Knowing When to Relate and When to Lead

I just returned home from Scotland after visiting our missionaries with this guy and another guy from our church. Yes, we did play St. Andrews and it was spectacular (I make no apologies!). On the flight from Edinburgh to New York, the flight attendants were still serving snacks in a frenzied manner as we began our initial descent into NY. I asked one of them why they were in such a rush. It turns out the pilots had played a joke and told the flight attendants we would be an hour late, when we actually were almost an hour early. The flight attendants were literally running down the aisles picking up trash and securing items in order to prepare for landing (they even threw the bags of trash onto the bathroom floor!). They sat down to land within 30 seconds of landing. It was extremely funny because I knew what had happened, but I wonder how it was viewed by the other 200 passengers unaware of the joke. The other passengers probably thought the flight crew was extremely inefficient and unprofessional.

It got me to thinking about leadership. It's important for leaders to relate to their employees and volunteers. This should include many moments of laughter with one another that build relationships. However, leadership involves timing. Just as leaders need to make right decisions at the right time; good leaders know when it's time to relate and when it's time to lead. These pilots didn't understand the law of timing. There are moments that require leaders to lead in a transcendent way:

• When it involves mission – jokes would have been fine over lunch, but the crew should be committed to its mission (making the flight safe, enjoyable, and efficient).
  
• When it affects another person's performance – the passengers unaware of the joke simply thought the flight attendants did a poor job of planning.
  
• When it reflects poorly on the organization – the displeased passengers will remember one thing – the airline seemed disorganized!
  

The real problem is that view of the flight attendants is not accurate. These flight attendants were great! They handled some unruly passengers with professionalism and even handled a minor medical emergency with great compassion. It makes me wonder about my own leadership – do I lead and relate well? Am I intentional about timing my relationship and leadership moments to maximize my employees/volunteers potential for the good of the organization?

What are your thoughts?