"fail people at a rate they can stand"

One of the best leadership classes I ever took was at Fuller Theological Seminar, Leadership in Context with Scott Cormode. In his first lecture, Scott said leaders are faced with the unmerciful expectations of everyone around them. What is more, different people have different expectations. Thus, it is impossible to meet everyone's expectations. If you focus meeting the expectations of one group, you are missing the expectations of another and vice versa. What, then, do leaders do when they are weighed down by a pile of expectations? They fail people at a rate they can stand.

As a leader in the church, people will expect you to make the ministry grow without changing anything or, another way to say it, 'the way things have always been'. In addition, people will want you to make them grow spiritually that is meaningful, but not painful. Both of these are unrealistic expectations, but as unrealistic as they may be people still put them on our shoulders as church leaders. The secret is to not allow these expectations to discourage you, but to see them as opportunities to learn and grow as a leader, and help others grow.

How do we fail people's expectations at a rate they can stand? By listening to what they have to say, asking questions, being gracious, being humble, stating what we can realistically do within a realistic time frame, offer different suggestions and vision.

Above all, we ask God to fill us with grace and patience in order to expend grace and patience onto others.