Is that an instruction or a description? In depends on the context, or on effective communication.
For spiritual leaders to be effective, they must be able to communicate the vision of what they are doing within a ministry. Effective leaders do not tell people what to do but instead, they describe the vision, the outcome they want to achieve, and then allow those that are working on the effort to use their innovation and talents to achieve the outcome. The leader does not give instructions for every step of the process, but instead gives a detailed description of the desired result. When the leader gives this type of description of the what is desired to be accomplished, the following can happen:
People get to use their creativity and gifts.
They begin to “own” the project – it is what they are doing, not just “following orders.”
They likely achieve the goal faster doing it their way.
They invest more energy because they chose the method.
For the spiritual leader to be successful in this approach, they need to focus on the following:
Focus on Ultimate Goals rather than Specific Tasks.
Focus on Achieving Goals, not just doing Activities.
Focus on Teaching others how to think, not What to think.
Focus on Describing the Goal, not Prescribing each step of the process.
When we set expectations, high or low, people will usually perform to those expectations. It all begins with the vision that is cast and the way they are encouraged to engage in that vision. In the end, “clean window” should always be a description of the ultimate goal and not an instruction of the task to be done.
Activity does not equal accomplishment.