Introduction:I’m convinced that the local church should be the best-run organization in your city. I love to talk to church leaders about how to make the business and organizational side of church better.

Touch your thumb to your forefinger. The opposable thumb is what distinguishes humans from the rest of the animal kingdom. Being able to use our thumb has allowed us to experience progress that would be impossible without it. With your thumb and forefinger, you can exert the right amount of pressure to pick up a contact lens. With those same fingers you can pick up a baseball and throw (potentially) a 90-mile-per- hour fastball. The right amount of pressure at the right amount of time results in progress for the human race. If you were to lose your thumb, you would lose the opportunity to create tension, and lose the ability to make progress as an individual.

This is also an illustration of something that happens in your organization:

Tension is a necessity for any organization that wants to make progress.

We often think that great leaders solve all the problems and resolve all the tensions. But really, great organiza-tions learn to use the necessary tension in everyday life for the sake of progress. If you make the mistake of trying to solve all the problems and resolve the tensions, the result is the loss of the ability to leverage a very important thing in organizational life that allows you to make progress.

1. Every organization has problems that shouldn’t be _____________________(1) and tensions that

shouldn’t be _________________________(2).

A. For example: What’s more important?

B. If you “resolve” any of those tensions, you will ______________________(3) new tension.

C. If you resolve any of those tensions, you create a barrier to _______________________(4).

D. Progress depends not on the resolution of those tensions but on the successful __________________(5)

of those tensions.

The temptation is to come up with a system or answer that solves all of the problems and resolves all of the tensions; however, this is not healthy. It’s the equivalent of cutting off your thumb. By resolving tensions, you create a harsher climate for getting things done, you impede progress, and you waste time.

2. To distinguish between problems to solve and tensions to manage, ask the following:

A. Does this problem or tension keep _______________________(6)?

B. Are there ____________________ ________________________(7) for both sides?

C. Are the two sides really ___________________________(8)?

If you notice that people are asking the same questions they asked three months ago, you may have stumbled on a tension that should not be resolved. If there are people you trust who are constantly at odds over the same issue, it’s likely a tension you have to manage. Are both sides actually leveraging each other to create the tension in the first place? Some tensions, like work-life balance, will never go away. You have to learn to manage the tension, which results in progress at home and at work.

Once you have identified these tensions in your organization and brought them front and center, you’ve created a third category ... not a problem to be solved, or a tension to be resolved, but a tension to be managed. This will do wonders for your organizational culture.

3. The role of leadership is to ____________________(9) the tension to the benefit of the organization.

A. __________________________(10) the tensions to be managed in your organization.

B. Create ________________________________(11).

C. Inform your _______________________________(12).

D. Continually give ___________________________(13) to both sides.

E. Don’t weigh in too heavily based on your personal ___________________________(14).

F. Don’t allow strong personalities to ___________________________(15) the day.

G. Don’t think in terms of balance. Think ______________________________(16).

If you are naturally a peacemaker or conflict avoider, you will lean in the direction of resolving tensions. You may make everyone happy temporarily but you will undermine the strength of your organization and impede progress.

You and your core team need to learn to speak a new language that represents this new category. Say it this way: “This isn’t a problem to solve, this is a tension we have to manage.” Keep using that language and it will become integrated into the culture.

Remember that as the leader, your words carry the most weight. Once you have identified a tension, you must get into the habit of methodically giving value to both sides, regardless of your own opinion. Our individual responsibilities and our own giftedness create a natural bias. As a leader, you have to step back and decide that the goal is not to win or resolve a conflict, but to make sure that the critical tensions necessary for prog-ress never drop out of site. On your team, you need passionate people who will champion their sides, but also have the maturity to understand this reality.

To try and give equal time, money, and resources to every ministry or facet of your church is nearly impossible. Please don’t try to be a fair leader. Just do the right thing in light of the season you are in your organization.

As a leader, one of the most valuable things you can do for your organization is differentiate between tensions your organizational will always need to manage and problems that need to be solved.

Once you’ve identified those tensions, leverage them and grow from them, because they will be the key to progress in your organization.

Questions for Reflection & Discussion:

What are the most important tensions that presently exist in your church or organization? What has been your approach: solving the problem or managing the tension? What are the implications on “progress” if this tension didn’t exist?

1.

Managing tensions require a shift in organizational culture. Stanley suggests that it starts with changing the way we talk about conflicts: not as a problem to be solved but as a tension to be managed. What resistance or challenges do you anticipate in this process of changing organizational culture? What would be the benefit to your organization to integrate this new way of thinking and talking about conflict?

Identify two actions you can take right away to put these ideas to practice. Identify two people in your “core” who can hold you accountable and support you in these actions.

2.

3.

1 . so lved2. resolved3. create4. progress

5. management6. resurfac ing7. mature advocates8. interdependent

9. leverage10. ident i fy11. terminology12. core

13. va lue14. b iases15. win16. rhythm

Fill in the Blank Answers: