Potty Training, Mistakes and Leadership

“I read an article on potty training your child in 3 days. I was skeptical. Now, I’m a believer.”

This was my Facebook status/Tweet this morning. A few days ago, my wife, Rosie, and I were in despair, concerned that Karis will be in diapers through her adult years. Since Karis is our first child, this is our first experience in parenthood, therefore, we slip into modes of irrational despair every other day.

We read an article together on potty training your child in 3 days. We were quite skeptical, but decided to apply the steps exactly as outlined. After the first day, Karis had some mishaps. By day two, she was showing drastic improvement. By day three, she was going without us even knowing! Does she have mishaps every now and then? Yes. Is she making great progress? Absolutely!

Part of the process of potty training has been messy (on a number of levels). But, the key to her development has been us providing a supportive environment that makes room for mistakes. As I’ve thought about this over the last 4 days, I’ve thought about leadership.

Part of my role as a pastor/leader is to empower leaders and release them into their God-given gifts and talents. The difficult part of leadership mobilization is dealing with mishaps. People make mistakes. Working with people can be messy (on a number of levels), but I’m convinced that unless leaders provide an affirming, supportive environment to work through mistakes, maturity will never happen. For me, this means delegating and giving space for people to lead, even if it means making “mistakes.” It also means being patient with people, when they don’t progress as fast as I’d like them to. I’m sure there are scores of other applications for me, which I will be reflecting on.

So, God has been speaking to me through the ordinary and messy symbol of the potty. And, I’m convinced that unless this supportive and affirming environment is created, many potential leaders will be wearing diapers well into their adult life, and not growing in maturity. And, that’s messy!

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