Esther 4: Wide Awake in the Second Chair

If being "deep" in your position means excelling, then "wide" means collaborating. Not content to focus on the narrow confines of your job description, the "wide" worker is looking out for what is best for the entire organization. Your competence (or depth) is what gives you credibility to speak into others.

The show Undercover Boss shows what happens when the CEO of a corporation steps into the role of an ordinary worker in their company. Their normal role as the leader isolates them from pertinent issues for their workers, managers and customers. There is humor and irony as these CEOs see the truth in their own company and how it is affecting its health.

One of the roles of a good worker is listening to what is going on around you and taking the group or organization's pulse.[1] This means listening well. Knowing what people are thinking and feeling in an organization is valuable. Many times, managers and leaders are cocooned from what is going on around them. Maybe it is being filtered-people just don't tell them what they think. Maybe the day-to-day requirements of a leader's position reinforce a focus on particular issues that leave some things un-addressed. But for one reason or another, your boss is missing out on a vital fact: morale is low, friction is rising, solutions are being overlooked, a train wreck is coming. Part of being a good worker is helping avoid surprises. If there is a problem, its better they find out from you before the phone rings.

The Bible narratives describe this role and its effect a few different times. But Mordecai springs to mind. He was hanging around the gate and heard about a plot to kill the king. He gave the info to Esther and the conspirators were caught. Later, he hears the rumors about Haman's plot, gathers documentary evidence and gives it to Esther so she can make her fateful decision.  (Esther 4).

Jesus asked his disciples: Who do people say that I am? (Matt. 16) The disciples came back with what they had heard. Whether Jesus already knew the answer is not clear, but he clearly knew and expected that his followers were keeping the pulse of the crowd. They needed to understand the gap between people's perceptions of their mission (Elijah, John the Baptist, Jeremiah) and the real mission (Messiah, church).

You can see it with Daniel (see ch. 2), even the Pharaoh's baker in the story of Joseph! I don't want to stretch these Bible examples too far. They aren't exact parallels. But in each case listening to hear what people were thinking and feeling was valued, it helped the leader avoid a train wreck and God used it to advance his purposes. It doesn't always lead to their advancement. But it leads to the purposes of God advancing. And this wasn't in church, it was pagan government.

One of the ways I've seen this work is in regard to morale. For much of my career, I've worked either for company A, but my office was actually inside company B, or I've worked at home. One of the great fears for employees like me is that we will be forgotten, passed over and ignored. They often can't take part in our company's parties (because they're remote) and they can't take part in their host company's parties (because its for that company's employees only). When they are talking layoffs, we hope they don't remember us. When they are talking raises and promotions, we hope they do remember us!

As such, I am particularly sensitive to signs that engineers in a similar situation within my company are feeling low. I, myself, look for ways to challenge and encourage them, and I help my bosses remember how certain actions will be perceived by those who aren't sitting in a cubicle in our office. This isn't a major thing, but it is one where I have seen God use my ears to help extend my boss' understanding. This is one way I am growing as a "wide" worker.

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[1] I was introduced to this term in Leading From The Second Chair, M. Bonem & R. Patterson. For an excellent summary, see Rich Woods, Leaders Book Summaries, http://www.richwoods.org/richwoods/greenhouse/Second_Chair.pdf, retrieved March 9, 2017.

Daniel 1: Deep and Wide, There's a Fountain Flowing

Hiring the best did not pull the team together. Each person came aggressive and passionate for his or her own ministry without commitment to the whole. People were not recruited and hired to join a coherent and unified movement. - Simple Church, T. Rainer and E. Geiger

What makes a good staff member. As Simple Church points out, just "hiring thoroughbreds" and "letting them run" doesn't lead to healthy organizations. This is one of the key tensions described in Leading from the Second Chair: Deep vs. wide.

"Deep" is reflected in how well you carry out the responsibilities of your role. Do you do your job well? The software engineer in me liked solving problems well, devising elegant and functional solutions, learning from really smart people and passing on what I knew to others. Later, as a team lead, architect and CTO, there was an interpersonal aspect; working with teams, persuading others, and communicating clearly. People talk with me expecting clear answers and doable solutions. For other jobs, there may be less technical expertise and more people expertise involved. I have come to respect, for example, project managers, who are responsible for schedules and yet don't have the power to make those schedules happen except through people skills. The best show a level of creative thinking, perseverance and willingness to take heat for the team that I truly admire.

"Wide" is reflected in how your awareness of the situation in the rest of the organization. Good workers see the big picture, identify the greater opportunities or pressing problems and take initiative. Organizational silos naturally build up in an organization in order to optimize what that silo does. I like silos. I like the general surgeon model that allows me to hyper-focus on my problems and my solutions and what I need to solve them. But we need to think wider than that.

Why? Because when each business unit or ministry becomes a kingdom, it fosters unhealthy competition rather than collaboration. I've seen reputation-depending, locked-down, no discussion, envious, passive-aggressive, finger pointing, only-vertical communication styles that cripple managers and companies. Division of labor is a useful thing, but the stress brought about by the change inherent in every organization's life cycle inevitably challenges the kingdom boundaries we set up.

This is a tension to be managed, not a problem to be solved. We need competent people, teams, groups and divisions. We also need collaborative people, teams, groups and divisions. And these both need time, attention and resources taken from a finite pool. So we manage the tension.

We see some of these in the life of Daniel:

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds...In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.- Daniel 1:17

This was an unpleasant work environment. Daniel and his friends were new, recently displaced and from a completely different culture. There was huge pressure to conform (1:10, 311-12). God gave them insight and talent, they were diligent in their studies and their excellence was, in due time, rewarded with recognitions. Like Joseph, they put in extended periods of time without tangible rewards (cf. Daniel 1:5, "three years")

This was a high pressure environment. The boss (King Nebuchadnezzar) was not always reasonable and had a penchant for axing (literally, 2:8), burning (3:21) or "throwing to the lions" (literally) those who disappointed him. Even more discouraging, their job success depended on making the government headed by this self-centered maniac succeed and prosper (cf. Jer. 29) Let that sink in for a moment.

This was a back-biting environment. Success was rewarded but also brought envy. Others mini-kingdoms were being threatened by the rising prominence of the outside recruits.God deliberately stirred up the government and religious leaders of Babylon to accomplish his goals. He brought in young men, tested their character and gave them insight and talent to disrupt the status quo for his glory. But the status quo disrupted right back with gossip, traps and sanctioned violence.

In this environment, just remember: God knows it all first. No matter what your field of expertise, God has already discovered what can be discovered and thought what can be thought. God never watches you and goes, "I wish I'd thought of that." Instead, we are following after him. He delights in showing us more. Daniel said, "there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries." (Dan. 2:28a) It wasn't only spiritual stuff that God revealed, but he also taught them "all kinds of literature and learning." One of the sharp contrasts in Daniel's life is between those who give credit to God for their success (Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) and those who do not (Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar)/

It is satisfying to be the master of your area of expertise or manage your group productively. But you can gain still meet every group goal and objective and your organization can still fall apart. That's were the wide perspective comes in, which we will look at more in depth next time.
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