React or Respond?

There is not a week that goes by that I don’t learn something new about working with a diversity of cultures within our international church!

As IC leaders, we are constantly helping people grow their cultural intelligence competency which in reality is filtered through our personal worldview or perception.

So, how can we help people to work together when we have such different worldviews and perceptions?

Explain the difference between reacting and responding.

Most of the time we react to anything that makes us feel threatened or defensive but over time we calm down and learn to see the bigger perspective.

Sometimes we all get it wrong and our natural response is to react. There will always be a moment when we feel the need to express our negative emotions but ultimately a correct response will take us farther than a negative reaction.

Remember that reacting is an overflow of our emotion but a proper response is the overflow of good perception.

Many years ago I heard Dick Foth speak about the power of presence.

We are often so sensitive to how people make us feel but a great leader is also sensitive to how I make people feel?

In other words, “What’s it like to be on the other side of me?” That’s really a great question that takes a lot of courage to ask.

Too many people today struggle with self-awareness but becoming self-aware is step one on the leadership journey. May God give us the courage to respond and not just react.

We’re praying you have a powerful weekend gathering!

Larry