"A problem to solve or a tension to manage?" A lesson for the leader in all of us.

A couple of years back I spent some time on a volunteer team that launched a new campus for the church I had been a member of for several years. It was an honor to be included in this dedicated team that came together every week to be a part of a community that had a common purpose and was bringing an Eastside Christian Church campus into a new area of Southern California.

In between services I was able to spend many mornings chatting up my good friend Jeff Swaney. Jeff and I first met in 1985 when I showed up as a 22 year old, brand new Christian to the young adult group at Eastside. Our paths soon took very different directions. Jeff was newly married and, along with his new bride, they were off to Chile' as missionaries. My journey kept me close to home and working in the business my father started. They spent about 7 years in Chile. Fast forward and in the last 10 years or so Jeff and I spent some time traveling the globe with the church and I consider him a mentor and a friend.

Now here we were, like most Sunday's, Jeff and I talking about life issues. For me it was mostly work related. Jeff knew my story. Business. Family. Kids. Jeff always has a golden nugget of wisdom for me. He has decades of Pastoral and Leadership training that I could always lean in on when we had time to visit. One particular Sunday morning I was sharing with Jeff some stories and situations with some of the team at work and he shared this statement with me: "Is this a Problem to Solve or Tension to Manage?". Of course, I needed him to unpack that nugget for me. He shared with me that he learned this concept from author and speaker Andy Stanley. And the essence of this nugget is this: "A certain amount of tension is a natural part of life and business. Tension, managed properly gets things done." This link does a great job of shedding light on this concept: https://www.idoinspire.com/blog/is-this-a-problem-to-solve-or-tension-to-manage

This concept of managing tension literally changed how I ran my business. Prior, I often found myself trying to have a team that I was the person that took in all of the tension and stress. I was doing my best to have a great work environment. What I discovered in digging deeper on the subject is that tension, healthy tension, gives people in the organization just enough push to move the needle and make things happen.

CONCLUSION from Andy Stanley: As a leader, one of the most valuable things you can do for your organization is differentiate between tensions your organization will always need to manage vs. problems that need to be solved.

Dig deeper friends. This is a link to some more information and details on the subject:

https://vialogue.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/leadership-summit-2010-andy-stanley-the-upside-of-tension/

This will be a game changer for some of you.

Do you have problems that need solved or, tensions to manage?

Make it a great day friends.

Brian