The Folly of Rewarding A while hoping for B….

I was profoundly impacted by this article from a UM pastor evaluating the UM church based on Jack Welch’s (Former CEO of GE) leadership criteria. Welch believes that there are four types of leaders; Type 1 – Makes the numbers you want. Has all the values you want. Type 2 – Makes none of the numbers. Has none of the values. Type 3 – Does not make he numbers. Has all the values. Type 4 – Makes the numbers. Has none of the values. “The issue is central for Welch because he says the worst possible person in a company is the Type 4 manager – the one who gets all the results you want but does not exhibit the behaviors you want.” At first glance many of would have thought, well the Type 2 Leader seems to be the most ineffective. This is a lesson from the corporate world that we can learn from. Values are essentially the type of behavior that imitates Christlikeness. What type of results do we reward in church: head count, attendance, and income. So if you can get the job done but you do not do it in a way that leads to Christlikeness you are worse than someone who did not get the job done at all. Powerful statement. It is more important how you go about doing the job than the actual result. The heart of leadership in this model is integrity. It is still very important that tasks are completed and direction provided, but even more important is how that work is completed. It is not enough to step on people, abuse staff, lie, cheat, manipulate, and bully people in order to achieve results.