Today we want to look at something that is important, a continuation of the series that we began some weeks ago On Becoming A Servant Leader. We are continuing the series today and I trust that God will help us so that we will learn what we must know towards becoming servant leaders in our generation. It is not enough to be leaders. It is not enough to grow to become a leader, it is important you grow as a person to become a servant leader, that is, to become a leader or a man who leads, a woman who leads through service. So, your authority and your influence over your people is rooted in your service to them.
Listen To Podcast: ON BECOMING A SERVANT LEADER: HOW TO DEAL WITH COMPROMISE IN ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP
So today, we will continue and we will be looking at On Becoming A Servant Leader Series Part 6, and we will be considering a subtitle: How To Deal With Compromise in Organizational Leadership or How To Handle Compromise in Organizational Leadership; and I want us to go to the book of Nehemiah chapter 6. We began looking at the series, looking at the book of Nehemiah. We began with chapter 1, and then we moved on to chapters 2, 3, 4, 5 and today, we are looking at chapter 6. We want to learn from the life of Nehemiah, a man who led his generation through his service to them, we want to learn how we also can become servant leaders in our own generation. Nehemiah chapter 6, I will read a few verses there and then we will discuss.
"Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates), 2 that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do me harm. 3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 But they sent me this message four times, and I answered them in the same manner."
Nehemiah 6:1-4
Now, let us pause there a bit, and I want us to reason together on what we saw in verse 2 and 3, especially verse 3. In verse 2, they said “Come, let us meet together." Now, what do you call a process or a place where two things meet together? You know, they call it "the point of convergence." You see, when there are two opposing forces or two flows, when they meet at a place, then you call it the point or the place of convergence or the place or the point of agreement." Because even Nehemiah refers to them as his enemies. And so, if you notice what Nehemiah responded with after they reached out to him, then you must receive an instruction as a man, as a woman who has a responsibility to build and lead organizations.
Now, going forward as a leader, you must understand that there are certain things that must never be allowed to take place. And what is it? There must never be a meeting point between you and your enemies. That is very important! You know, one thing that you must take from that is this: when there is a meeting point between two opposing parties or two opposing things, it means there is a kind of compromise by either of the team or by both parties towards reaching an agreement that keeps or binds everybody together. Now, the question is this: What agreement should exist between two enemies? This is a food for thought. You see, what makes people to become enemies, you know it has been said that there are no permanent friends, we only have permanent interests. So, it means, if people are considered to be enemies, if people considered themselves enemies, it means they differ in their interests.
Now, if you look at interests very well, it has roots with either ambition or vision. There is a place that you see yourself getting to, now, when the other person sees himself or where the other people see themselves, is different from where you see yourself. And so, since you have different or contradictory ambitions or visions; you will actually clash. And so, when you already have differences in the vision, differences in your interests and you are clashing, the question is: should you ever reach a point of agreement with a people that you are actually having divergence in opinions, belief, in orientation and in vision?
Now, Sanballat, Geshem and Tobiah had pitched themselves at a point against what Nehemiah and the other Jews were doing. In fact, the Bible says there was a point he said, when they told Nehemiah to come so that they can meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono, he said "but they thought to do me harm." Now, imagine Nehemiah listening to their word and making a decision to reach an agreement with them. The question is: What will be the end of that meeting? He already said it that they thought to do him harm. Now, that is to show you that the goal of compromise by your enemies is to do you harm. Now, you may have no bad intentions towards your enemies, towards your competitors, towards the people opposing you and towards those who are like your rivals.
You may have no bad feelings, no bad intentions. But the point is that their demands or their desires to reach a compromise is often for a gain that is only to them. To your own disadvantage but to their own advantage. And then, this is something that you must learn as you are negotiating in business and in your leadership. Usually, when two parties are in negotiation, usually, it is advised that there should be some kind of compromise so that there is a 'win win' situation. But deeply, you understand that the primary intention of an average person in negotiation is towards perhaps, taking advantage of the other person. Now, when you have the responsibility of leading your organization, perhaps, your generation and you are not mindful of the fact that those who are trying to reach an agreement with you are not doing it with good intentions. They have an intention to harm you, to harm your people, to halt your progress or the progress of your people, and you become open hearted and you decided to let go of your important standings, let go of your core dealings, let go of your ideologies, let go of your plans and visions, let go of your culture and tradition, and in the build to reach an agreement, you let go of so many things and then you are working towards reaching an agreement with them.
Now, what the Bible showed us is this from the book of Nehemiah. If you do that, it will be to your own disadvantage, to your the disadvantage of your team, to the disadvantage of your organization, to the disadvantage of your people. And so, I have come to realize that, perhaps more than what we could admit, compromise is a big enemy of sustainable growth and development. You see, the reason why a people are even angry with you, why you even have enemies as an organization and as a people, is because there is something about your life, your organization, something about your family, something about the way you run things that is actually attracting admirers and attracting haters. There are people who are hating your progress, who are not comfortable with your growth and development, and they know that the only way they can frustrate your development is to create room for a kind of compromise.
The question then is: Why would you compromise if there is nothing at stake? Now, let us see the strategy of your enemy towards bringing you to the place of compromise. Don't forget, their goal at that time was to bring Nehemiah and his team to a place where they can meet together, to a place where they can have compromise. However, for them to come, they did something which the Bible shows us so that you know the strategies of your enemies towards limiting your progress and limiting your growth as an organization. Now, let us consider verse 5 downwards.
"Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before, the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written: It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king. 7 And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, “There is a king in Judah!” Now these matters will be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together."
Nehemiah 6:5-7
You can see a kind of blackmail here! Now, the goal is to bring them to the place of compromise and so, the man called Sanballat, thought it wise that the only way he could bring this man to the negotiating table is to blackmail him. Now, let us see the response of Nehemiah.
"Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart.” 9 For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done.” Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands."
Nehemiah 6:8-9
Now, if you notice what I read, you will see the end or the strategy of your enemies, and that strategy from what we have here, is fear – the fear factor! The enemies want you to be afraid and because of fear of the unknown, because of fear of what may happen which you don't want it to happen, because of fear of an unpleasant environmental occurrence; they want to bring you to the negotiating table. They want to blackmail you into it, and they want to use fear as a strategy, as the tool to bring you to the table. Nehemiah said it in verse 9, that their goal is so that they can weaken them in the work so that it will not be done. Your enemy doesn’t want you to continue with the work you are doing.
In fact, as your work is attracting fans, attracting followers nationwide, worldwide, throughout your city, it is also attracting those who are haters of your progress. And they know, that if only they can bring you to the place of compromise, your authority will be weakened, your progress will be halted. And so, towards bringing you to a compromise, they create fear around you. Now, if you still read from verse 12, see what it says:
"Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me. 14 My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid."
Nehemiah 6:12-14
So, the enemies want you to be afraid and the reason is because they want you to compromise. When you have failed, then perhaps, certain things that you used to hold tightly, you will drop them. Now, let me read from the dictionary the meaning of compromise, so that we can understand why the enemies is interested in you getting to the place of compromise through the fear that they create around you. Compromise, according to the dictionary means "a solution to a problem in which two or more things cannot exist together as they are, in which each tone is reduced or changed slightly so that they can exist together." Now, it is already obvious that these two things cannot exist together; in their current state, in their current form, in their current pattern, in their current strategy, current tradition and culture, these two things cannot stay together.
Now, the enemies still wants them to be together, why? When they come together, their productivity, their profitability; their sustainability will be reduced, that is it. Now it says the only way they will ever come together is if each of the entity is reduced or changed slightly. So, when the enemies want you to lose your momentum, then they bring you to the place of compromise. The things you used to say, you stop saying them. The things you used to cherish, your core values, you need to replace them. Perhaps, there was a time you used to have excellence as your core value, now you need to replace it. Maybe you used to have some core values of integrity, then they want you to replace it. Now, replace it with something else, and when you can replace that, people will no longer see you as the people, the organization they used to see you, they now see you as a new organization that has been slightly adjusted and that has slightly lower value to offer to the public or to the people.
Now, the point is this. Your work is creating so much heat in the room and they want you to reduce the steam. Now, the only way to make you reduce the steam is to remove certain wood from your fire, and that is what is happening. Why are they removing certain wood from the fire? They are making you do that by creating fear that gives you the impression that perhaps, you are just wasting your the wood. Why should you burn the wood that is of little or no use? Nobody will demand for it. You are not clear or sure if your progress would be sustainable if the people will continue to demand for your product and so, they make you to drop certain things that make your product rich that make your service rich. They make you to drop your passion, they make you to drop your commitments, they want you to actually calm down on your commitments. And the goal is to bring you to the place of stagnation or of stunted growth.
Your growth is what is paining your enemies. Your organizational growth is the greatest thing of your organizational competitors and enemies. If you must continue to keep them in that pain, then you must continue to grow. That is why Nehemiah said "I cannot come down to meet you at the place of compromise because if I do that, the work I am doing will cease." Why should the world cease? Of course you know that the enemies want the work to cease. They don't want any competition. Your progress is affecting their own profitability and their comfort. They want to stop your own progress and if you must stop your progress, then you must come to the place of compromise. And to bring you to the place of compromise, they create fear around your work business atmosphere, around your organization atmosphere, around your operational atmosphere. And so, you must understand that fear is one big fuel of compromise, and compromise is an enemy of organization growth and development.
If you must continue the good works that you are doing right now, then you must never entertain compromise from any angle. You used to have a vision statement that implied six different things, they are asking you to go to three if they must work with you. The question is: must they work with you? If they don't work with you, do you think you cannot have others to partner with you in that same assignment? You are trying to extend your business to another product line, to another service line, you want to take your organization to another city, another country; and they are telling you, the only way they can work with you in this country is if you can start certain thing or if you can stop certain things which are inconsistent with your vision, with your values, with your objectives. And yet, you don't mind it simply because you are afraid that if they don't partner with you, your business may collapse.
I am challenging you today to avoid any form of compromise. If you must have a sustainable growth, if you must have a sustainable development of your organization over time, the you must run from compromise. Don't ever try to have any agreement with your competitors, with your enemies because the agreement is always to their own advantage and to your own disadvantage. So, what should you do? Continue the work! Continue what you are doing, continuing doing it because that is what you were doing before they noticed you. So, continue doing your work. Don't reach a compromise with your competitors, stay on your lane, stay sustaining the growth and the development that has been built over time by your hands, and I see God helping you, and I trust that the Lord will encourage you, the Lord will strengthen you. You hand will be lifted up and never to be brought down. Your organization, your business will not collapse, you will continue to experience growth, expansion and increase from this moment henceforth in the name of Jesus. Every kind of opposition against your expansion, the Lord will address them, the Lord will help you against them, and the Lord will uphold you in the name of Jesus.
Thank you for the gift of your time, my name is Gboyega Adedeji and it has been a great joy to connect with you again in this edition of Leaderview™. I hope to connect with you again next week Wednesday, stay leading, stay dealing with compromise in your organizational leadership and stay sustaining your growth and development as an organization.
God bless you!
