Learning a lot these days about being clear. I'm a very external person...if I'm thinking it, I'm likely going to say it. That little quirk has gotten me in trouble more times than I care to recount. :-) The times when it seems to get me in the most trouble are when I am sharing an idea, a vision, or a dream. I'll vomit out every thought I have ever had about the idea, vision, or dream and the person or people I am with glaze over and disconnect.
In Next Generation Leader, Andy Stanley says:
You don't have to be certain, but you must be clear.
God has given us some ideas of what He is up to in Columbia and what He has called us here to do to be a part of it. But I am by no means certain that we've got it figured out and I am not even close to being certain that it will work. But that does not excuse me from being clear.
Yesterday, I had 6 meetings where my responsibility was to be clear...not about all the nitty gritty details, but about the big idea, the bottom line, the compelling dream God has birthed. Here's something I learned:
Clarity - Certainty = Conversation
I learned more yesterday than I have in a long time. Because I wasn't certain, people felt freedom to engage in the idea. They gave advice, asked questions, came up with ideas, pressed my thinking further...and I listened and wrote down as much as I could.
I guess that Stanley guy was right! :-)
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