Later this year, I’m going to celebrate my 10th year in ministry. Prior to that, I spent about 10 years in the city management profession. Those milestones have provoked a lot of introspection in recent days. I’ve served under several great leaders. I also had, from a relatively early age, the opportunity to find myself in leadership roles. Through those experiences, I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to be a leader. Honestly, though, the most significant lessons were learned through trial and error. And, let me tell you, there have been quite a few mistakes along the way.

Someone recently asked me whether or not there are times when I knowingly let people make what I perceive to be a mistake in their ministry roles. This, in itself, may be another leadership error on my part, but I think there are instances when it is appropriate to let people try and fail. To do otherwise is to invite every detail of every decision to land in my lap. For leaders to be fully empowered and have the same opportunities I’ve had to grow, they must, too, experience what it is to sometimes make mistakes and respond to the consequences of those challenges.

That said, I’ve also tried to learn as much as I can from my mentors, through training opportunities and reading about leadership from those who are more experienced than I am. Fortunately, I’ve been able to avoid some mistakes by learning from the mistakes of others. With the hopes that the same may occur for you, let me share what I believe to be the stupidest mistakes I’ve made in leadership. Granted, the mistakes I’m prone to make will look different than yours. Mine are certainly a reflection of the quirks (and sometimes sin) in my life. But, hopefully by sharing a little of what I’ve learned, you can avoid these unfortunate miscues.

When a position is open that you know needs to be filled and the right person isn’t available, it’s hard to wait. The tendency is to fill the role with the best available person, but sometimes that’s not the right person. Let me just confirm that it’s a lot easier to tell someone they’re not a good fit for the job before you hire them than after you’ve brought them on the team.

On the flip side, I’ve made the mistake of waiting too long to let someone go. I can remember one particular situation when I let a problem go for months. It was impacting me, my family and the rest of the team. More importantly, I was getting in the way of God doing a work in this man’s life. I thought I was doing him a favor by keeping him on the team. The reality was – he needed to move on to experience all that God had for him.

Not to be crass, but I’ve found that it’s a lot better to potty-train my kids than to continue changing messy diapers. Regrettably, though, there have been too many times in leadership roles when I’ve found myself reacting to a problem, rather than addressing the process to prevent the situation from occurring in the first place. It takes a lot of discipline to rise above the emotion of a difficult situation to try to discern how a broken system needs to be fixed.

Others may have the opposite challenge of letting their love of people get in the way of actually accomplishing the purpose of the organization. But, because I’m not naturally a people-person, I tend to get too task-driven. Good leaders find that perfect balance between getting the job done and embracing the relational component of doing life as a team.

When pushed into a corner, I naturally revert back to my perfectionist tendencies. I know in my mind the way it should be done. And, if I let myself, I’ll fall into the trap of thinking I’m the only one who can get it done. First of all, I’m not that good. Usually, someone else can do it better. Secondly, the failure to empower others with real responsibilities is a guaranteed recipe for limiting the potential of your ministry. This is the number one reason that most churches don’t grow beyond a couple hundred people. In those situations, the pastor will, at best, delegate tasks. Real leadership development doesn’t happen, though, until an effort is made to build a team and give away ministry responsibility.

Maybe it’s all those years I spent in local government fulfilling my bureaucratic responsibilities. Or, maybe it’s just because following prescribed rules is easier than dealing with the mess of following God’s lead and making wise decisions. The reality, of course, is that much of life isn’t black and white. And, I’ve found I’m chasing my tail if I think I’m going to be able to create policies or guidelines to address or prevent every situation that could potentially arise.

One of my spiritual gifts is discernment. I’ve noticed, however, that people’s strengths can also lead to their biggest challenges. For me, discernment can lead to paralysis through analysis. When that happens, I tend to get in the way of what God’s trying to accomplish. In an effort to make the best decision, I sometimes get stuck trying to acquire information, rather than seeking God’s direction and taking action. Yes, we’re called to plan. Seek counsel. But, that initial reaction you sense could very well be God’s prompting.

Again, this is what happens when I let my focus wander from God to the circumstances around me. It’s appropriate to plan and take steps to prevent those bad situations from occurring. It’s sin when that turns into worry. It’s really kind of humorous to see the stupid mistakes we can make when we begin to think we’re in control. I’ve wasted way too much time worrying about ministry challenges that never happened.

I really do hate this about myself, and I’m consciously trying to improve with God’s help. But, to be quite truthful, I’m encouragement-challenged. Like I mentioned before, I’ve always had this strong sense of what the end product needs to look like. One of my biggest mistakes as a leader has been withholding encouragement when the team delivers, and only speaking up when expectations aren’t met. I’m trying to improve, but I’m not there yet.

I’ve fallen into this trap too many times. In my mind, I tell myself if I’m busy, I’m adding value. The reality, of course, is that our busyness can get in the way of effectiveness. We can be busy about the wrong things. And, if we don’t discipline our lives, we’ll find ourselves investing a lot of time with little impact. E-mail is one example of this trap for me. If I wanted to, I could spend the entire day processing e-mail and not really accomplishing anything. That’s why, when I plan my week, I actually plan the times when I’m going to respond to e-mail messages.

This is a natural corollary to the mistake of staying busy. When life gets busy and I get invested in all the dirty details flowing my way, I lose site of the dreams that God has for me. Here’s the reality; those dreams usually come when the pace of my life slows enough to do stuff like read, pray, rest, experience new places and meet new people. Dealing with the dailiness of life doesn’t allow for that. It needs to be planned and prioritized. We need to create space to experience God and all that he has for us.

Those are my big mistakes. I wish I had the space to share more stories behind them. All I can say is that God is gracious to allow me the opportunity to continue to live and learn what it is to be a leader. My journey isn’t complete. Yours isn’t either. And, I hope this list encourages you to consider where God is growing you in your leadership role. He loves you too much to leave you where you are today. Your influence is too important to the lives of those around you. I’m thankful that God is in a continual process of redeeming us for His glory and His purposes.

Tony Morgan is chief strategic officer at NewSpring Church (www.NewSpring.cc) in Anderson, S.C. Tony has co-authored three books with Tim Stevens including their latest project, "Simply Strategic Growth" (Group). To join the conversation about growing strategies, visit Tony’s blog at www.tonymorganlive.com. Editor’s Note: We appreciated Tony’s "alarming" keynote at this year’s expo...