Monday, July 11, 2011

Lesson from Disney #3

Lesson #3 - Failure Can Be Tolerated, Lack of Judgment Cannot

+There is a huge difference between failure and lack of judgment

+Failure is when I put a plan together, execute it to the best of my ability and then still come up short.

+Failure is actually part of the learning process. If handled correctly, it helps you succeed.

+At Disney, it's ok to fail.

+My friend Brian defines lack of judgment in terms of when you speak negatively about Disney, other staff or departments or even intentionally attempt to sabotage their efforts to succeed.

+Lack of judgment isn't tolerated because the "damage control" simply becomes too high.

+In the local church, I would classify "lack of judgment" as not being "wise." According to Acts 6, one of the essential characteristics for a church-leader was that they be "full of wisdom." Acts 6:3

+At PCC, it's ok to fail.

+In reality, I encourage my team to fail. I say, "if you aren't failing, you aren't taking any risks." It's ok to fail. Just try not to make the same mistake twice. Fail forward.

+In fact, I try to create an environment where it is safe to fail. Instead of flying off the handle at failure we ask questions like: "why did this project/event fail?", "what were the contributing factors?," "where did we go wrong?", "what did we learn?", "what can we do differently next time?"

+Lack of judgment, though, is another issue. Things such as: staff members not valuing volunteers, not having the leadership and emotional intelligence when working with people and delicate situations, losing their temper, speaking negatively against the leadership, unsupportive of the vision, demonstrating a "have to" mentality instead of "I get to" mentality, poor work ethic, etc. These things simply cannot be tolerated. They are a poor representation of Christ and what His Church is all about.

+Brian is right...the damage control for unwise leadership is simply too high of a cost to bear.