What does shared leadership look like?

Last Sunday at our 43LG service we looked at what kind of leadership culture we would like in our local community. We started a few days earlier when I sent everyone in an email asking them to take a look at the leader’s in their life and to:

“take a piece of paper and a pen and list three leaders that you have worked with whom you would rate as good, adequate and weak. Now identify the positive and negative lessons you learned from them. write it down.”

From a young age we observe leadership. In our home, as we watch our parents, then we go to school and we experience different teachers and the different methods they employ to teach and lead the class. And then maybe we join a sports club, rugby, football, etc., and we observe another kind of leadership. We may get involved in the ministry of our church, or the running of a charity. And then finally we leave home and get a job and we experience first-hand being on the receiving end of leadership as we relate to management in a company or other organisation.

From all these experiences how much do we learn and improve, from others mistakes and others successes?

I read some words from Rev Moon’s talk to a group of 78 of the movement’s leaders in the USA in 1977 that shows how the above described exercise, which is originally from John Adair’s book, is one that reflects some of True Father’s approach to leadership culture:

True Father: “Do you know which is the best team in the United States? Do you know who the best team leader is? I want each one of you to think all the time about who is the best leader and then pay close attention to him so that you can learn from him. You should ask him what he does to be the best team leader in all America..

…Those who have no idea who is the best can never be the best themselves. The way to improve yourself is to follow the example of the most successful man.

The first criterion of leadership is organization; you have to organize efficiently. Second, you must always have a sense of responsibility for your own team, and in addition you have to teach each of your team members to have a sense of responsibility. After you have done these three things then check how intensely you work. At that point your enthusiasm and long hours of work will mean everything. You will succeed when you have all of these.

You have to standardize your method of doing things. You must have a clear idea of what you are going to do, and all your members must know what they are going to do. If any of them has a better way of doing things, of course let him suggest it. Organization, a strong sense of responsibility, enthusiasm and long hours of work are all very essential, but there is still one more crucial element: clear direction.

The fastest, easiest way to find the best method is to adopt the best person’s technique for yourself. After I came to America I first thought about how to create the most efficient organisation.

I am telling you this because we should have the best organization in the world”

37 years on we can ask ourselves and evaluate whether Rev Moon’s hope was realised or whether we have some radical work to do in order to still keep his hope alive for becoming the best organisation in the world.

Maybe you noticed his guidance isn’t focused on getting people to just follow him, but to get them to look all around (up, down, in front, behind, left and right, to seek out good examples)

A good leader is able to see clearly the destination that needs to be arrived at and work out a way for getting people there. The example of Moses demonstrates this aspect of leadership: From slavery to freedom, from Egypt to a promised land where they have ownership.

There is a physical journey they are on, but this is very much a reflection of their spiritual journey: changing their identity from being dominated by a satanic Pharaoh to becoming the children of a loving God.

There is one key leadership moment for Moses on this journey that comes not from God, but from his father in law.

READ AND TELL THOSE YOU WORK WITH THE STORY: EXODUS 18 (main part of story from 18:17 onwards)

He listens to someone who is outside his leadership paradigm. He doesn’t say, ‘God hasn’t said this to me. …and God tends to speak to me first.’ As the one who hears Gods voice, and receives commands directly from God, he is still humble enough to listen to his father-in-law.

Now how many people are willing to follow their father or mother in laws advice regarding their work?

Of course he used to work for Jethro taking care of his sheep for many years, but now he was meeting Jethro as someone leading a nation and having accomplished incredible things together with an almighty God.

Moses must have felt v ordained and also quite important and helpful, solving everyone’s problems. How easy was it to hear Jethro saying: ‘you are doing it all wrong!’?

So what was the result of him listening to this good leadership advice: a process of delegation.

But also justice and power devolved down to a local level.

And so when people established the rule of law in our country they were people who had read the bible and believed in its wisdom. And so today we have magistrates, upstanding people in the local community …justices of the peace. They are able to pass sentences on certain crimes, but if it is a particularly serious or complex matter it will go up to the crown court. Thus we live in a nation where there is considerable justice because of an enlightened justice system that has it’s roots in a practice recorded from 1000s of years ago.

And now imagine if Moses had not taken Jethro’s advice:

Would they have ever got to the river Jordan? Ok let’s say they would have got there: what would Moses have had to pass on to Joshua? Would it have been a community where someone like Joshua would have been able to rise up and stand out in the first place?

With Moses still being the only decision maker on matters of justice, and community morality and the long queues that would have come with that would Joshua have been even interested in the mission?

When we think of our local community how do we see the future? Do you have a picture of the future in your heart and mind, the place or destination that we are travelling to? If we don’t we can’t say confidently that we are an owner or a leader.

In a few months if most of the existing pastors and leaders felt called in their hearts that they should commit themselves fully to something that meant they couldn’t continue in their roles in our UK movement.

How many of you in the wider community would feel confident to step up and lead?

Even though some of you may be very able and have the ability to do a great job, possibly a much better one, how comfortable or keen would you be to work in our unification church leadership culture today?

We want to witness many of us. One of the best things we can do to make the fruits of witnessing sustainable is to create an organisational culture that has successful management and leadership.

Can you imagine what it would look like if we all shared a common belief, and culture for leadership in our 43LG community. That the culture was something so attractive and nurturing that we all wanted to take a bigger part in it.

So when we go to work or to school on Monday why don’t we observe the leadership models we come into contact with? Note the good example and bad ones. And write them down, and learn from them, and bring the best ones into our local community. Even if like Jethro they happen to be ‘a priest from another people’, or they happen to be someone who has no authority within our community hierarchy.

POST SCRIPT on where leadership should be highlighted in the FFWPU:

Our family pledge says ‘our family as an owner of God’s Kingdom’.

If you own your own business what are you responsible for? Making the important decisions, paying the bills, you are ultimately responsible in front of the customer, to your creditors. If the business is a success people will regard that as down to you and invest in you, but if you go bankrupt, again people will come to conclusions…you owned it and you were responsible for leading it.

So we recite that pledge: each time you say that word ‘owner’ it should speak to you about leadership, about decision-making, about management responsibility. Our movement’s organisational body should develop an ethos that encourages that mentality amongst it’s members, not least because the pledge given to us by our founder pinpoints leadership as something that is born out of the grass roots – the blessed family, which is the ‘owner of God’s kingdom (Cheon Il Guk).