Dec
7
2011

Lincoln on Leadership: Seasonal Leadership Change

An article by Matt Comments

Yesterday I began a mini-series™ based on a few of the chapters I heard of President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman, by William Lee Miller during the drive back from my Thanksgiving vacation. Yesterday I wrote about Lincoln’s handling of the Sioux Uprising, and his willingness to say no to the mob.

Listening to the audio book (which would make a fantastic Christmas gift for your favorite blogger) Lincoln was portrayed as a merciful, compassionate man. The common theme of the chapters that I was listening to was clemency and pardons. While many papers have been written about Lincoln’s clemency policies I was especially struck by his dealing with members of the military.

The Union Army during the Civil War was transitioning from a professional army in the European style into what could be called a modern volunteer army. Citizens from all across the union were signing up to be a part of the military in order to re-unite the nation. With this influx of raw recruits there were many growing pains. Among them, the severe nature of military punishment. Stories like those of William Scott, aka the Sleeping Sentinel, were not uncommon. Scott was sentenced to death after falling asleep at his post. Upon hearing his story Lincoln arranged for him to be pardoned.

This was not an uncommon occurrence. Lincoln reviewed every court martial conducted by the military (upwards of 30,000 each year), paying special attention to the capital cases. Through doing this, Lincoln spared the lives of many soldiers and irritated many generals and his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton. While Stanton and his generals complained about not being able to instill discipline in their troops, I think that Lincoln understood something very important: times had changed.

In January of 1861 the Union Army consisted of about 16,000 professional soldiers scattered throughout the country taming the frontiers. These men were disciplined, and understood the brutality of military justice. By January of 1862 that number had grown to nearly 600,000 men preparing for war. Let that number sink in (I had to check it in three places for accuracy). The remarkable growth that had occurred overwhelmed the culture of the professional army and established something totally different. Lincoln knew that this army relied on volunteers, and those who had little to no formal military training. I tend to agree with historian Richard Current who said: “frequent pardons may have been bad for discipline, but the regimen of the regular army, if unrelieved, might have been even worse for morale.” Lincoln knew his army had changed, and because of this his leadership of that army needed to change.

As I have been soaking on all this (and indulging the former history major in me) the parallels to the church world are jumping out at me. Here are three quick ones that I have been thinking about since I first heard this:

Volunteers are Different. Volunteers do not have the polish and shine that the old pros have. They may not have gone to seminary, they probably don’t read theology texts, and they certainly don’t get paid to be at the church all hours of the day. At times it is easy to lose sight of the fact that they serve because they believe in the vision of the ministry and have a heart for what God has called you to. While we may believe in the vision and have a heart for what we are called to, we also get a paycheck… never forget that.
Leadership Evolves. In different seasons of ministry we need to lead in different ways. Some seasons require us to be more hands on, others need us to let our team do what it does best. The savvy leader can discern what a season calls for and has the discipline to do it.
Standards are Key. It is important to realize that Lincoln did not condone the actions of those who were convicted. In many cases punishment was still handed out. While the season demanded a lessening of the punishment’s severity there was no questions that standards needed to be met. We need to learn to balance how we maintain standards within our team depending on the season of leadership that we are in.

How have YOU led differently depending on the season?

http://www.facebook.com/RobertFBarnes Robert Barnes

Very interesting points leading to more thought. In our church, we are so mild on volunteerism that we have very few volunteers! The elders and their families do almost everything. The war in question raised up enormous numbers on both sides for a reason, as did Pearl Harbor and other events that, in touching human passion, should have sent them running away. To gain more volunteers, we need to help them see the critical mission in which they are an important part.