As I was getting out of my wife’s car this morning I noticed she saved one of those little piece’s of papers you get from a fortune cookie. It was in the driver’s side door. You know, that little compartment you can only fit a couple gum wrappers and a pen cap in. It said, “Always trust your gut instinct but never believe that it's enough.” This caught my attention because I'm in the middle of making a big decision at work.
There is no doubt that as a leader you’ll have to step up to the plate and make decisions, hopefully good decisions that keep your organization growing and moving in the right direction. I love my job and I get really excited about the possibility that Jesus is going to use our ministry to change the lives of middle school students. So if you’re like me you cringe at the thought of making a decision that could cause a set back or keep your organization from seeing it’s vision become a reality.
In my job big decisions need to be made on a regular basis. When it comes to my gut instinct the art of collaboration has spared me from making some very unnecessary mistakes. Here are a couple things I learned that could be helpful when pursuing gut instincts in the decision making process.
Collaboration helps communication.
Have you ever been convinced that you have the perfect story to share with a group of people in order for them to understand a specific concept? Then you stand up on stage and you start to tell your story but it sounds nothing like it did in your head and at the part of the story that you thought would be the highlight people just look really confused. I think we all agree that we should have tried to share that story with someone over coffee before we went with our first gut instinct and assumed it would sound great. When you run your ideas by others and talk things out you’re training yourself on how to best communicate what you’re trying to do. Don’t be afraid of others giving you a better illustration, you were just spared from looking like a tool. Never forget that it’s not about you!
Collaboration helps produce a better product.
If you think that a gut feeling is enough to make a decision you could be setting yourself up for failure. If you’re not including the people in the trenches, the ones that make things happen, you miss out on an opportunity to sharpen your ideas and develop a better product.
Collaboration can make your product easier to produce.
When you collaborate people will help you make your ideas become a reality. Just think of all the untapped resources out there. Find the people that are just as passionate about your ideas as you are. Let them help you!
Collaboration gains more support for your product.
When people feel like they are part of making it happen they own it. It’s the difference between renting a house and owning a house. If you want your team to take care of the house like they own it then you should collaborate more often. Rent money disappears but a mortgage is an investment towards ownership. Let the people that care about your ministry/organization just as much as you do give their time and resources towards something they want to invest in. Your organization will thrive with a team of owners!
