{"id":2426,"date":"2012-08-03T03:00:30","date_gmt":"2012-08-03T10:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=2426"},"modified":"2012-08-02T11:27:02","modified_gmt":"2012-08-02T18:27:02","slug":"3-warning-signs-of-watch-me-swim-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2012\/08\/03\/3-warning-signs-of-watch-me-swim-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Warning Signs of \u201cWatch Me Swim\u201d Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the tensions effective leaders must constantly manage is to recognize the difference between confidence<\/em> and arrogance<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Effective leaders carry with them a quiet strength that comes from knowing that God has equipped them to mobilize people and resources to accomplish Kingdom goals.<\/p>\n

These leaders also know, however, that it\u2019s a short walk from here to a distasteful form of arrogance, and they constantly work to manage this tension.<\/p>\n

But if you toss insecurity<\/em> into the character mix, now you really have a dangerous cocktail.<\/p>\n

Now you could have \u201cWatch Me Swim\u201d leadership.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Image via iStockPhoto.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I first heard this apt description used by my good friend Jack McLaughlin. It\u2019s a term that describes a leader who, like a child in the backyard swimming pool, is desperate for others to notice their accomplishments.<\/p>\n

But in leadership it can quickly render you ineffective because:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • It appears self-serving<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • It erodes trust in followers<\/strong><\/li>\n
  • It diminishes respect among other more secure leaders<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Any leader is susceptible to \u201cWatch Me Swim\u201d leadership tendencies, but you can avoid it by watching out for these 3 warning signs:<\/p>\n

    1.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>You embelish the significance of accomplishments<\/strong>
    \n\u201cWatch Me Swim\u201d leaders are often quick to congratulate themselves. I heard of one pastor who sent an email to his board celebrating the fact that \u201c4th<\/sup> quarter attendance was up significantly over 3rd<\/sup> quarter attendance.\u201d<\/p>\n

    But 4th<\/sup> quarter attendance was always<\/em> up significantly over 3rd<\/sup> quarter attendance in that church. It was merely part of a historical weekend trend.<\/p>\n

    Ouch.<\/p>\n

    2.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>You imply credit for achievements you had little to do with<\/strong>
    \nI knew one senior pastor who announced to his board that, on his watch, \u201cbaptisms had increased 20%\u201d. What he didn\u2019t mention was that virtually all of those baptisms had come out of youth ministry, and he really had had no part of this whatsoever.<\/p>\n

    3.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>You \u201cspin\u201d lack of results<\/strong>
    \n\u201cWatch Me Swim\u201d leaders have a way of attributing poor results to any factor other than their own leadership.<\/p>\n

    Among \u201cWatch Me Swim\u201d leaders, \u201cspiritual warfare\u201d is a favourite way to explain away poor results.<\/p>\n

    If you want to build your credibility as a leader, heed these warning signs, before \u201cWatch Me Swim\u201d turns into \u201cHelp- I\u2019m Drowning\u201d.<\/p>\n

    How do you manage the tension between leadership confidence, and leadership arrogance?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    One of the tensions effective leaders must constantly manage is to recognize the difference between confidence and arrogance. Effective leaders carry with them a quiet strength that comes from knowing that God has equipped them to mobilize people and resources to accomplish Kingdom goals. These leaders also know, however, that it\u2019s a short walk from…<\/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":[478,7,12],"tags":[932,175,933,94,122,934,169,660],"class_list":["post-2426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-leadership","category-tension","tag-arrogance","tag-confidence","tag-insecurity","tag-respect","tag-results","tag-self-serving","tag-trust","tag-warning-signs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426","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=2426"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2437,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426\/revisions\/2437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}