On an average day, how much time do you spend thinking about where you would like your organization to be in 5 or 10 years? Do you have one or two overarching goals that get you out of bed in the morning? How much time have you spent communicating your vision for the future to everyone in your organization? If you think of your organization's GOALS as a mountain to scale and your STRATEGY as the route you'll take to reach the summit, you as a leader are ready to get your gear in place for the ascent.

The Life Cycle of an Organization

A foundational principle that all leaders should be aware of is the life cycle of an organization. When an organization gets started, it's in a state of innovation. Everything has to be started fresh, and every idea is a new one. As the process and programs become more effective, things move into the structuring stage. Staff and teams are formed. Next comes the formalization stage, where there begin to be policies and procedures. Things are becoming more complex, and communication is starting to be a challenge. Finally we settle into routine. There are traditions we love, the process is institutionalized, and there is increasing resistance to change. The danger in this phase is slow death.

The only way to avoid the organizational plateau leading to slow death is to look down the road and prepare for the future. We need to be the kind of organization that can recognize that the plateau is coming and start a new growth curve that will take us to the top of the mountain. Revitalization must occur in advance so we don't have to endure crisis periods. As Gary Hammil says, "a turnaround is just transformation tragically delayed."

Mountain climbers can't scale the top of Mount Everest without extensive preparation. Climbers must spent six weeks at base camp, halfway up the mountain, so their bodies can acclimate to the low oxygen levels present at the top of the mountain. If they were to be dropped at the top of the mountain without this preparation, they would die within five minutes. In the same way, if our organization is going to achieve our vision, we must spend time in preparation – our own version of base camp. We as leaders need to spend time at base camp, and then we need to lead our people there so they can get acclimated to the challenges ahead.

There are four important lessons for us to learn at base camp in preparation for our ascent to the top of our mountain, our visionary goal.

Base Camp Lesson #1: Humility

Jim Collins, in his famous work Good to Great, got a group of researchers together and studied the leadership of the most successful companies and discovered traits of what they called a level 5 leader. They discovered that level 5 leaders "had a high level of humility combined with fierce resolve." This makes sense because humility is the beginning of learning.

A humble person says, "I don't have all the answers." I think that's what Romans 12 is all about –the various gifts coming together to be something beautiful. Every mountain climber needs to go through this exercise of practicing humility because pride that says, "I don't need your help" or "We can keep going a little longer even though it will mean climbing after dark" leads to death on the mountain.

Do we have the humility to pause and realize that maybe it's time to set our past success on the shelf and go with a different mental model, a fresh way of looking at the problems we're facing? A lot of the things that we do on a daily basis become sacred cows. Our traditions often take on a life of their own. What's needed now may be a good dose of humility so that we can make necessary changes.

Base Camp Lesson #2: Trust

A high level of trust within a team allows team members to be vulnerable. When we begin to develop true trust on a team, we know it's safe to experiment, even though that might mean failure. Trust says "it's okay to try new things" because that's how we learn and figure out what works. Trust says "we're in this together – I'll help you out." Some highly creative teams see failure as just a quicker way to the finish line. So a high-altitude team needs trust, because trust promotes innovation.

Base Camp Lesson #3: Dialogue

It's easy for leaders to simply dispense information and hope that everyone takes notes and will happily get on board with the plan. Genuine dialogue is different – that's when we begin to think together. This takes work. It's when we as team members know each other and have developed the trust to such a level that we can begin to think out loud together. It's the type of brainstorming session where we can throw out ideas and analyze those ideas, knowing that we're talking about the idea, not the person who gave the idea. Mountain climbers need this type of give-and-take to determine their next step; organizations need it to create effective strategies that everyone can buy into.

Base Camp Lesson #4: Servant Leadership

Empowering others builds acceptance of leadership. It's important to recognize the God-given strengths and abilities of the people on your team and to find ways to empower them to exercise those gifts. When leaders decide that they're going to make all the decisions and that everything needs to come "across my desk," they are usurping the process. They are denying other people the opportunity to participate, to contribute, and to use their gifts. It is a lot easier to bark out orders than to put together a team and let those gifts begin to work and mesh. It takes effort to be a servant leader, but over the long haul is far easier than playing the power role.

Sometimes it is tempting to look at a person who has plateaued and say, "They've gone as far as they can go." But that's a cop-out. We as leaders need to roll up our sleeves and get involved with that individual to see how we can help them grow and excel and continue to develop professionally. We need to see ourselves as servants for those who work under us – not vice versa. Think of Christ's example of washing the disciple's feet and emulate it.

Final Thoughts

In the last 25 years, I've seen a lot of change initiatives that didn't work. The reason wasn't that something was wrong with the initiative. These organizations simply jumped into implementation too quickly. They didn't take the time to prepare at base camp. They didn't take the time to understand their culture and realize what it was going to take to lead a large group of people into the change process. So as you define your Mount Everest vision, take plenty of time to lead your people through base camp.

There is a great example of some of these principles in the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. In 1996, five or six different teams were striving to climb Everest. Some bickering had broken out between several of the groups, and the ill will between the other teams and the South Africans was high. This lack of trust became life-threatening when the climbers at the top ran into trouble and needed extra batteries and oxygen. They radioed for help, but no one was willing to help … except the IMAX team who was there shooting a movie about Everest. They radioed back and said, "Here is where you can find batteries, and there is some extra oxygen too. Go ahead and use it." The IMAX team put their 5.5 million dollar film in jeopardy to help other climbers. Now that is true humility, true servant leadership.

Adapted from a presentation at a Christian Management Association Conference by Ed M. Smith, Vice President for Development and Public Relations at the Tennessee Baptist Children's Homes. He considers himself a "process coach" who helps groups dialogue and come up with their own creative answers to problems.

Reprinted with permission from the Engstrom Institute; © 2009 Christian Leadership Alliance - (949) 487-0900. Visit CLA's website to see what they offer your organization to help build leaders and enhance organizational effectiveness!