Listen to Insight

 Welcome to another week of the Transformation Leadership Series (TLS). Today we will look at a leadership lesson from the animal kingdom specifically from the Geese. A goose is a large waterbird with a long neck, short legs, webbed feet, and a short broad bill. The plural of “goose” is “geese” much like the plural of “tooth” is “teeth”. Many leadership books and schools have developed lessons from the flying patterns of these birds but today, I will not refer to them. Instead I will quote a lesson from the founder of MorningStar University, Rick Joyner, from his seminal work, “A Prophetic Vision for the 21st Century: A Spiritual Map to Help You Navigate Into the Future”, after which we will see how it applies from scripture. The lesson has to do with the relationship between leaders and followers in attaining goals and how to avoid burnout while accomplishing goals

A lesson from the Geese

“One of the great leadership lessons in nature is found in migrating waterfowl such as geese and ducks. They fly in V formations because the lead bird creates a draft that makes flying easier for those who follow closely behind. However, since the lead bird is working so hard cutting through the air, it will only stay on the point for a while; then it will drop back to the end of the formation to rest. This rotation allows the birds to share the burden of leadership, and they all benefit from the draft when others are leading. If a bird refused to give up this leadership position at the proper time, it would slow down the whole flock. Those who give up their position at the proper time will have a chance to rest while following in the wake of others, enabling them again to assume the point at another time. Seldom in church history has any leader been on the cutting edge for more than a few years. For a leader to give up leadership is difficult. We can see a clear demarcation point in the lives of those who refuse to do this; at that point they stop going forward and start attacking those who are still moving ahead.” The author adds, “Getting to the destination is the goal of the flying geese, not being honored as the point bird. Whenever our own position becomes a goal in itself, we will become a hindrance to the advancement of the church. A leader can have great influence and control other people long after he has lost the true anointing for spiritual leadership. King Saul certainly did.” The strategy of the geese eliminates an occurrence known as leader burnout.

Burnout

Leaders sometimes experience burnout. According to the Jun 21, 2018 edition of the Harvard Business Review, “A five-year study in the UK found that the mental health of 20% of the top-performing leaders of UK businesses is affected by corporate burnout.”[1] The Feb 2, 2018 edition of the same magazine, states that “A recent study conducted by our center at Yale University, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, in collaboration with the Faas Foundation, has cast doubts on the idea of engagement as a purely beneficial experience. This survey examined the levels of engagement and burnout in over 1,000 U.S. employees…[T]he data also showed that one out of five employees reported both high engagement and high burnout.^[2] But what is burnout?

“Burnout has been identified as a complex psychological syndrome comprised of three dimensions: (a) emotional  exhaustion,  (b)  depersonalization,  and  (c)  reduced  personal  accomplishment  (Maslach  & Jackson,  1986).  When they  experience burnout,  leaders  emotionally  decompress,  distance themselves from others, and have difficulty functioning normally. Additionally, stress and burnout have been found to adversely affect physiological health including heightened blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and risk of heart disease (Swenson, 2002)... The first component  of burnout,  emotional exhaustion, is caused  by excessive work demands that drain emotional resources”.^[3]

Drawing from the V formation flight habits of the geese, one reason why some leaders experience burnout or fail at effective succession planning is simply the unwillingness or inability to give up the point or leadership spot—elevating position above goal/destination. This scenario is never good as explained in scripture. Let us consider the case of Moses’ leadership.

The Wisdom Of God Through Jethro

When he had to become judge  over Israel, he was faced with a leadership challenge which if not addressed could have resulted in his own burnout. Moses married a woman of African origin. His father in-law visited him and saw how in verse 13, Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people. The people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?” Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.” Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied. Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

Conclusion

In Exodus 18 we see God using an African to teach leadership and  governance of the newly liberated Israelites (Exodus 8:13-27). In this story, we see leadership principles such as division of labor, delegation of authority, load sharing, sharing a common goal, the vital importance of rest and recuperation, empowering others to lead etc. Barna’s study, published in 2017 as The State of Pastors, is based on surveys of 320,000 church leaders across the spectrum of Protestantism. It found that, “As other careers woo millennials and older generations struggle to hand the baton to younger pastors, the median age of pastors has risen from 44 to 54 over the last 25 years.” Multiple reasons may be cited for the above—one of which is the unavailability of young successors. Another might be as a result of not learning from the geese. Sometimes it is difficult to share or give up the point role even if it is for a season. This is not unlike what happens with certain leaders of nations, who once have tasted power, resist allowing others to come take the baton/scepter of leadership for the next leg of the leadership race.

Moses and the geese teach that leadership influence can be shared leading to the satisfaction of the led.. As Jethro said, “If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” Sharing is win-win for leader and led. Leaders will better handle the strain that leadership imposes and followers shall be happy. They won’t have to wait long periods before being attended to.