Simply put the purpose of leadership is movement. To move a people or organization from “here” to “there.” This past week Lisa and I moved into our new home. Better put, we moved everything into our new home…now comes the fun part of unpacking and settling in. During the move I was reminded of four leadership principles about moving people from “here” to “there.”

Preparation can Make or Break You

Once you get into the fray of executing a plan you only have what you brought with you to work with. Once the bell sounds it’s too late to practice harder or prepare better. The preparation of the move isn’t very exciting. Taking apart furniture, boxing up our stuff, patching holes where pictures used to hang and cleaning aren’t necessarily my idea of fun. Neither is acquiring boxes, tape and the like. I actually ended up spending money on the move before we actually did any real moving!

You can’t get from “Here” to “There” without a great Team

If you can lead from “here” to “there” by yourself then you’re not leading far enough or taking enough people with you. Simply put, you’re risking too little if you can do it by yourself. Fortunately I had some great guys help me in this move. It really is true…”many hands make light work.” There is no way this move would have happened as fast as it did without the help of some good friends.

Don’t Forget to Pace Yourself

When you’re moving from “here” to “there” you’ve got to understand that there are times to let off the gas and other times to step on it. There were a few moments we pushed through some really heavy lifting and got into a good rhythm loading up the truck. At other moments we sat and had a sandwich, took a break, and looked at the furniture as if it were somehow going to move itself.

Delayed Gratification Leads to Discouragement

In other words you’ve got to get there. People have to experience wins and progress or they eventually give up. The Scriptures put it this way,

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick.”  Proverbs 13:12

A buddy of mine was gracious enough to let me borrow his truck for the week of the move. Each day I would come home from work and move more boxes and furniture over to the new house. It felt like the move would never end and that we would never get “there.” When the day came for the “big move,” renting the U-Haul & my friends helping me move the big stuff I couldn’t move in the pick up, I was already exhausted.

What other leadership principles have you run into when leading people from “here” to “there?” Leave a comment!