In The Hot Seat: Some Thoughts

This week I’ve been thinking about hot spots; not the hot spots that are vacation spots, spots that beckon us and offer rest and recuperation, but hot spots that we find ourselves in, that were not anticipated, spots that we are invited to fill because of a sudden move in our company or area of work.

I remember the educational institution that I had the privilege of going to. Some years back they had found themselves in a very critical position. In their 75 or 80 year old history, they had had 5 presidents. And to have had 5 presidents in that time scale means that each president had 10-15 years to stamp their authority and take the institution forward. And they had done it well. Suddenly the institution found with a President that they had certain issues with and there was a lot of debate going on, lot of acrimony. Finally the president resigned the position and the Board was forced to find an interim president till they could get a search committee organized.


The person asked to fill in as interim president was a senior faculty member, almost 75 years at that time, but with enormous wisdom and one who was just able to step into this breach. I was in this institution during that time and watched with amazement as he took the reins of the institution and began to lead. Very soon they found that he was doing more than just being an interim president and they asked him whether he would just be president. They removed the word interim and said, “Would you just consider being President of the institution while we take the time to establish a good search committee to find a new president?” And he did. He took the institution through this troubled time.

Many times we are called to step into the gap, to fill the shoes of somebody who has gone and it may not be part of the job description we signed on for, but it’s an added responsibility. I thought to myself, “How do we do that well?” It’s a wonderful opportunity to showcase some of the talents that we have, the gifts that we have, the resources that have hitherto not been tapped into, but can suddenly be put on display.

There are 4 things that we can do in that kind of situation and I want to share them with you very briefly.
When we come into that kind of a situation we need to breathe life, we need to show that there can be stability, we need to give a good foundation, we need to help people still be a part of the institution or office or the corporation that we are in and bring stability. We can do that in many ways.

1. We need to stamp our own authority and say, “We have no agenda. The agenda is just to stop this boat from rocking and to help each one to continue on with the job that they have. That leadership will take some time to figure out who is at the helm and we all have a job to do and we are going to do it and do it well.”
2. We need to bring healing. What happens in a situation like that typically is that people have taken sides of something that has been acrimonious in transition and those people need to be assuaged. There are hurt feelings, anger guilt. You need to create an environment to deal with it, to restore clarity in the organization to help the healing process, to keep people in and around who can hear things out, to help people express some of their frustrations and their anger or hurt during the situation.
3. Bring re-focus. Sometimes people tend to lose focus during a time like this. I remember many years ago, I was handed the reins of a choir and as you’ve probable guessed, music is a very integral part of my life. This was a major choir in Mumbai and I was a youngster then, didn’t really have what it took to step into this position. But the person who had started this choir had left and gone to Germany and handed the choir over to someone else who didn’t do very well with it. 45 members had whittled down to 12 or 13 members. Then the management asked if I would take over and I took it, thinking that it was a great opportunity. I love music and conducting. Soon I realized that people were waiting for the original conductor to return and looked on me as a stopgap. After one particular concert which we didn’t do very well, I called all of them and said, “Listen, I don’t know about you but I am not here to just keep things running. I am here to make sure that we get back to where we were, that we are a 45-50 member choir again, doing the kind of music that we used to do, that we have the energy that we had, that we have harmony in the group and if that’s not where you are, then you need to leave or find another conductor because I am not the person.” There was a stunned silence because I was just a 24 year old talking to people who are well entrenched in music and respected in their fields. But they bought into it and they suddenly realized that they could be part of what I was trying to tell them we could do. That was the turning point for the choir because we went on to become a 45 member choir, did the kind of music we were doing and when I handed it back to the original conductor, that’s where we were. But it took a little bit of re-focusing that a choir needed at that time.
4. To be able to instill energy and create vision once again. To be able to say, “Hey, we are not just going to go through the motions but here’s where we are going to go.

I remember reading something, can’t remember who wrote it. “Compelling vision needs these qualities:

1. Purpose: it needs purpose. Why should this vision be activated? Why are we doing this thing?
2. Projection: It needs projection. When must this vision be achieved? A time frame. Here is what we are going to do but we are going to do it in this time frame.
3. Plan: It needs a plan. How is this vision going to be accomplished? What are we going to do? How are we going to do it? Who is going to be involved in it? What are the other components of this vision?
4. Promise: who is going to benefit from this vision?

Those are the 4 things that we need to bring into the situation.

And sometimes when we step into a hot spot, we just look at it and say, “I am going to go through it and go through the motion and keep things together and then hand it over.” But maybe this is an opportunity, a beautiful opportunity for you to step in and showcase some of the things that till now, nobody else know about you.

Breathe life, bring healing, refocus and instill energy and vision. And maybe this will be a stepping stone in your life to greater things before you and that God can use you with.

I hope this has been helpful to you. I don’t know how many of you are in that position, but every now and then, we come into a place where we are put in not by the things that we have asked for. We have not asked for it but we are thrust into it and sometimes that is the time when greatness dawns on us. I pray that that will be true for you.

God Bless You All.