Don’t Just Look At The End Result

Rivers roar, split and combine repeatedly

“Wait a minute,” the teenage student from Togo interjected, “You mean the United States had a civil war?”

I was in the middle of giving a tour of the Gettysburg battlefield to a group of teenagers on a week-long service project. Although we had talked about the tour, apparently the student had never learned about our Civil War. The death of more than 50,000 casualties in three days suddenly made him realize the United States had a bloody, terrible civil war like many of his African nations. To him the United States was always a peaceful democracy. When he heard my detailed description of the worst battle, he realized our current democracy was hard fought and not always perfect.

Sometimes I think we see the end product and don’t fully understand the process or history which was necessary for success. Most endeavors involve some bad decisions and great disagreements.

When you delve into a successful organization, you’ll find differences of opinion, conflicts of direction, and disgruntled staff or board members. Everyone doesn’t always agree. We make a mistake when we look at any well-run organization and assume it has always been on its present course. Most likely someone disagreed somewhere along the way.

When it’s happening to your organization, church, or group, don’t be discouraged. Participate in the process. In the end, either you’ll build a stronger organization or you’ll leave to pursue another endeavor. Change is inevitable. Embrace the conflict and move forward.

If you are thinking of starting an organization, acknowledge it might be a long and difficult journey until you have created your vision. Journeys are often filled with unrest and bad decisions, but this doesn’t mean the destination won’t be worth it.