The Simple Difficulty of Being a lead pastor

This article contains a summary by Patrick Lencioni of the 5 temptations and corrective actions from his book "The Five Temptations of a CEO."  The book can easily be applied by pastors, particularly senior pastors who work with staff.  Staff leadership has been one of the ongoing issues of my ministry with mostly positive results, but some frustrations that could be dealt with if I could avoid the temptations I am prone to.   I can often hire well, and give people freedom to flourish, but struggle in some ways.

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For instance, I think I have sometimes failed to encourage a little productive conflict in the interest of getting all the best ideas on the table.  I have also, at times, retreated to take comfort in personal success, such as prestige of appointment or salary (or retreated to  wallow in frustration over a lack of these success markers).''

Requesting to leave my last appointment, which carried some prestige with it, I recognized that for the good of that ministry I needed to step away.  It was also for my personal and family good.  As it happened, I received another "good" appointment, which has been great for me and family in so many ways.  Here, I must mentally and emotionally tie my success to progress as a congregation.

 I have been willing to move forward without having a "perfect" plan (since such things don't exist, outside of God's plan for us.) I have struggled in holding people accountable, but I think this has had as much to do with not having a process as not being willing to.

At the end of the day, being a lead pastor (CEO in the book) is really quite simple - not in the sense of being easy, but in the sense of not being complicated.  The solution is not to focus on succeeding in avoiding the 5 temptations, but in keeping the temptations on the table, admitting to the struggles and having the benefit of the team.