Kingfisher Leadership News December 2018

Kingfisher Leadership

1st December 2018

Kingfisher Leadership news The three zones of leadership

Features of the stretch zone:

The enormity of what lies before you takes you beyond where you feel comfortable and in control The stretch zone is at the same time, both exhilarating and terrifying!

Therefore, a key feature of the stretch zone is a heightened sense of the need to express trust in God and to know that he is centrally involved in this. In try stretch zone, prayer is at its peak.

The importance of what you are involved in makes the sacrifice of your personal comfort worthwhile You find that you are no longer as concerned about the cost of all this as you are with the outcome. In fact, sacrifice becomes willing because it demonstrates the worthiness of the cause. You find your priorities are getting rearranged, with personal comfort going down the list!

As we have looked at before at Kingfisher, there are three zones in which a leader can operate: the comfort zone, the stretch zone and the panic (or danger) zone. The reality is, we transition from one zone to another on a regular basis. However, prolonged periods of time in any one of these zones will end up not being healthy for anyone. What are these zones, and how do we avoid an unhealthy period of time in any one zone?

Courageous leadership is lived outside of the comfort zone. Wise, sustainable leadership is lived outside of the danger zone. Aim for the stretch zone!

The dissatisfaction with just playing it safe becomes something that you can no longer live with.

Personal comfort and avoiding risk becomes less and and less satisfying.

You have found a cause that you you actually want to sacrifice for. In the stretch zone, just playing it safe is no longer acceptable!

The comfort zone.

The first zone that leaders find themselves in is the comfort zone. It’s the zone where we are safe and secure. This is a zone we think we want to live in (Who doesn’t want to be safe and secure?), but one that’s not in our best interests long term. How do you know if you are in this zone? You will experience a sense of boredom and dissatisfaction. You won’t notice this at first, but it will seep into your soul unannounced nevertheless. Leadership will become a drudge, a formality; unexciting and unstretching. Remember the exhilaration and excitement you used to feel as you thought about the possibilities of your leadership role? That’s now just a distant memory.

Just as comfort food begins to eventually make you feel ill, so too long in the comfort zone will kill off your zeal for leadership.

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Kingfisher Leadership

In the stretch zone I must: Remember that leadership is a marathon, not a sprint God expect me to rest even in the midst of the stretch zone.

It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.

(Psalm 127:2, NLT) Not allow myself to become isolated from others or take on false responsibility Remember - especially in the stretch zone, that the name of God is I AM. Consequently, our name is I AM NOT. You are NOT responsible for what only God can do. God is God and I AM NOT! Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.(Matthew 11:29, NLT) Recognise that today’s stretch will become tomorrow’s comfort as I grow in my leadership gift.

God expects us to grow in this gift of leadership. What would have sent us into panic before will now merely stretch us. He wants to use the previous challenge to increase our leadership capacity so that we can take on a more significant challenge next time. This is all part of our growth as human beings.

"If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?” (Jeremiah 12:5, NLT)

1st December 2018

The stretch zone Escape from the comfort zone that will eventually kill off your leadership starts with paying attention to that growing dissatisfaction and sense of drift. Don’t interpret these signs as indicating that you should step back from leadership - see them as indicators that you need to move to the next zone - the STRETCH ZONE. This is the zone of bold vision and big goals, the zone where you are both a bit excited and a bit scared all at the same time. This is the zone where you have big dreams for the future - dreams that really motivate you, even though you may have no idea how they are going to come to pass; you just know that they are from God and you can feel your heart rate increase when you think about them. You will notice that, when you are in this zone, people around you start getting excited and animated too.

The panic (or danger) zone.

Excitement and being stretched is good for us, but this can easily slide into the danger zone. past being stretched and start experiencing unhealthy stress.

Strings on a violin don’t produce any music unless they’re stretched. But turn those strings too tight, and they’ll snap.

Most of us enter the Danger Zone unaware. The slide from stretching to stressing can be subtle and imperceptible, but dangerous just the same. This is the zone of leadership burnout.

Here are three signs that you’ve entered the Danger Zone: • Physical exhaustion • Emotional depletion Relational distance • In the Danger Zone we experience an intense tiredness that doesn’t go away. Our sleep isn’t restful; and when we awake, we’re not refreshed. With this fatigue also comes an emotional weariness, a lingering sadness that has no real loss associated with it. The Danger Zone is dangerous!

Effective leadership is a marathon and not a sprint. In running a marathon pacing is all-important so you can finish well. How is the pacing of your leadership? Which one of these zones are you in right now, the Comfort Zone, the Stretch Zone, or the Danger Zone, and what do you need to do about it?

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