It IS my fault...

Pastor Furtick posted a blog recently titled "How IS it my fault". Check it out here.

As I'm sitting here looking at the index card he referenced I'm thinking about the frame of mind I was in when I made the comment.

In reading through Habit 1 of Steven Covey's book I was struck by this line: "Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions." (Covey, 71) - you should probably read that line again...

I wrote in an exercise that we did while studying this habit together that I need to spend less time in asking why something happened (i.e. assigning blame) and a lot more time using the "why" to answer the question, "how do we make it right next time."

One thing that has begun to sink in for me is that no matter who's fault it is and no matter what the solution is the problem is ultimately my responsibility. If it was a staff member that dropped the ball, for instance, I'm not off the hook. I need to ask, "How can I coach them better?", "What resources do they need to be effective?", "Was the way I communicated my expectations ineffective?", "Does this staff person have what it takes?", "Do I need to release them from the pressure of these decisions?" etc... It's a subtle shift but it is absolutely necessary. At the end of the day if my leadership does not have direction modifying influence on the people I lead I cease to be necessary as a leader!

So how IS it my fault? Well, if I'm really the leader it's all my fault. Now that we've got that out of the way, how can we fix it moving forward...