Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of smart ideas killed. I’ve seen wind taken out of the sails of many a youth, by a put down. It also effects those that are older and more mature.   I’ve see the put-down in churches, in a number of phrases; "You just don’t understand.'' ''You don’t have as much knowledge or background as we do". "You haven’t had the experience."" In our professional studies and doctrinal committees we have proven it this way." "You have no idea what you are asking". "Who are you to think you can make a difference." "You are really dumb." '"If you would only study your bible properly, you would come to the correct conclusion that we have already come to."  This is not a article about right and wrong. This is an explanation of ideas to grow and manage an organization.  Many older people need an education in proper business management. Much of which come out of their fossilized mouths. I have used the statement that paints a picture of the closed minded by calling them "The Frozen Chosen".

    It is often stated in our churches as:  I studied my bible, proved it the truth, and what I put it into my life and others, is the correct way and only way to grow. They were the maverick in their origin and group, but closing out the door to mavericks in their life, and to others,  they rust in their old age.

    On of the best ways to take the wind out of the visionaries is to send their ideas to a committee. Here is some definition of committees:

A committee keeps minutes and wastes hours.

The best committee has three members – with two of them out of town.

A committee is made up of the unfit trying to lead the unwilling to do the unnecessary.

A committee is a collection of individuals who separately do nothing and together decide that nothing can be done.

    It is a giant mistake to stifle your brightest stars with the harness of endless committees, procedures, and paperwork. Often it is exemplified in the top-down attitude.

    Henry Ford exemplified it in the "old way" in the last couple of decades of the production line. He called for top managers to analyze the work that needed to be done, do surveys, then devise rules anyone could follow. Managers, divorced from actual work, became bureaucrats while frustrated subordinates tightened the bolts. Those methods worked well during the early years of this century, but they won’t help us much in the next. The old origination was built on control, but the world has changed. The world is moving at a pace that control has become a limitation. It is a balance. A balance of freedom and control.

    So the key is breathing room and flexibility, and don’t take all the ideas to a committee.

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Is your Church Leading you Correctly?
Mistakes Leaders Make    Life Cycles of Organizations    Visionaries    How to put Mavericks in their place    Facilitative Leadership