London Heathrow Airport
Trip Date: May 2006
I had never been backpacking before.
I had met every person on our trip a single time at an orientation meeting.
I just happened to have a friend leading a group, and so I decided to sign up. Why not, right? The price was right, the dates were right, and my friend leading the trip really knew his way around Greece.
But then our flight was delayed. Well, everyone’s flight except our leader’s. He had no choice but to fly on without us, leaving me stranded in London’s Heathrow Airport with ten strangers, not sure when we’d arrive, jetlagged, with no leader.
It quickly devolved into a Lord of the Flies situation. We were ten jetlagged college students with some pretty strong personalities, and everyone had a great idea of what we should be doing.
“Call the airlines! They have to get us on an earlier flight!”
“Let’s go into London and check out the city!”
“We should stay right at the gate in case there’s a change”
“I just want a hotel room for the day, to sleep a little. The airline has to give us at least that.”
And on and on and on.
Leaderless, we scattered. On trips, some of the fun is always the unexpected diversions like these. Our leader on that trip did an excellent job throughout the trip and we all got to Greece safely with just a short delay.
But I’ve been thinking about that day, and what it means when a leader unexpectedly must step away. If you are in a position of leadership and must step away quickly, what should you do?
Place someone else in temporary leadership and let your group know ultimately that that person makes the hard calls. If you can, set up a system now, before there’s any chance of your leaving, in which everyone knows who that person will be. Eventually, people will naturally choose a new leader, but having temporary leadership up front can completely change the landscape. It’s a biblical principle. Look at Jesus and Peter. And Moses and Joshua. Even Saul and David, though that one went a little sour at the end.
Having someone in place means, as a leader, that you should always be looking for new people with leadership potential and investing in them. Give them responsibility over time and allow them to handle some of your different responsibilities.
