Learn more about my book "The Courageous Ask"
Blog Layout
Preventing the Leadership Fall
Brian Kreeger • Apr 15, 2021
When I informed my board of director’s a number of years ago that I was involved in a moral failure I took complete responsibility. I really messed up and expected to be held to account.
After I finished explaining the situation, one of the board members looked at me and asked, “What role in your issue did (our organization) play?” It was something I never considered. The answer escaped me.
This question became the genesis of a quest to find a proactive approach in the prevention of a nonprofit leadership fall. This quest made me hopeful in knowing that yes, in nearly every situation, there is hope. But we all must be proactive.
Yes, the blame for the choices I made, and the pain those choices caused, lies solely on me.
But, as this mature and insightful board member recognized, there are stumbling blocks and challenges in the natural journey of leadership that can exploit human weakness, possibly manifesting in a leadership fall.
(This article is the first in a series that focuses on starting a conversation centered on preventing the fall of nonprofit leaders. I write it from a Christian perspective, but all leaders will benefit. Be sure to sign up to receive these articles via email every Tuesday at briankreeger.com. In addition to receiving these articles two days before they hit social media, you will receive the Introduction and the Appendix (My story) to my upcoming book, Leaders Can Survive: A Proactive Approach in Preventing the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders.)
Leaders make the choice. They make the choice every day. I applaud leaders who step out of the crowd and put themselves on the line. You are to be admired.
Being a nonprofit leader has a much broader context than the accolades and success the public sees. Beyond being a genuine hero and impacting lives for the better. Beyond the higher pay. Beyond the personal fulfillment that comes from the rise to leader. Beyond the respect and admiration. Beyond the satisfaction of goal attainment. Beyond the spotlight. Beyond making big decisions affecting many. True, nonprofit leadership is incredibly fulfilling, but….
Leadership is hard. It is isolating and lonely. It can be heartbreaking. It can be confidence and self-image shattering. It can be pressure packed. Leadership can be thankless. It can rock you to your very core and leave you blabbering obscenities at a statue in the park. It is always counter cultural.
And for the Christian leader the pressure is multiplied because of the spiritual expectations that come from leadership….God expected, or people expected (Hmmmm).
The difficult side of leadership causes a person to question why they are doing what they are doing. They may second guess every decision they make during times of discouragement and experience uncharacteristic levels of insecurity. They may question who they truly are at their deepest levels. God may even be forced to the back seat as they battle their own humanness.
The hardest part: Most people don’t understand the stress and pressure leaders face, especially those closest to them and those they care about the most.
Future articles will dig much deeper into the experiences that rock a leader to their core, cause them to stumble, and tempt them to fall. But for now….IT IS HARD.
Leadership falls are far too common for nonprofit organizations, Christian or not. Leaders fall for various reasons including money mismanagement, mistreatment of staff, sexual misconduct, abuse of position, etc.
But rarely are these the core issues.
The list of fallen leaders and the reasons for their fall can be very extensive. You could probably name at least one big-time Christian leader who has fallen. Or maybe even one closer to home, which can be especially devastating for affected communities.
Let me be clear right up front: Ultimately, the blame for a leadership fall is almost always a leader’s own. There is simply no way of getting around it. The decisions they made, the actions they took, the words they spoke. It’s on the leader nearly every time. Period.
Leadership falls are painful and cause a tremendous amount of pain for those involved. The closer a person is to the fall, the more painful and life-altering it is. There is a ton of collateral damage in a leader’s family, in the organization, and in the community.
Over the years I have conducted research and interviewed dozens of leaders concerning those difficulties that hang heavy on their hearts as they struggle to keep a proper perspective on the mission they are so passionate about and are tasked with carrying out.
Those matters weighing a nonprofit leader down often coincide with those things that weaken them and make them vulnerable to a fall.
Many times shortly after a fall occurs, the people around a leader think back to remember indicators that told them the leader was falling. They saw it coming, but did not react. I have done it myself.
Too many times those around a leader, including their accountability structure, watch a leader as they are falling, act surprised when it happens, and then throw the leader out when they naturally act like fallible human beings and not Jesus Himself. A pretty strong statement, but please think about it.
Yes, the board’s job is to protect the entity and steps may need to be taken. Yes, ultimately the fall is the responsibility of the leader.
But many leaders can be saved if a proactive approach is taken in order to prevent the fall. The leader plays a big role, no doubt. But everyone around the leader has a role as well.
I listed above some personal damage that is done when a nonprofit leader falls. What about the damage to the organization?
When an individual leader falls, many times an organization fails or is at least damaged or deemed stagnant for a period of time as they regroup.
Sometimes the focus of the board prior to the fall is a factor in a leadership fall. Ouch.
Allow me to put it this way: What would a Christian nonprofit board rather face- a 20% shortfall on the P&L, or the public fall of the face of the organization, the executive they manage? Which is more damaging to the organization and the mission?
I’ll take the 20% shortfall any day, and I’d bet you would too. But yet the focus of most accountability structures is the P&L and the job description instead of the difficult, more personal sticky stuff that is not measurable.
Let’s be honest, most falls happen among the sticky stuff.
Leader, if you think you cannot be vulnerable to a fall, you are wrong. Accountability Structure and everyone else, if you think your leader cannot be vulnerable to a fall, you are wrong.
And leader, if you have fallen, I get it. Kenneth Walls, in his book Up From the Ashes, says, “When you are at the bottom of the mountain, I know firsthand how hopeless and alone you feel. The worst part is that you feel separated from God. Let me assure you, if you are in this situation, He didn’t walk away, you did.” He continues, “With that fact in mind, let me take this moment to remind you that even though you jumped, His hand is still near to pick you back up. All Christ asks is that you turn your back on the sin in your life and come back to him.”
This was my experience. There is hope. We will discuss this later in the series.
I write this series for the leader themselves, the accountability structures, and the community at large in an effort to help prevent a potential fall. It can be done. But we must be proactive.
It’s time to start a conversation. It may be uncomfortable. It will take humility for all parties. But, will you join me?
Next week I will take a look at the possibility of a fall occurring to you or your organization.
Be sure to sign up to receive these articles via email every Tuesday at briankreeger.com. In addition to receiving these articles two days before they hit social media, you will receive the Introduction and the Appendix (My Story) to my upcoming book, Leaders Can Survive: A Proactive Approach in Preventing the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders.
Brian@briankreeger.com
#Leadership Fall #Board of Directors #Leadership Survival # Board of Directors Responsibilities
Executives -pastors or nonprofit executives in our context- are put on a pedestal. It’s not that the typical person necessarily believes they belong there or desires to put them there. But it is human nature that this happens. The general public often places much higher expectations on leaders than they do on themselves. Sometimes it is appropriate, and the leader has put themselves in that position. In some cases, it is simply scriptural. For instance, James 3 points out that those who teach will be judged more strictly, thereby heightening the expectations of those who lead and teach. But what about when we accept, and enact, those elevated expectations and forget the humanity of our leaders? Often a community heaps on a leader the expectation that they are to perform with the perfection of Jesus and not simply be a Jesus follower and disciple just like them, but with a unique calling and heightened responsibility. Too many times when a leader shows human imperfection, the respect we have for them is damaged. Leaders fall under strict judgment, and we forget they are no less fallible than us. The imperfection they have colors any positive experience we would have had with them otherwise. While most of us acknowledge this strict, hypocritical judgment and recognize it as not being how we want to treat our leaders, it is a difficult battle to fight in our own attitudes and minds. No matter who the leader is, they are not Jesus. But please allow me to reverently make some comparisons. (This blog focuses on starting a conversation centered on preventing the fall of nonprofit leaders. I write it from a Christian perspective, but all leaders will benefit. Be sure to sign up to receive these articles via email every Tuesday at briankreeger.com as well as taking a look at previous blog articles. In addition to receiving these articles two days before they hit social media, you will receive the article "5 Early Indicators of a Christian Nonprofit Leadership Fall" along with the Contents, Introduction and the Appendix (My story) of my book, The Courageous Ask: A Proactive Approach to Prevent the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders. )
You are the community, no matter what formal role you play in a particular organization, or if you play any role at all. My blog articles typically focus on the roles the leader and the board have in preventing the fall of Christian nonprofit leaders. But I contend that the community that exists around organizational leaders and boards has a role as well. In fact, a community’s role can many times be much bigger. My next few blog articles will focus on the role of the community in preventing the fall of Christian nonprofit leaders. (This blog focuses on starting a conversation centered on preventing the fall of nonprofit leaders. I write it from a Christian perspective, but all leaders will benefit. Be sure to sign up to receive these articles via email every Tuesday at briankreeger.com as well as taking a look at previous blog articles. In addition to receiving these articles two days before they hit social media, you will receive the article "5 Early Indicators of a Christian Nonprofit Leadership Fall" along with the Contents, Introduction and the Appendix (My story) of my book, The Courageous Ask: A Proactive Approach to Prevent the Fall of Christian Nonprofit Leaders. )
