![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/PaintedIntoCornerW-1024x772.jpg\" "\\"iStockPhoto")
<\/a>And the best way to deal with these challenges is to avoid putting yourself there in the first place. Here are four of the common corners that church leaders often paint themselves into, and a few ideas for how to avoid them.<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0 The My-door-is-always-open corner<\/strong> Effective leaders must be strategic about where, when, and with whom they invest their time.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0\u00a0 The Let\u2019s-put-up-a-memorial-plaque corner<\/strong> But if you need to renovate, I wouldn\u2019t want to swing that sledge hammer through a memorial plaque. And neither should you.<\/p>\n Find ways to honour the past without limiting your future.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0\u00a0 The You-deserve-a-raise-today corner<\/strong> But proceed with extreme caution when doling out such recognition. Because while it\u2019s easy and fun to hand out these rewards, it\u2019s almost impossible to pull them back. A premature promotion can come back to bite you.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0\u00a0 The Let\u2019s-call-this-the-FIRST-ANNUAL corner<\/strong> There is no upside to calling something a \u201cFirst Annual\u201d anything. Nor should you announce a feature in your weekend services will happen \u201cthe first Sunday of every month\u201d, nor any other declaration that will hand-cuff your planning calendar.<\/p>\n Each of these promises can have short-term gains but often result in long-term pains. So be very wise about issuing these kind of public promises.<\/p>\n Because leadership is a lot more fun when you\u2019re not painted into a corner.<\/p>\n What leadership corners have you found yourself in, and how did you get out?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How often have you found yourself facing a leadership challenge where you asked yourself, \u201cHow did I get into this mess?\u201d Unfortunately, sometimes the answer is that you may have put yourself in that position. I call this \u201cpainting yourself into a leadership corner\u201d. And the best way…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,738,478,7],"tags":[105,873,877,804,874,875,876,702],"class_list":["post-2168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-leadership","tag-challenge","tag-cornered","tag-gains","tag-honour","tag-mess","tag-open-door","tag-promises","tag-recognition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2168"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2376,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168\/revisions\/2376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nGranting such unlimited access to everyone in your church is a noble-sounding sentiment, and can possibly be managed when your church has fewer than 100 people. But good luck with this when your church grows to 1000 or more.<\/p>\n
\nChurch leaders love to recognize \u201cfallen saints\u201d by sticking a plaque honouring their memory on a piano, a pew, a classroom or entire wing.<\/p>\n
\nRising stars need to be recognized and rewarded with appropriate increases in compensation, with added responsibilities, and with titles that reflect their responsibility.<\/p>\n
\nDon\u2019t give away your calendar.<\/p>\n