Meridian Magazine : : Leadership for Saints

Are “Management Techniques” Applicable in Your Church Calling?
by Rodger Dean Duncan and Ed J. Pinegar

Challenge:

Some of the management techniques I’ve learned in my profession seem applicable to my Church work. Should I try them?

Opportunity:

A few years ago my wife Rean and I decided on the spur of the moment to take an October holiday in New England. We love that part of the United States, and it’s especially beautiful in its autumn splendor of bright red, yellow and orange.

We flew to New York City, rented a car and headed north. Somewhere in western Massachusetts we passed through a little village that had an interesting sign on its outskirts. It simply read: “Please drive carefully. We have no children to spare.”

I chuckled at first, then saw a deeper meaning. It occurred to me that our Heavenly Father must surely feel the same. He has sent billions of his children to earth to experience the trials and tests of mortality. Each one of us is his literal spiritual offspring. Father loves each one of us, and he has “no children to spare.” He has plans for us. He wants us—all of us—to return home to live for eternity in his presence.

Remember that your primary responsibility as a servant in the Church is to help Father’s children return home by inviting them to come unto Christ. You can apply many good principles in your service, including good principles that you’ve learned in your professional work. But be very cautious. Many of the “management” methods used in the secular world are not grounded in correct principles. Moreover, people are not effectively led by “techniques.” People respond best to loving, thoughtful care. We do not “manage” each other in the Church. We are asked to “lead” each other. Righteous leadership is characterized by prayerful attention to the individual as well as to the group.

All of us must pass the tests of mortality. Be sure that you are not one of the “tests” that must be passed by the people you’re asked to lead. Heavenly Father has no children to spare. Everything we do as leaders should be well grounded in doctrine and totally consistent with the teachings and modeling of the living prophets.
– Rodger Dean Duncan

Challenge:

My Church calling is very demanding and I work hard at it, but my leaders always seem to expect me to do more. Isn’t it sometimes okay for “good” to be good enough?

Opportunity:

We can learn from a story about Dr. Henry Kissinger when he was U.S. Secretary of State. He asked a couple of his young assistants to draft a “white paper” for him. A “white paper” is simply a document that lays out a particular problem or situation and then carefully reviews several possible courses of action and their attendant consequences. The purpose is to help the decision maker choose a course of action from a position of solid information and flawless reasoning.

A couple of days after they got the assignment, Dr. Kissinger’s young assistants delivered their white paper. The next morning they were called into his office. “Does this document represent your very best thinking?” asked the Secretary of State. The two young men acknowledged that the paper could probably use a bit of fine tuning, so they took it back.

The following day they delivered the second version. Dr. Kissinger called them in for another accounting. “Are there any missing arguments or positions that could make this more valuable to me?” he asked. The two young assistants looked at each other, then one responded, “Well, sir, I suppose we could possibly sharpen the reasoning just a bit more. We would be happy to work on it again tonight.” After they delivered the third draft, they were summoned to Secretary Kissinger’s office again. “Are you absolutely certain that this is your best work?” the exhausted young assistants were asked. “Yes sir,” came the reply. “We are certain that we’ve covered all the bases. The information is complete, the reasoning is sharp. This paper represents our very best work.” To which Secretary Kissinger responded: “Thank you. This time I will read it.”

The story illustrates an important principle. If our employers deserve our very best effort —and they do—why wouldn’t our Father in Heaven deserve our best, too?

Again, we can gain insight from Elder Neal A. Maxwell. He wrote: “So often we feel, implicitly, that we are doing God a favor if we do his work, that we are helping him along when, in fact, our performance properly undertaken is for the welfare of our soul, not his! It is our happiness and our growth he seeks! How wonderful it could be to pray that what we do would be mind-stretching and soul-expanding. Such genuine, prayerful forethought could also reduce the less-than-necessary tasks we do that are trivial and could lessen the number of right things we do for the wrong reasons.”

Faithful people serve best when they (1) are thoroughly committed to the cause, (2) focus their energy on the most critical work to be done, and (3) genuinely do their best. Look at every calling as a growth and learning opportunity. And remember that your “best” is always acceptable to the Lord. The Lord always expects your best, and will bless you with energy and insight sufficient to the task.

– Rodger Dean Duncan

Quotes Worth Remembering

That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you. – D&C 88:80

… seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith. – D & C 88:118

The more rushed we are, the more time we [should] spend planning our time and actions. –Stephen R. Covey

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God. – D&C 88:119

… it is necessary to distinguish between right and wrong behavior, good and bad performance, moral and immoral conduct.
– Lloyd D. Newell

Note: The excerpts of Leadership for Saints posted on Meridian are only a fraction of the contents of this 349-page book. To learn more about this ground-breaking book and to order copies, click here.

Click here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.