In the LDS church, leadership sometimes comes with formal responsibility through a calling or assignment. Someone newly called to positions like, bishop, Relief Society president, or ward mission leader, might find themselves subject to a life of limited time. The reality is, most callings in the church will take as much time as you are willing to give—even more if you aren’t careful. Every minute that callings takes rarely seem wasted. That is what is so hard about time management in church callings; it always feel like time well spent.
Imagine if you sat on the board of directors for a large Fortune 500 company that needed to find a new CEO to improve the dismal progress of the company. You are not allowed to conduct any formal interviews. You can only choose from people that live in a specific geographical neighborhood (about 350 people). To top it off, you have to make your decision in only 2 weeks.
President Harry S. Truman had a small wooden sign on his desk that stated “THE BUCK STOPS HERE”. His desk displayed this sign throughout his administration. It’s a good motto — a motto all leaders should follow. Many interpret this motto not only as a reason to take responsibility of all things that happen in your jurisdiction, but to also hold a death grip on all details. Delegation becomes impossible. Oversight is required. The leader maintains control. This interpretation is the birth of a micro-manager—and nobody likes a micro-manager.
There is a constant passive aggressive struggle between auxiliary leaders and those that hold the keys to extend church callings to members. This struggle is also apparent between bishoprics, and stake presidencies when stake callings are needed in the ward (i.e. clerks, elder’s quorum leaders, high priest group leaders, etc.). A Relief Society president, for example, needs an instructor called for an upcoming lesson. She knows that if the person isn’t called with enough time to prepare the lesson then the responsibility will fall on her.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | EmbedSubscribe Email | RSS | MoreIn April conference of 2009 Elder David A. Bednar shared an experience he had when he was called as a stake president. He talked with a friend who had already served as a stake president. What...
