Every church team (staff, volunteers, etc.) has them.
The “wow” people.
And the “how” people.
The wow people walk into a meeting with energy. Ideas. Possibility. They’ve never seen a brainstorming meeting they didn’t want to attend.
The how people walk in with a calendar, a budget, and a quiet awareness of how long everything actually takes. And that most of this stuff is ridiculous. And not even viable.
The meeting begins. And somewhere around minute three, things get tense.
If you’re a wow person, you’ve watched it happen. An idea gets floated. Then someone says, “We can’t do that.” Or worse, they mentally check out.
If you’re a how person, you’ve felt it too. The ideas start flying. None of them are grounded. You’re calculating timelines while everyone else is dreaming about snow in Miami.
Both sides are right.
And both sides can make the other miserable.
The Real Leadership Problem
Regardless of which side you fall, this tension isn’t a personality issue. It’s a leadership issue.
You could separate wow people from how people. But you end up with two things:
- A list of exciting ideas that are unrealistic, off mission, or disconnected from capacity
- A group of implementors who slowly disengage because they feel unheard or set up to fail
On paper, separating ideation from implementation sounds efficient. In reality, it creates frustration and turnover.
You don’t need separation.
You need intentional structure.
With Your Wow People
I lean slightly wow myself. That’s not totally fair. I’m pretty extreme on the wow side. However, strategy is my core superpower, so I live in the tension. Mother Nature was having fun.
Here’s what wow leaders and visionaries must learn.
First, not all ideas are equal.
An idea that is on mission, on time, and within budget is a good idea.
An idea that costs more than your annual budget, or requires capacity you do not have, is not automatically a bad idea. It just may not be feasible right now.
That distinction matters.
Second, how people are not dream crushers.
They are feasibility protectors.
They are not trying to pour cold water on vision. They are trying to make sure what you say yes to actually happens with excellence.
When wow people understand that, the temperature in the room drops.
With Your How People
Now let’s talk to your implementors.
The most helpful mindset shift for how people is simple.
The first answer to every idea is not “no.”
It is “anything is possible.”
That does not mean everything is wise.
It does not mean everything gets implemented.
It means we explore possibility before we judge feasibility.
I used to say this to my kids all the time.
“Is it possible that your brother didn’t mean to hurt you?”
“Is it possible your teacher doesn’t actually hate you?”
Possibility creates breathing room.
In a church leadership meeting, that breathing room is everything.
Let’s say someone suggests covering the church lawn in snow for Christmas. And you’re in Miami. It’s 87 degrees.
The immediate reaction might be, “This is insane.”
But pause.
Is it possible to have snow on your lawn in Miami?
Yes. It’s possible.
Anything is possible!
It might cost more than your annual budget. It might require permits and refrigeration systems and logistical gymnastics. You may quickly discover it is not feasible.
But the role of the how person is not to shut down possibility.
It is to investigate feasibility.
Anything is possible.
Not everything is feasible.
When your how people learn to open their hands to possibility and then apply their execution superpower, something powerful happens.
Wow people feel heard.
And a surprising number of strong ideas actually move forward.
The Leadership Move That Changes the Room
If you lead the team, this is on you.
You have to teach both sides their superpower.
You also have to create a meeting rhythm that honors both.
That might mean:
- Clarifying when a meeting is pure ideation and when it is feasibility review
- Explicitly stating that ideas will not be judged for the first portion of the conversation
- Giving how people permission to ask feasibility questions after ideas are fully surfaced
- Reconnecting every idea to mission, timeline, and capacity before a decision is made
This is not about getting everyone to “just get along.”
It is about helping your team understand that vision without execution is hallucination. And execution without vision is maintenance.
The church needs both.
When wow and how people trust each other, you get fewer stalled initiatives. Fewer half-finished projects. Fewer frustrated staff.
And more mission movement.
Quotes to Share
- “Anything is possible. Not everything is feasible. Great leaders know the difference.”
- “Vision without execution is hallucination. Execution without vision is maintenance.”
- “When wow and how people trust each other, mission momentum multiplies.”
Helping You Add More Intention To Your Mission,
Dr. Gavin Adams
