. As a result, WE made great plan, WE succeeded, and WE forged a stronger bond.
Jesus and Henri understand that most people, especially Army privates, rarely care about your credentials or degree or your rank. They simply want want to know YOU – here and now without the pretenses. Nouwen, who works at L’Arche facilities for the mentally handicapped, captures this sentiment below:
“These broken, wounded, and completely unpretentious people forced me to let go of my relevant self… and forced me to reclaim the unadorned self in which I am completely vulnerable, open to receive and give love regardless of any accomplishments.”
We must become less focused on your own relevance and more focused on understanding people. As an officer, that may be as simple as serving scoops of peas with a smile on your face, or it may be low crawling through the mud to prove that officers can get dirty too. Whatever the situation, it’s hard to go wrong when you meet people as they are.
So ask yourself, how am I moving downward and meeting people where they are? How am I becoming less relevant and making God more relevant?
