Leadership Wednesday 26 - Mexican Toilets

I don’t like cleaning toilets.

That’s not a very controversial statement. It’s not like I said, “I don’t like The Beatles” or “I don’t like pumpkin pie.” Nobody likes cleaning toilets. Nobody likes getting on their hands and knees and scrubbing away at the toilet bowl line that has been there since the last time there was company over. Nobody likes cleaning toilets which is why leaders have to be first in line with the yellow gloves and Mr. Clean.

I’ve been on countless short-term mission trips to Mexico with my church. I was a leader for a number of those trips and at the end of every trip we would have to clean up the mess we had made. We stayed at a church so that meant sweeping, mopping, cleaning the kitchen, washing windows, picking up trash and, of course, cleaning the bathrooms. Cleaning a bathroom is bad enough, but cleaning a bathroom that has just been used by 20 high school boys for a week would count as cruel and unusual punishment in most states. Cleaning the bathroom was the worst job, which is why I always tasked myself with leading the team that cleaned the bathroom.

As leaders we need to be willing to do the dirty jobs, the ones nobody wants to do. We have to set the example and show that, even though we’re the leaders, we’re still willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish the team’s goal. When I was younger I thought that leading meant telling everyone else what to do so I didn’t have to do anything myself. I’ve realized, though, that no one is going to listen to what I say unless I’m willing to roll up my sleeves and get to work. When we dig ditches, take out trash, stack chairs, or clean toilets, we show that we’re willing to do whatever it is we’re asking of those we lead. And when we set that example, those we lead will be more willing to do what we ask, even if it’s cleaning a toilet.

When have you been more willing to follow a leader who led by example?