Leading overseas is exactly like leading in your home country. Except you don’t speak the language, know the customs or feel emotionally stable.

After living in Slovenia for the last 6 months and leading a team of incredible friends as we trust God for a student-led movement following Jesus, I’ve learned a few things. This is the advice I’d give if I could give a pep-talk to my pre-departure self.

1. Acknowledge that you are under-qualified.

Two weeks of training and one year of vocational ministry experience before moving to a country where you don’t speak the language is not enough to be qualified. My team of recent college grads were all as qualified as I was to lead a team. Unfortunately, everyone was completely perplexed about what it would take to build a movement of college students making disciples of Jesus.

Embrace all of your inadequacies. You can’t lead on your own, but God can lead through you.

2. Never stop learning.

You don’t know enough to stop learning. You’ll never know enough to stop learning. Learning doesn’t stop after high school or college–it’s a habit that all leaders need to develop.

I’m constantly amazed at how much more I need to learn from my team, students, and my coaches. I need to learn more of the language and the culture. I need to learn from the mistakes we make and the things that have gone right. If I stop learning, I’ve decided to stop leading well.

3. Analyze everything.

Ask questions constantly. Find out why things happen the way they do. Ask yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing. Ask why something has always been done this way or why it’s never been tried before. Ask yourself these questions to see how you’re really doing at your job.

Most people aren’t good at analyzing because they aren’t good at asking questions. The better you get at asking the right questions about everything you do, the more likely you will be to come out with a thorough, accurate analysis.

4. Throw away assumptions.

You can’t generalize one conversation across all people. Don’t make assumptions about your team, those you work with, or what always works or never works.

Small data points (one or two conversations) generalized across a broad spectrum (always, often, never) leads to dangerous conclusions (everyone is always like this, no one is always doing that, etc.). Don’t let yourself assume anything.

5. Take a step back.

Sometimes you get so caught up in events and meetings and conferences that you can’t tell what’s going on at a macro-level. Look at things holistically.

Most likely, the things you do each day are small pieces leading to the congruent whole. If you only look at the pieces, sometimes you’ll forget how everything even fits together. The more you look at the whole picture, the more you’ll see what you should be doing and what obstacles are keeping you from where you want to be.

6. Celebrate often.

Everyone loves a party. Celebrate with your students and your team. It increases momentum, and helps you trudge through the tough days when the wear and tear of the daily grind are overwhelming you.

Celebrating small victories in the beginning of anything is significant, especially if your team feels stuck and worn out.

For most of the year, I thought everything had to be all business. I was completely wrong. Celebrating with your team and your students is significant because relationships are built, friendships are deepened, and yet the mission remains at the forefront.

7. Keep vision at the front.

Remind yourself, your team and your students why you’re doing what you’re doing. You can’t over-hype your vision. 

It’s like driving from the midwest to Disney World. If you think you’re only on the highway to stop at dirty rest stops and eat at hole-in-the-wall diners, you’re going to want to turn around before you reach the halfway point.

If you remember the prize at the end of the drive, you’ll keep your foot on the pedal.

8. Encourage like crazy.

Take every opportunity you can to tell someone what you see in them or how grateful you are for them. Rock the encouragement hot seat.

Most people don’t realize how good they are at what they do. Be the person that brings it to their attention. Show them that you notice the small things they’re doing to help the team. Tell them thanks for always washing the dishes and working behind the scenes so the in-front-of-the-scenes things go off without a hitch.

9. Admit when you’re wrong, often.

Be quick to do this and your team will follow suit. Your team knows when you screw up. You aren’t fooling anyone by trying to brush things under the rug. Nothing kills momentum like an incompetent leader.

A leader willing to humbly admit his incompetence, however, is a leader others can follow.

10. Let go of control.

Admit you can’t fix every problem. Acknowledge your plans will fail. Accept the fact that you can do everything right and things will still go wrong.

Make good decisions, seek the Lord, and trust that He knows best.

11. Being American Isn’t an Excuse.

It’s not an excuse to be loud. To put your feet up on furniture. To not learn the language. To ignore the culture. To say, “This would never happen in America.” To flat-out state the US of A is the best country in the world (but yes, it’s up there.)

It is, however, an incredible opportunity to learn because you’re American, and, by default, be culturally insensitive and potentially ignorant. That’s ok. Play the American card, especially when it comes to Lesson #2.

12. Feel the freedom to fail forward.

Do it often.

You need to find ways that don’t work to find ways that do work. As Thomas Edison says,

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

I’m not sure when or where failure becomes the most horrifying thing on the planet (my guess is between Kindergarten and your Bachelor’s Degree), but it should be celebrated in the context of learning. Few events sting or teach as swiftly as failure.

Don’t fail for the sake of failing, but fail for the sake of learning. Fail forward, as in, do what you think is best, and if it doesn’t work, then you’re well on your way to finding a solution.

13. Fail fast.

Don’t deliberate for days, weeks and months on one new event, program or idea you’re trying. Try it, and if you blow it, try a new thing. This goes hand in hand with failing forward, but it’s the reminder that if you invest 100 hours in something and it fails or 2 hours in something and it fails, you’re in the same place at the end but with far more wasted time upfront.

Fail quickly and simply adjust course.

Failure is a common theme. The more you do it, the more you realize how you can do something better. Failure is an invaluable, underrated tool.

14. Don’t put your hope in anyone but God.

Not students. Not your team. Not someone with a ton of potential. Just Jesus.

There is no one riding in on a white horse to save you but your Savior. There is no fail-proof plan, no silver-bullet solution.

You’re hope is not in your performance, your success, or your final outcomes. Be faithful. Do all you can. Try all you can. Hope all you can in God alone.

Question: What are some of your favorite experience-taught leadership lessons?

Photo by http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Eastop