Friday, May 14, 2010

Low Flow Leaders

A few weeks back I was walking throug Home Depot and saw an end cap display promoting low flow shower heads.  My mind went back to a Men's Camp our church did several years ago in Prescott.  The campground had these low flow shower heads installed to suposedly save money on water.  My brother-in-law, who is in the plumbing wholesale business had been to this campground the previous year and remembered how frustrating it was to take a shower with one of these shower heads.  Right before camp started he went to his truck, pulled out a new Delta shower head that was normal flow, and installed it on one of the showers in the bath house.  I don't mind telling you that guys lined up to use the "high-flow" shower head.



OK, before anyone accuses me of not being green, let me say that we do have a responsibility to steward the planet.  God gave us that mandate in the beginning but in reality, I'm not convinced that low-flow shower heads are an end-all to conservation.  In fact, as I have travelled over the years I've been in numerous hotels that have these devices, and they have been nothing but a source of frustration for me.  (I may be the only one, but this is my blog)

As I left Home Depot a thought hit me.  I sent it out on my Twitter  www.twitter.com/jonj8368 and here's the thought: 

"Poor leaders are like low-flow shower heads.  They take twice as long to get the job done and frustrate everyone underneath them." 

Leaders are responsible for the flow of the organization or group they lead.  It doesn't matter how well we delegate within our organizational structure, it all rises and falls on the leader.  Those under the flow of our leadership deserve a flow that will get the job done effectively, efficiently and in such a way to move the organization forward.  I am processing a lot of other thoughts along the lines of shower-head leadership.  I would love your thoughts and comments as I unpack this further.

2 comments:

  1. Low flow shower heads give you the sense your not getting enough rinse, so you stay longer with the water running, regular flow heads have such a nice flow that you actually get done quicker and perhaps you could even say you used less water, certainly less electricity....

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  2. Whatever comes out of the shower head definitely saturates the people under it. This puts a big responsibility on the leader. What do we want flowing out of us and saturating the people under us?

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