Time and Season

I attended a leadership training session last year and there was quite a bit of material about being in touch with reality and trying to know yourself; self-awareness. They also talked about how leaders can easily get out of touch with themselves and others. Another aspect of awareness that I have thought about recently is the fact that a good leader must be in touch with seasons and learn to navigate for his or her team. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven”. Even the Byrds made this scripture popular back in the year 1965 when they released their folk-rock song, “Turn! Turn! Turn! To Everything There is a Season”.

There are many seasons an organization will go through and unless the organization responds correctly, it could lose its effectiveness, stagnate, or even die. There are seasons of growth, where everything is going fantastic. It’s as if nobody could do wrong and everything touched is golden. The leader’s job in this environment is to fuel the growth and play it out for as long as they can. Just like real seasons, though, this won’t last forever. Another season that follows seasons of growth might be called a season of fortification. In this season, the leader would want to fully assimilate the new players on the team, provide necessary training, work on process, and perfect quality in everything that is done. You will want to fortify what the organization has built and insure that the foundations are strong and that the people on the team have what they need to weather future seasons. Another season that is common is a season of transition. This season might happen when there are major changes in the environment or in the make-up of the organization. If the organization is a business, it might come in times of significant changes with products or service offerings due to major shifts in the marketplace. The economy and other external factors can trigger seasons of transition, too. The leader’s job here is to give voice and explanation about this reality. They need to discuss why the season is occurring, what it means, and how to travel through this time effectively. A season that most leaders have a lot of apprehension about is the season of doldrums. This season is like being on a sailing ship drifting in the ocean with no wind for your sails. Things are unusually flat, excitement has waned, vision about the future is dim, and the organization just feels stuck. In this season, it is imperative for the leader to shake things up and get some momentum for the organization. The good leader knows that if he or she doesn’t do something, the drift could become permanent. Lastly, there is another season called reinvention. This is time where the leader analyzes the whole organization and decides what needs to have a make-over, an overhaul, or just plain needs to be pitched over the side. Sometimes, you have to get rid of the old to make room for the new. It is similar to holding something in both your hands and having someone try to offer you something else that you would like to have. You have to put something down in order to hold something new.

A lot of leaders fail to grasp the importance of communicating to followers what sort of season they are in and helping them process their way through it. Most followers won’t even know what season they are in unless the leader tells them. The best leaders must learn to recognize the signs of the times and identify the seasons of change. When you see great growth, or a time of change, or feel the momentum slowing, draw attention to what is happening. Speak to the realities of that season and give language of expression to it. Define helpful parameters to succeed within it and offer confident direction for moving through it. You are always in a season and it is up to you to know which it is and what to do about it!