Hello,
my name is Brian and I’m an Atlanta Falcons fan. Wait a minute…this isn’t Football Fans Anonymous!!
Sorry!! I bring up my fanhood today to
discuss a very crucial part of church ministry in general and revitalization is
particular: The Turnaround. Being a
Falcons fan I’ve learned what a good turnaround looks like. Atlanta’s head coach, Mike Smith (Smitty as
the Falcons faithful refer to him), has led the once hapless team of misfits to
becoming a relevant franchise in the National Football League. We still have our hurdles to jump (like
winning consistently in the post season), but thank God we aren’t what we used
to be!!
Coach
Smith has led the turnaround in at least 4 ways that are helpful for us as
ministry leaders to take notice of:
1.
Place key
people in powerful positions – A few key people on in the Atlanta Falcon’s
turnaround are quarterback Matt Ryan, Running Back Michael Turner, and Wide
Receiver duo Roddy White and Julio Jones.
Smith’s first year as coach of the Falcons was on the heels of the
Michael Vick debacle and the “rebuilding” year that resulted in what many refer
to as “The Lost Year.” Despite all the
turmoil around the franchise, Coach Smith (and general manager Thomas Dimitroff)
aggressively went after new leaders and assembled a great team of talent that
would become the new face(s) of the team.
They understood the value of placing key people in powerful
positions.
The
same is true for your ministry.
Regardless of past defeats make your mind up to aggressively go after great key leaders. Remember: proper
people placement prevents problems.
2.
Remember
the small picture – Smith has a mantra that all of his players can repeat
easier than they can repeat their address, “One game at a time.” In the week-to-week world of the NFL it’s
easy to overlook an opponent because the team is looking too far down the
schedule. Smith keeps his team focused on
the goal by reminding them that it is one game at a time. He is intentional about the small
picture.
Keep
your team focused on the task at hand in ministry by celebrating small
wins. Don’t be so caught up in where you are going that you don’t
see where you have been or where you are at. Slow down. Dig in for the long haul. Enjoy the small things. Keep your leadership focused on “one game at a time.”
3.
Honor
your players in public – I love watching Coach Smith in interviews. He is always the consummate professional in
the face of harsh criticism and jovial success.
What draws me to him the most is his attitude toward his players especially
following a loss. Smith addresses the
fact of the loss, but validates the truth that his players are great and
capable of winning big. He never throws
a player under the bus. Smitty accepts
the responsibility of the defeat and gives all the credit for the win to his
players and staff. Now that’s good
leadership.
Make it
a habit to publicly praise your team.
Don’t just encourage them in the hallways, do it from the stage too. And
never, never, never, never blame someone for a “loss!”
4.
Learn
from defeat – This is the hardest of these keys for me to write because I
am a fan of the team. Prior to Coach
Smith’s tenure with the Falcons the team had never had back-to-back winning
seasons. They’ve never won a Super Bowl
and the post season record isn’t exactly bragging material. Smith breathed new life into a dead
franchise. In 5 years he has become the
winningest head coach in the team’s history.
He has never had a losing season and has hosted the NFC division championship
game in Atlanta. But…against all of that
success Smith has never won the “big game.”
Atlanta has had some bitter defeats in the Smith Era and none more
crushing than this year’s NFC Championship game against the San Francisco
49ers. Atlanta had home field advantage
and jumped out to a huge lead in the game only to let go of the lead and watch
the 49ers march through the Georgia Dome on the way to the Super Bowl in New
Orleans.
After the biggest loss of his coaching
career Coach Smith responded by saying, “When you
start the season you have your goals and your expectations and I’ll say our
goals and our expectations were much higher than just playing in this game
yesterday as a team. You never know when you’re going to have that opportunity
to have that situation arise again. The only thing you can do is try and take
advantage of it. We didn’t take advantage of it yesterday, so now we have to
regroup and talk about moving forward. Moving forward for us and our football
team is getting prepared for the 2013 season.”
He acknowledged defeat and focused on looking
forward. In ministry, we will have those
moments of “defeat.” The key is to learn
from them and move on. Don’t dwell on
the mistakes or let downs. Accept the
fact that sometimes things don’t go as planned and learn to “roll with the
punches.” It will make your leadership journey
a lot better!
There are several other areas
that Coach Smith can teach us about our leadership. These are just a few to ponder and see how
they fit into your particular context.
