Protecting Force - The Big 8

It is a new day, the first day of a new month and I can not believe that 7 of 12 months have already flown by in this year. In June, the Burrier’s went to Wyoming for one of the most incredible experiences of my life. It was absolutely incredible. Through the benevolence of a wonderful father in law, we experienced all kinds of different adventures. Jordan went on her first white water rafting trip.

I could not go (cliff, fall, bottom, healing, therapy – do you know the story?) so I looked at her and her uncles asking them to watch over her. How many kids have died on the Snake River in Jackson Hole, Wyoming? Very few, I am sure so the odds of her returning alive were pretty good. However, if you have children then you clearly understand. Logic does not prevail but rather the protective instinct. My protector duties began when Jordan was born – or at least that’s when I became aware of them – and there is an innate responsibility to protect her and a belief that if I am there the odds are even lower that she will get into trouble.

Just as Jesus Christ went before me in Creation, Perfection and Defeating Death – I am to go before my family and provide a way for them to be safe spiritually and physically. There is no rule book but I need no rule for it is nature for me. I am not to worry and overreact but to provide protection from known dangers using real methods. I did not worry that Jordan would return but I certainly ensured that someone was watching her and prayed for her wisdom, attention and safety should she come out of the raft. Jordan returned – wet, very cold and bigger than life. She is so awesome!

If you are really a leader, you too need no rule book to instruct you to protect those who follow you. The third of the Eight Forces of Leadership is “Protecting Force”.

“The wire [leader] goes before the fishing line so that the line will not be cut by the sharp teeth of the prey (protecting force).”

How true it is that leaders should be ready to protect those that follow them through: 1) preventative measures; 2) shielding them in times of danger; and, 3) by going first to face the challenges. Preventative measures are great protection for followers because they are aware of dangers, solutions, tactics and strategies before they encounter challenge. Leaders are constantly leaving workers in trenches and on jobs wholly unprepared. The work and reputation of the organization suffers and people get hurt. In Christian Leadership, spiritual protection is a huge requirement of the leader and the Bible is full of real stories and real consequences that need to be taught to the followers. Unfortunately, most Christian leaders spend little time mentoring in their highly egotistical and work busy field. Christian Leaders should provide the preventative measures of teaching God’s truths constantly and not promoting too quickly. Classic in the Christian, volunteer driven organization are the perceived needs to “fill slots”, “encourage someone to grow”, or “get people involved”. As a result, people who are not mature, trained, wise or ready are released on the whitewater with neither guide nor uncle only to find themselves discouraged and destroyed by ministry or discouraging or destroying others in ministry. People fall from the heights of a failed spiritual commitment when leaders get them to commit without first educating them on prayer, meditation, doctrine and all of the other basics that support huge spiritual commitment. This could all be prevented if the leader were a proper Protecting Force.

It will always be interesting to me to watch “men and women of God” leave their followers out in the middle of a battlefield with no means of actual protection. The leader should provide the shielding measures of demoting quickly or covering completely. In the example of the follower promoted too quickly, Christian Leaders are scared to get them out of the jobs and leave them and the Church to be sacrificed. This should not be so – Christian leaders can protect people by removing them (no matter how unpopular) before they are destroyed or before they destroy the Church. If the follower is solid, then the leader should completely cover them. It is not that leaders need to baby followers but they certainly should not leave followers without real hands on protection. If a business meeting starts going south, leaders need to be there to raise a shield and repair the situation. If a great employee or follower is getting accused of wrong, the leader should stand for the follower and not bail to save himself. If gossip rises in the organization, the leader should boldly take the hit and fix the problem so that his people are protected from division. Every day,  leaders call people to adventurous living and then when it gets tough they "throw their followers under the bus". These people are not leaders but murderers who for their own selfish reasons claim to lead but really only lead people to slaughter.

There are times when danger will be high. Every leader will most certainly lead his followers some place risky – otherwise he is a manager. There is no shame in management but management is not leading. Leading always pushes people to a new place and new places for followers – even if the leader has been there – can be dangerous. The leader needs to be “on deck” or in the “trench” and ready to take the bite from the fish so that the team can reel him in.  Leaders go first in dangerous times – not last.