Free-Range Leadership

      I grew up on a chicken farm that raised over 36,000 chickens every 6 weeks for Gold Kist (later Pilgrims Pride). Before I had even heard the phrase “free-range,” our industrialized chicken operation was shut down due to my father’s battle with cancer. We now have, on a much smaller scale, a few free range backyard chickens that provide our family with fresh eggs daily. When we first got our chickens, I built them a coop in the back yard and fenced in a 10 X 15 area for them. For several months, maybe even a year, they laid eggs and nested in the coop I built. However, I really wanted to let them out so they could forage for bugs and worms like they love to do. Once I was confident their boundaries were well established and they knew where to lay their eggs, I set them free! Now it’s like clock work, the rooster crows every morning, the hens lay their eggs and they leave the cage to forage all day, then every night at dusk they return to their coop.  I apply this to developing leaders in my restaurant, nobody wants to be kept in a cage or micromanaged – establish boundaries then set them free, they will flourish!!

Another way to look at this comes from my military training. As a Recon Platoon leader, we used to create our own ranges, I would give my platoon sergeant and squad leaders the left and right limits and instruct them to ensure all bullets fired down range stayed within these limits. Other than that, they had “free range” to develop some incredible training experiences for my platoon.  Farming leaders requires letting go and allowing them to make mistakes. When boundaries are set but leaders are given the freedom to be creative and lead without being micromanaged, amazing things will happen – leaders will grow! If you think about it, this is the way God leads us.