Corn Maze Leadership

Last night, my wife and I went to an event for small group leaders through our church. At the conclusion of dinner we went to a corn maze which was a first for me.

We split up into teams with the men on one team and the women on the other. The men were given a map and the women were not; however, they were given a five minute head start.

Even with the map, we got lost several times. Without a map I can see how you could spend a lot of time in there totally confused.

Well, even without a map, the women soundly beat us (I know that is not a surprise to many of you). But I discovered something interesting. Afterward, we discussed our experiences. The women seemed to bond and grow closer through this experience. Each of them experienced a chance to lead and they each found themselves trusting one another. They said they really felt like they were on the same team.

While we had a lot of laughs, our group did not really experience that. We spent most of our time following the guy with the map. As a result, we didn't bond as a group like the women did and we certainly didn't feel like teammates. Pretty interesting leadership illustration, huh?

As a leader, are you just charging ahead while looking at your map or are you getting everyone involved and building a team?