Hopefully, leaders clean more messes than they make.

In our fast-paced decision-making and interactions with our teams, it's not difficult to make a mess.

We can speak poorly, be misunderstood or simply fail to connect as we should. 

The busier we get, the more messes we can make. I think that Murphy guy said something similar.

I've heard a mess defined as: "When you think about it, it takes energy away from you."

Obviously, we need to be conscious about not making messes. But we all make them. Leaders will focus on cleaning messes before barnacles develop.

I have always taught my students to run to problems not from them. We can learn about the potential of a graduating student by studying transcripts for dropped classes. When we see a long list of "drops," we have an indication of how a young graduate might approach problem-solving.

Somewhere along the way in the development of entitlement, it seems that running away from messes becomes acceptable behavior. Most leaders are weary of excuses, denials and outright fabrications. 

Effective leaders teach accountability for mess-making. Mess-cleaning is also an important teaching point. We need our teams to own their messes and experience character-building by fire.

Cleaning messes is a powerful teacher to encourage fewer messes.

"For the good I desire to do, I do not do, but the evil I do not want is what I do. ... O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 7:19, 24-25).

Dr. Steve Greene is the publisher and executive vice president of the media group at Charisma Media and executive producer of the Charisma Podcast Network. His book, Love Leads: The Spiritual Connection Between Your Relationships and Productivity, is now available.

Leaders, Dr. Greene wants to help you understand the spiritual connection between relationships and productivity. Read his new blog, here.

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