Church and the World Cup 4: Troublemakers
4. Don’t Give Too Much Attention to Troublemakers
During the first World Cup match I watched this year, I was struck that when a fan came streaking onto the field to cause a ruckus, the cameras moved away. That is, we didn’t actually see the ruckus, we only heard about it briefly. One of the commentators mentioned that this was per FIFA’s instructions. While I have plenty of critique for the way FIFA is run, they’re definitely onto something here. For when you give troublemakers the attention they seek, you inspire more people to make trouble.
I think leaders – in congregations, schools, businesses, and the home – can learn a lot from this. Giving undue attention to bad behavior invites more bad behavior. In leadership conversations, I’ve often heard this framed as the “80-20 rule.” It’s easy to let the most unhappy and/or dysfunctional 20% of your outfit consume 80% of your time. (If you’ve been in a leadership position, think about that for a moment – just how much time do you spend dealing with the most difficult folks in your organization?)
The natural question, of course, is why we would ever do that: give so much time to so few, especially when they are the most difficult (and often least productive) of the group. The answer might be that we’re convinced that if we give them more of our attention, we might be able to make some headway with them, raise their morale and increase the effectiveness of the organization.
But as study after study – not to mention personal experience! – demonstrates, that’s almost never the case. Why? Because dysfunctional people usually aren’t looking to be changed into functional people – that’s part of their dysfunction. And unhappy people, oddly enough, are often only happy when they’re unhappy! Well, that’s not quite accurate. They might like the idea of being happy, but their pattern…and what they’re used to…and in this sense what makes them happy…is being unhappy and letting others know it.
This is, of course, why leadership can be so draining. You give so much attention to folks who are underperforming and see such little improvement that it wears you out. Or you give so much of your time and energy to the folks with the worst attitude and most complaints and it brings you down. But, believe it or not, that’s not the worse thing that happens when you fall into the 80/20 routine.
The worst thing that happens is that while you are giving all your attention to the underproductive and dysfunctional, the most productive, most highly functioning, and happiest people in your organization – let’s assume they’re also around 20% of your group – don’t receive your attention, don’t think that their contributions are valued, and don’t see their efforts making a difference. And because of this they give up and/or end up leaving.
I’m not saying that we should ignore people who are struggling. I’m just suggesting that we give them their due. If it’s 20% of your folks who struggle (or complain or act out or whatever), then give them 20%. But leave enough to devote to the folks who are making your outfit work.
In other words, when a screaming fan runs onto the field seeking the attention of the world, turn the cameras away and focus on the brilliant players instead. Because that’s what the game is about.
Strength based