Leadership Task - Shepherding

The word pastor means shepherd.  Many times I went to my team members and told them I was their pastor.  Freaky looks, but lots of wonder and then amazement as they saw a different kind of leadership in their lives.

Shepherding can only be successful if implemented with the right attitude - not begrudgingly, feeling compelled to do so, but voluntarily and willingly.

Shepherding should be one of the most desirable and gratifying areas of your leadership responsibilities.

Check out this link - first part of a thesis paper on shepherding leadership -http://gradworks.umi.com/34/25/3425741.html

Reconciling Relationships

Not in the sense of peace verses conflict but in the sense of time - spent at work verses at home - a conflict that probably never will end.

Nolan Harmon identifies that "there are time when an emergency at home demands every thought of the father/husband, there are times when an emergency at the office becomes so imperative that it takes precedence over all home duties.  This will be admitted.  What is not so easily remembered, however, is that a leader's relationship to their family is as high and as sacred as that to their work."  So sometimes work gets precedence and sometimes family.

What we have is an interlocking of responsibilities.

Nolan Harmon calls for this - "the better the father, the better the leader; the better the guide for the others, the better the guide for one's own children."

Personal LIfe

"Life In a Fishbowl"

Excessive demands make it often easy for us to become absorbed in tasks and ignore those important personal needs.

Those needs include the following:

•Sleep – morning person or night owl get the required amount of sleep that we have you refreshed for the next day http://www.thoughts.com/shemelts/the-power-of-sleep

•Nutrition – watch the sugar and the caffeine - some of you know the 3 o'clock wall is an indication of a sugar addiction and just try and not have a coffee for a day and see how many trucks have hit you...

•Recreation – do it regularly and make sure your phone is no where near you - whether sports, gardening, hiking, reading, fishing...

•One day a week off – unplug the phone - doing something that completely has nothing to do with your work environment

•Find a mentor/friend/confidant - sounds easy? Try it...

•Relationship with Jesus - Many people take this part for granted – especially if the leader has ‘pastoral’ tendencies. A close walk with God does not come automatically. In fact, this is the hardest work of all and the part of a leaders life that requires the greatest amount of personal discipline.