I want to talk about some things we need to do as leaders, new and old. These are things that will help develop you, whether you are new to a leadership role or been at it a long time. I have a heart for leadership. I think so many times we (leaders) are forgotten about. We as leaders need to continue to develop ourselves but I think the issue is that sometimes we don’t know how. My mission, if you will, is to show you a few of these things. I will use some different things from books I have read and put them into a language that is easy to understand.
John C. Maxwell wrote in his book “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” about the “Law of the Lid”. He talks about your potential as the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness. For example if your leadership ability rates 8, then your effectiveness will never be great than 7. The greater the impact you want to make the greater your influence needs to be. When I first read this my thought was, great now I’ll never be more effective than I am now. Then it clicked, you have to raise your lid. What does that mean and how do you do that?
Your effectiveness is determined by not just your success or dedication but more importantly your leadership ability. In your current position you may be very dedicated to what you are doing but the way to make a difference is to grow your leadership ability. You need to focus on your leadership, not your dedication.
Let me start with the definition.
Leadership:
1) The traits, behaviors influence, interaction patterns, role relationship and occupation or salaried position.
2) Articulating vision, embodying values and creating environment for the thing that can be accomplished.
Wow, what powerful words. I love the second definition. It paints such a clear vision of what a leader should be. We can look to the book of Proverbs for some great insight on articulating vision.
Proverbs 29:18 - Where there is no vision (no redemptive revelation of God) the people will parish. Amplified Version
Habakkuk 2:2 – And the Lord answered me and said, write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may be able to read it easily and quickly as he hastens by. Amplified Version
In Habakkuk when it is talking about writing the vision and engraving it, I believe that the purpose of having it written is twofold. One is to have it physically written and posted for everyone to see and serve as a reminder to you and everyone else of the purpose for the journey. One time when I was a store manager for a Fortune 500 company we were struggling in sales. The company was changing and there was some confusion as to who we were as a company. I brought our team together in a staff meeting and told them that we have to know where we are in the company, what our goals were. We have to know what our purpose was to our customers. Even though the company may have it own Mission and Values. We needed VISION. In that meeting we cast our own Vision for the store and how we were going to get there. After that I posted it as a reminder to our people. We also talked about it all the time. Everyone began to understand why we were there and what it was going to take to get there. The store really started to turn around. There was such a sense of team. Even when we would have corporate visits, all they would talk about was the sense of togetherness and how everyone was so calm and knew what they were doing.
The second is to have it written in your heart, is a great way to begin to lead your people. When you are out in the field, you might not have the literal posted version of the “vision sign” with you. The other thing, if it is in your heart it becomes second nature to you. You react to what you know. If you have studied the vision or purpose and understand it that is what will come out of the heart. If you pour water into a glass you not going to pour orange juice back out. What you fill your heart with is what will pour out of it. If you have understanding, confusion will not pour out. When an issue comes up, you know what your purpose is and how to handle it according to your goals. You have to know where you are going in order to get there and if people are following you, you have to have the directions.
This is vital to the growth of a leader whether in a spiritual or in a corporate setting it remains the same. You have to increase your knowledge and pray for wisdom. Here are a few things that you can do to help increase your knowledge:
First, find a mentor. Someone you can trust and someone that you can look up to. A person with the same morals and values that you have. Someone who is a difference maker. Someone who people are drawn to and want to follow. A person who is willing to teach and coach and hold you accountable.
The second is to study and read leadership books. If you have an iPod there are several things you can download for free. Study other leaders. Watch how they lead others and how effective they are. Learn from their mistakes. You will make plenty of your own, try to learn from the leader who has gone before you.
The third thing, is to set goals for yourself and have your mentor hold you accountable. Goals give you something to shoot for. It’s a challenge and you are pressing yourself. If your goal is to read one new leadership book a month, then set that goal and be held accountable to that. Another goal could be to become a better speaker, then find those opportunities to do so. You have to challenge yourself to do and be a better leader and person. Hopefully this will help you get started in the development of your leadership. Again I feel that it is important not only to tell you what is needed to help develop your leadership but give you some insight as to “how” to do it. Always remember, it is important as a leader not to keep what you have learned to yourself but continue to pass along the knowledge you learn to others that are around you. That, my friend, is what leaders do…we develop people.
As always pass this along to as many people that you know especially leaders in the Church…
Thank you,
Kristian
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