Leadership On Location
For more than 35 years, I’ve had the opportunity to teach a Sunday School class. In decades of working with teenagers, I’ve learned a thing or two about engaging an audience. One lesson that I’ve seen work both in the boardroom and the classroom is something I call, “Leadership on Location.”
The concept is pretty simple; as a leader you have to be willing to go anywhere a lesson takes you. Sometimes that means sitting in a classroom or a meeting to focus on the task at hand, but other times that means taking things off road.
A few weeks ago, I had the chance to go “on location” with a couple of Seniors in high school. I was invited by Fox Business to come down to the television station and watch them profile Chick-fil-A. I’m still fascinated by how the media works and I wanted to share that fascination with a few young men from my Sunday School class.
Taking them inside the studio, showing them the behind the scenes technology that makes a show run flawlessly was an incredible learning opportunity.
When you go “on location” you exponentially open up the world for the people you lead. You show them new experiences and new ideas and redefine what’s possible. You make the planet a little bit bigger.
You can also use an “on location” environment to help people set goals. Stephen R. Covey, who wrote the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” said that it’s always good to “begin with the end in mind.” That’s why I once took my whole Sunday School class to a funeral home. We were kicking off a new series at church and given that a funeral home is an eventuality, I wanted to use that location to raise some questions:
- What does having the end in mind say about sharing our faith?
- How short is life really?
- Are my calendar and my values truly aligned?
In a few minutes of sitting there in that funeral home you could see those questions popping up in the hearts and minds of every single student.
I could have raised those questions in the classroom. I could have written them on a piece of paper and handed them out. But being on location made them stick. Being on location made those questions 3D. Being on location changed those questions from a life lesson into a life experience.
And that’s why I always try to find ways to develop leadership on location.
How do you lead on location?
This post is categorized Lead and tagged Leadership on Location
Dan I always appreciate your short notes on loving, living, & leading..thank you for taking the time to share..
Thanks Steve! Glad you enjoy it. I’d love to hear any insights you have into living, loving, and leading well.
Hmmm, I’d be interested to hear more about your point asking, “Are my calendar and my values truly aligned?” A follow up post perhaps?
I got the idea from Tim Elmore but we took our student leadership team through a local grave yard to push the point home about what are we living for, is it worth dying for, and our priorities.
Also, I love giving college students a glimpse into family life – invite them to go run family errands, eat a home cooked meal, hang out with us as we put our boys to bed. All of these activities are with us. It is fun to see their family perspective grow and develop.