Bless: One of the most underestimated roles of a leader
The Opportunity Filter, Part 3 [What Leadership Looks Like]
Links to The Opportunity Filter, a “What Leadership Looks Like” series by David Drury:
More than just a way to say yes or no, The Opportunity Filter helps you find a more appropriate way to respond to requests for your time.
One of the most underestimated roles of a leader is to bless. Giving your blessing to what should happen is often your best lane.
When you bless something as a leader, you find a way to say that what is coming should happen, but it does not require your point leadership. You can let people know their idea should happen, and you are behind it, even if you are not going to run it yourself.
Giving your blessing has some unique nuances, so here are a few of those explained for when you choose to bless instead of own:
1) Positional Deference
Leaders sometimes treat opportunities brought to them as a veiled critique and respond with defensiveness. It can feel like the person is "delegating up" something for you to do, and you're already too busy with other priorities you own to do so. However, sometimes people are just coming to you out of deference to your position. They want to run the idea by you, to ensure it is a good idea first. They may not have the confidence that you would in starting something new, so they sometimes need your blessing first.
Those who lead churches face this dynamic in particular. Congregants come to Pastors all the time with these sort of "suggestion box" ideas. Crafty pastors know that the best move is to treat these as positional deference and ask if the person suggesting the idea would be willing to lead such a thing.
This kind of positional deference is all the more prevalent the more influence and positional power you have. Very intentional leaders at the top of a huge organization can sometimes spend a good 90% of their energy ensuring they are exposing themself to and giving a blessing to the right initiatives.
2) Permission Empowerment
Sometimes a new opportunity needs permission to go forward. Some of the most effective leaders have learned how to be permission-givers. Those in their scope of influence launch all sorts of great ideas that seem to be at the behest of the leader, but in reality, they were someone else's project, and the leader was just a good blesser.
We talk a lot about empowering leaders these days, but perhaps nothing is more empowering than saying, "You could do that" or "I think you've got what it takes to get that done" or even "I'll be behind you in this because it's needed." Empowerment may be overstating the role of a blesser, but sometimes meddling in the new thing is not desired either. Your permission-giving blessing may be all that is needed to empower.
3) Leadership Blocking
One under-utilized role of blessing is to "block for" the leader you have given a blessing to. You do not have to give launching energy to the new thing, but you may have to block like a lineman on a football team for the leader you have blessed as they take the football and run through the line.
There will be opposition to that leader in their new work, and since you want it to happen, you may need to stand in front of them with a stiff arm out and ensure they do not get tackled before they truly get going. This sends the signal to others that you have blessed that work, even if they are carrying the ball. For a leader you have empowered with your blessing, this kind of blocking is worth a hundred words of praise or affirmation and lets them know you are blessing them with all your influence.
360 Dynamics:
Bosses
It may seem counter-intuitive to the above thinking, but sometimes a boss needs your blessing too. They may be tentative about an idea or wonder if it will land, and they may not intend to give you a new project. Instead, they might just be bounding it off of you first. It is good to ask things like, "Now, is this something you are wanting to do yourself, or do you need to delegate it to someone?" If the answer is the former, not the latter, then it is time to evaluate the idea and bless it big-time if it is a good one.
Peers
Your peers may do a similar brainstorming with you and need your blessing. What's more, they may wonder if the idea is more in your lane than theirs. If it is a grey area, don't put a wet blanket on it too quickly. Instead, wonder if they could really run with it and only keep you in the loop. Blessing a peer's idea and championing it from outside their scope of leadership can be a great way to play team well in your org's culture.
Employees
All the blessing nuances apply best to employees, as they will be seeking your blessing as their supervisor. Do not assume they are asking you to do everything, or at times to remind them that you are there to bless most things, not own them all. Reminding them of your areas of focus can be helpful if they are trying to "delegate up" a new initiative, and then see if the good idea might be blessed instead.
Of course, sometimes you can't dodge an opportunity, in many of those cases, you can move on to bless, which we'll hit in the next installment of The Opportunity Filter. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.
Let’s discuss your ideas on blessing opportunities or other thoughts you have on The Opportunity Filter by clicking here:
The Opportunity Filter was first developed in my SixQ Coaching, and you join me in my next cohort starting September 8, 2021, by clicking here. The deadline to sign up is September 1, 2021. More info is found in the image below.
