Surgical
Surgical
sur·gi·cal
of surgeons or surgery
used in or connected with surgery
resulting from or after surgery
of or like surgery or a surgical procedure in being regarded as very accurate, precisely targeted
We’ve been watching “The Messiah” series on Netflix. No, I don’t think it is or was intended to be strictly biblical truth. In fact, like much of the bible, there is some interpretation required if you are going to try to bring some of that narrative to life. I am trying to watch it not as gospel, but as a thought-provoking interpretation.
One interesting thing I am wakening to is the precise way Jesus applied his life. Clearly, he righted some of the wrongs the first time he showed up but also walked right by many other significant things that needed to be done. This second coming of him on the show does similar things. Appearing in the narrative, doing Jesus stuff, and then disappearing with still a lot of wrongs to be righted, left behind.
He seems to know the right things to say and not say. The right things to do and not do. He says he only does what his Father says. (A pretty strong clue there on how we should operating!)
The word that keeps coming to mind is “surgical”. He invades and deals with a situation with more of a scalpel than a mallet.
I was meeting with a client. And as most senior executives or owners do, he was wrestling with the level of his contribution. He was talking about time in the office, weeks thrown at problems, and that omnipresent sense that he is just not doing enough.
But as we started to talk about what he had been working on, another picture appeared. Crucial conversations he had, key potential client engagements made, and possible mergers investigated. Though this impact doesn’t always show up in the way we measure success (it will show up in the KPI’s later), the impact is profound and meaningful. And it is the kind of thing that only they can do.
Almost surgical.
I mean the way we traditionally measure the success of a church is butts in the seats and shekels in the offering place. Attendance and offerings.
Jesus seemed pretty much unilaterally disinterested in either of those things. And yet in the brief time he spent here and the few encounters we know about him, he surgically did the things necessary to start a movement that would change the world.
As a senior leader, are you doing only the things that only you can do? Do you have the confidence to step back, look at things strategically, and then, like a surgeon, apply yourself in just the few ways that provide the greatest contribution?
It is rare that I meet with a leader that can’t simply articulate what those things are. Some of the reasons we have discovered are:
we like doing the things that are most noticeable
we have a lot of guilt about not doing the work everyone else is doing
we don’t have the confidence in our role and contribution to do those things
we want everyone else to feel like we are not above the work we are asking them to do
I understand all of those responses. I have uttered them and operated from under their oppressive weight. They are also the path to things not really changing and you not finding the path to your “surgical” greatest contribution.
Consider
Do you find yourself doing the work that others should be doing?
Why is that?
What 2-3 things need to be done that only you can do? Make a list.
Which one are you going to do first?