REpost: leadership

I'm doing some leadership development with our staff and leaders...and in prepping I went back and read through this article I wrote in 2008. I'm reposting it now to kick-off a 4-part blog series on leadership.

Certain skills are valuable to all good leaders. I am finding it very difficult to place the following list in an order of importance, though, I might consider them in two groups: 1), of primary importance and 2), of secondary importance.

Primary, or inward skills: Self-Awareness, Discernment, Courage, Loyalty, Integrity

Secondary, or outward skills: People skills, Listening skills, Communication skills, Management skills (including delegation), Initiative (including forward-thinking)

Good leadership is the discipline of building intentional relationships to help guide and enable people to participate in a vision, mission, or goal. People will join a leader because he displays love, humility, authenticity, competency, and self-control. For this reason, leadership must be an action-oriented, interpersonal influencing process. In essence, leadership involves vision and personal initiative. Jesus, who perfectly modeled loving, authentic, relational leadership, did more than just teach these characteristics. He communicated these characteristics through the actions of his life and leadership. One of my favorite leadership quotes has been “We must be the change we envision”; and it is this participation that allows people to truly join and follow a leader, rather than simply submit to his words.

I highly value a self-differentiating-team style of leadership; and I believe that small strategic teams can multiply participation in effective processes. In this model, people are released to reach towards their potential, and together they make something greater than any one of them could have made on their own. In the church, there is strength in dependence as we co-depend on God’s people and ultimately we depend on God. (And not to get way off of track, but, in a way, this mimics a social, or economic, view of the trinity. As Christians, we embrace and celebrate three equal and distinct functional expressions of God’s identity. All divine activity occurs through the cooperation of the three Trinitarian members; and the members express the excellence of the whole one God. Each part of the Trinity fulfills a role within a single, divine program.)

It is true, that there is strength in numbers and that one stick can easily break, but a bundle of sticks cannot be broken. I believe that more success can be experienced when leaders focus on their strengths and depend on strategic teams to accomplish more. Some years ago, I read The Second Coming of the Church, by George Barna, on which I have based much of my leadership philosophy. He asserts that there are four necessary types of leaders in a good leadership team construct. Visionary leaders see the big picture. They dream dreams, tell stories, and inspire people. Strategic leaders know how to put a vision into action. They know where they are going and can determine how best to get there. Operational leaders get things done. They are organized, administrative, and task-oriented. Relational leaders are team builders. They bring cohesion between goals and people; they are often the “glue” that holds the organization together.

Some people are born with leadership traits, but real leaders are developed. I believe that people can work-hard-to-get-better at anything; but one’s weaknesses will never become their strengths. Leaders will be most efficient in areas in which they are most competent. By strategically building teams with balanced leadership styles and skills, I believe that more can be accomplished, and more can be accomplished better. Good leaders are those who are always learning and always developing. In effective leadership, one must never grow stagnant, but instead they must continue to evaluate themselves and their processes, sharpen their skills, and make changes when necessary. Good leaders will always become better leaders when they share leadership, lead by example, and genuinely connect with the people that they are leading.