You cannot grow physical muscles without the muscles being overwhelmed. Your muscles need resistance and challenges to grow. The same is true for leadership muscles. In seasons of being overwhelmed, we become eager learners, seeking wisdom from others and vigorously applying knowledge we previously acquired. We often find a gear we did not know we had.
In their book, The Power of Moments, Chip and Dan Heath articulate that based on interviews with psychologists, one of the biggest benefits of intentionally being overwhelmed is the insight one gains about oneself. When we are put in overwhelming situations, there are two possible outcomes:
- We adjust to the new demands: Someone has a new responsibility added to his or her plate and gets more efficient in the previous responsibilities, learns new skills, and becomes a better leader. A win.
Or
- The new demands will be too much and we refocus: The person is unable to handle the added responsibilities and realizes that the new responsibilities are not the best fit for the person’s gifting and personality. The person ultimately has better self-understanding. Also a win.
The Scripture also makes it clear that seasons of being overwhelmed are the seasons where God develops our maturity and our character (James 1:2-4). When working out to build muscles, you want more weight than you have lifted before, but not so much that you are crushed by the weight. The key is to (1) overwhelm the muscles while still (2) exercising in a healthy manner. Let’s apply that principle to leadership and development.
1. Overwhelm the leadership muscles…
Wise leaders put weight on their own leadership muscles as well as on those they lead—for the purpose of helping others develop. Below are three ways to overwhelm leadership muscles for the sake of development. They should be utilized with transparency, meaning you are upfront about what you are doing with the people you are leading and developing.
- Set an eye-widening goal: There is some wisdom in setting achievable goals, so that momentum is created and confidence is built. But large goals bring out potential that has yet to be realized. If all goals are easily achieved, then there is no need to learn new things and no need to rally everyone around something that requires everybody.
- Create an unrealistic deadline: Richard Koch, in his book, The 80/20 Principle, encourages leaders to set aggressive deadlines for those they lead because aggressive deadlines force the most important work to get done and the unimportant work to be discarded. Some people even intentionally procrastinate because they feel they do their best work with a little stress.
- Give a tighter than normal budget: Creativity and innovation often occur when leaders don’t allow limited resources to hinder their ambitions or goals. By self-imposing less spending, it is possible that greater innovation will occur.
2. …while leading in a healthy manner.
A wise personal trainer will encourage the person being trained to progressively add more weight, but will also encourage the person to exercise in a healthy manner. As we embrace seasons of being overwhelmed for ourselves and those we lead, we must remind ourselves and others that our identity is not ultimately in our development but in the One who is most committed to completing the good work He began in us. We must encourage people that being overwhelmed should cause us to press more closely to the One who is always our peace, our wisdom, and our righteousness.
