W11D3 - Communication
March 18, 2014
"So I sent messengers to them with this reply: 'I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?' Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer" - Nehemiah 6:3-4.
Leaders are pulled in many different directions by urgent voices requiring their time and energy. In these verses, Nehemiah's enemies were asking him to interrupt his work to explain himself, his work, and his methods. In each case, Nehemiah turned down their request for a meeting, knowing that it would simply be a waste of time. What's more, he didn't even refuse them personally, but sent emissaries to decline. The point is that Nehemiah had people with whom he had to communicate to get the work done and those who were demanding a meeting were not among them. That's the kind of focus effective leaders need to have.
LEADERSHIP STEP: It's important that you be communicating with the people who are vital to and for your work, while resisting those who just want to waste your time. Who are they? And how are you communicating with them? If it's only face-to-face, then you are limiting your influence and impact to a chosen few. Your step today is to choose one means of leadership communication—training, blog, podcast, regular group meeting, forum, video, book—and begin to regularly connect with as many people in your leadership world as possible.