Leadershp Thoughts

The role of a leader is somewhat akin to the general practitioner n medicine.  Rather than concentrating most of their time on one area of leadership activity and becoming extremely proficient in it, the average leader is required to do a great many things fairly well.

Upon graduating from our various school studies, it is wise to remember that commencement is just that, it is a beginning, not an end.  Remember that sill increases the more you use a tool.  Do your best from the beginning, but do not consider yourself a finished product. You've only just begun!

In recent years we seem to have overlooked modesty.  We should admit that we are novices in many areas and need wise counsel and support of those who have been in the business for a while.  We need to remember that just as submission to authority is a two-way street, mentoring needs to go in two directions: leader to people in areas in which they are specially equipped; people to leader in areas where members of your team have gained expertise through years of priceless experience.  Even when you have become a seasoned veteran, maintain an attitude of an amateur willing to learn from the marvelously gifted team members that surround you.

Whatever you do should not be done casually or haphazardly.  Whatever is worth doing at all is worthy of your best effort.

Rather than impressing people with your giftedness, remember two basic factors that will hold you in high esteem with your team.

First, love your people extravagantly.  If they are convinced from your tangible performance that you genuinely loves them, it is often easy for them to forgive many of your inadequacies.  This kind of love evidences itself in the degree of sensitivity you demonstrate for them.  It surfaces in your ability to spend time with them and really enjoy them s people, not as potential means for accomplishing your programs.  It comes to light more dramatically as your people find that you are quick to assume the blame for something that goes askew, humbly admitting that you do not have all the answers, seeking and honouring their opinions, hurts with them when hey hurt, and is quick to ask their forgiveness if you feel that you have failed them.  Such a leader does not come into the team environment exuding the impression that they know it all.  You need to come in knowing that God has given everyone a gift and that the accumulated giftedness, working in harmony together, is what makes up the genius of your team. "I am humbled that God has called me to a position of leadership among such a superior group of people.  I'll share what I know. You share what you know. Together we'll discover what we need to be and do.  Together we'll work to bring about what we want to accomplish through this team."

Secondly, there are a great number of leadership tools out there for you to use.  Personally find the material that deals with the spiritual, emotional,  and mental support system you will need to succeed.

We will get tired serving, but we will never tire of serving.  In our emotional roller coaster of life, we will feel inadequate until we reach a level we determine is success.  Until then, along with unrealistic expectations put on us from others may tempt us to put inordinate amount of time and effort into your work.  As a result, for those with families in particular, you may neglect those very people that are the most important to you.  Then there are others who spend so much time with their families that they perform not enough service to their work.  Both extremes of ambition and indifference must be avoided if a person is to succeed in leadership.

We are called to feed, lead and serve a group of people making up our team.  We look for ordinary people called upon to do extraordinary things.  Most of the time we dread giving out specifics to a job, we would rather go through a list of character traits and that's because it is more important to us what a team player is than what they are able to do.


http://youtu.be/3sDgIQJlGYg

The Leader's Role

Is responsible to care for team.

In this case, developing a proper attitude by model the desired behaviour. Believe it or not, this is hard to do - it requires a doggedly persistence because even if you do well 80% of the time, your team will catch you when you not and they will be more "impressed" with your 10% failure than your 80% success.

Is responsible for cultivating relationships with other teams.

You live in a community of many teams and your own team needs to engage, healthy, with those other teams.  Bonus - you get to learn their best kept secrets.  You, as the leader, are the personification of your team that you serve.  Therefore, it would be valuable to your team if you establish visibility within the community.  Make strategic visits, find out what others think about your team, there views of support or concern, how can your team improve or be better at supporting.

Is responsible for relationships with suppliers.

In times of need, the time you have deposited in relationships with these key people will be the time you can make withdrawals and not get overdrawn.  As always, relationships are two-way so make sure that loyalty and not only price are the reason you work with a supplier.  If you expect to receive support in the future, it is wise to purchase supplies from those who serve you best.

Is responsible for relationships with partners.

There are many organizations that have similar ties to what you do - whether specific or general in nature.  To become better known and to enlarge your knowledge base as to what is out there and how others might be affected like you are by various economic trends for example, get to know these people and get involved in their industry and get them involved in yours.  You will get a bigger picture of what is real than if you stayed within your four walls.

Enjoy this blog highlighting thoughts from a leader.

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Managing Leadership

I still think that there are too many of us spending long hours in our offices pouring over every detail and trusting no one but ourselves to make major decisions.

And it goes without saying that we say the opposite of what we do.

We add this to our list of behaviours that indicate we do not know how to spend our time wisely.

Our ability should be to share the work, to equip others to take over certain duties, and to function as the inspirational part of a team effort.

If we are constantly involved in petty details we may impress people by how hard we work, but we certainly do not impress anyone by how skilled a leader we are.

If you want to be able to survive a long and successful career, learn to manage your time and talents appropriately.

Schedule your day so that your time is spent reasonably and that you equip your people in the exercise of their purpose rather than working as a lone ranger.

See the work accomplished, but do not feel that it has to be you that has to do it all by yourself.

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The Ideal Leadership Plan

Allowing for great creativity because God allows that in our lives, we should all have a very unique leadership plan.

Some of us who work with managers, supervisors and team leaders should be assigned to a few standing committees or project teams - reporting back to the greater team body.

Structure of the project teams need to be such that it encourages greater discovery and research at the same time freeing them to engage actively in the work.

The leadership of this team needs to have a road map that they trust in order to allow for such open creativity - and comfortable with their own skin to all small leaders to begin to grow and exercise.

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Leadership Task - Teaching

One of the ways I introduce my financial planning seminars is the introduction that everyone there in the room today are students ready to learn and when everyone leaves the room at the end of the day, they will be all rookie teachers ready to teach others what they have learned.  For those that learn, teach.

You and I have probably noticed the same thing - the people that enjoy learning, enjoying teaching - they are full of passion, zeal, and found exercising a care for the topic. 

When that is true, you will find most passionate teachers want to see your life changed somehow and will call for some type of decision to be made in your life based on the information they have just spent sharing with you.  Again, another great mark for a great teacher.

Teaching is an enabler of truth.  Try and stay away from the temptation to being a refuter of error - and I say temptation because 9 out of 10 times you will not be refuting the error, but rather the group or person holding the position.  Of course that doesn't mean we can't all out the group or person for their position - try and stay to teaching.


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Leadership Task - Leading

Can we assume that everyone knows that leadership has nothing to do with being a dictator. 

Lose the haughty, superior or overbearing attitude.

Has nothing to do with whipping people from behind, urging them to get or keep going.

Rather, leadership, is about going out in front, setting the pace and inviting your team to follow you.

Also careful not to get to far ahead, you may discover when you look back that no one is following you.

The other end of the spectrum is the indecisive leadership style, which is not really leadership at all. This could be because you have left the discipline of planning behind and opted to go for a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants philosophy.

So instead of being out front, leading, you lag behind, hoping your team will not move ahead too rapidly.  Worse than that, you may actually serve as brakes when your team wants to put their dreams into action.

What do you think when you leave leadership to others?  Probably go on paths not intended for your team or even giant circles - spinning your wheels rather than progressing.

Leadership Task - Equipping

What does an equipped person look like -- one who has been made perfect for the job or who has completely adjusted to it.

I think there is an element missing in the equipping process that I would like to mention - and that is equipping your team to understand and work with their team and to be able to process teamwork.

This is one skill set that can be taught, but if it is modelled, would carry a lot more weight.  What you do not want to do is teach to say one thing, and then do another - that does not make a future leader and you are equipping someone on your team to work dysfunctional in wherever they are placed.

As you teach and model, step by step, you will teach to the point that your team will perform the task themselves and eventually, as they become skilled, they can begin to equip others too

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The importance of effective relationships

It is my conviction that the most of the trouble experienced by a leader in their organization is not based on leadership but relationships.

If a leader is able to form effective, meaningful relationships with the people with whom they come in contact, in most cases, they will succeed in the organization. 

If they have severe relational deficiencies, they are likely to become a casualty to the organization and end up in some other profession. 

It would be extremely helpful if young leaders were to take whatever tests are necessary to see if relational deficiencies exist in their lives.  If they do exist, then the person should seek professional counseling to help them work out their difficulties or they should abandon their plans for a leadership position.


http://youtu.be/Z_Q46sDa4Nc


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Predecessors

Every leader should make it a strict policy to refrain from speaking disparagingly of their predecessor.  Failure at this point is bound to react unfavourably on the present leader sooner or later.  No matter how adverse your opinion of the former leader, the latter is all probability has some friends in the organization.  Why incur their enmity at the start when no possible good can result from uncomplimentary remarks?  Individuals in the office of "leader" may fail at times, but the office is one of honour and to disparage the person of one who holds it or who had held it is likely to dishonour the office.  Failure here gives evidence of lack of the fruit of the Spirit.  Criticism can easily degenerate into the evil of gossip from which the leader, of all persons, should be separate from.

There are advice from two points of view about whether a leader should or should not discuss issues with their predecessor.

Some say that under no circumstances should you discuss your new leadership position with your predecessor because it might colour your opinions and your actions toward the team you will serve. This might be an acceptable course of action if the new leader is easily impressed and incapable of making up their own mind, but usually it is not.

In my time of leadership, only one of my predecessors came looking for me - our dialogue was specific and I mentioned to him that I did not think he would follow through on anything because he thought I was speaking out of hurt.  Ended up after nine months in the new position that he quit - this time he met with me again and apologized for not listening - absolute every character analysis I had given him was spot on - he wished he had listened and followed through better.

Myself, I have taken it upon me not to meet with my predecessor.  Not an issue for me necessarily, but there is one for the team.  Some team members may "think" and I do not need that - we all need a honeymoon stage - the leader and the team.


http://www.modbee.com/2011/05/28/1709254/firefighters-compete-using-predecessors.html

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Dealing Honourably with other Leaders

Relationships with other leaders should be  fraternal, honest, and professional.

It is unethical to destroy their reputation.

Unfortunately, many leaders are the worst gossips around when it comes to passing on word concerning fellow leaders.   Their gossip no doubt arises out of their own feeling of insecurity. 

Frequently, an insecure person tries to enhance their own reputation by tainting the reputations of others.  The insidious thing is that often the  gossip is clothed in spiritual terms. 

What we need today more than anything else are leaders who will be loyal to one another and who will defend one another.  Even when a leader makes a mistake, we should let them know that they we care for them, bleed for them, and are aware that every leader, not matter who we are, will find themselves best by overwhelming temptation at one time or another - there for the grace of God go I.

Developing Leaders

If you are arriving at a place where there is a healthy leadership team in place and you are surrounded by competent team members who understand that they are leaders and are in development - great - have an awesome honeymoon.

If not, not so great and post-pone honeymoon for extended period of time.

I love it when I entered a new place of ministry and found no leadership team, no experienced team members, no structure that supports the development of leaders yet am asked to perform miracles beyond imagination.  To this date that has never happened - I have always developed a team first.  In the long run - for those who can wait - success is always the fruit.

Why, because my first real leadership position was in a church.  I think there were at least 40 different groups raging in all kinds of activities - young to old, sports to marriage, evangelism to prayer.  Guess what - they all wanted me to be part of their group - guess what I said - yes.  Guess who saw the need for change, growth, development - people listen to this - for forty groups!!!  That's right, I never went home until midnight, six days a week, never saw my wife - and then the leadership team had the gull to say I wasn't working hard enough....

From then on, I developed first and moved on and developed again and moved on and developed again.  Much more fun.

One of the first things I do is check out the gifting, then equip based on that.  That includes Myers Briggs stuff, love language, leadership strengths/weaknesses, spiritual maturity etc.

Remember through the entire scenario that it is God who chooses all leaders.  Though we may have the tendency to become impatient with them because of their lack of training, ability and effort, remember to treat them with dignity and respect, trying to be submissive to them where possible just as you expect them to be submissive to your leadership.

God often will surprise us.  The most profound thought may come from the lips of someone we had considered totally inept.  If God is indeed the author of leadership and the chooser of leaders, then He is able to perform His work through the most unlikely candidates. If we doubt that, we who are part of active leadership should take a careful and penetrating look in the mirror.

The principle of mutual submission

An organizational structure resolves around some type of leadership hierarchical system.

The built in principle that applies to all those in leadership positions should be that of mutual submission.

There are some individuals who feel that they can do everything better than the next person, even when the next person is being paid to do that job specifically.  That usually happens to someone who has more educational training and they imagine that they have all the answers.  They believe that it is appropriate for them to impose those answers on everyone else, and goes about doing so with a grim determination.  Of course with a tad of humility, they would realize they are not the possessors of all wisdom.

God gave our communities a plurality of wise leaders.  A wise leader will realize that one of them should be discipling them.  Brighter still, a wise leader will keep themselves from clashing with older leaders, asking them to mull over the ideas and consider their wisdom.  Then when new ways of doing things are presented to the community they will be backed by a united front.

Does theology have anything to do with leadership?

I am going to go with the theory that it does - totally based on my life experience and what I see in others.

From 16 - 18 I attended a Bible college in the US - International Bible Institute and Seminary - where I came one semester shy of a BRE.

That BRE helped me get my first job in the church - a Christian Education Coordinator.  For those who know anything about church - that meant I was in charge of the children's education program, all the volunteer programs (40 of them) which ranged from evangelism to marriage to singles to house church to sports etc., all the hospital visitations, suicide counsellings, supervising the office staff, youth group (both of them - junior and senior) and taking over the emcee of church services where the pastor was not present.  Then after everyone else left the church, and you have the great opportunity of not only locking up, but counselling any poor soul who was found sitting on the church grounds that somehow no one else in the church saw - sometimes having to take them home with you.

If I didn't learn leadership then, I not sure what I would have learned.  My learning curve was spiked and all done in the love and grace of God's love - my Bible Study days helped my incredibly and the seminars the church allowed me to attend built up my specific knowledge base adequately.

However, if all you have is Bible training and that is all you count on and you do not grow in other areas of your life, you will find yourself struggling.  Understand, that the Bible has all the answers one needs in their journey, however, I am saying the learning of specifics that God has given us to help us build relationships with one another.

Here is my point - I start working with World Vision - the leadership team are all pastors.  In the space of five years, the leadership team has been changed.  The pastors are now business leaders with specific training in areas of expertise - the budget the team is raising climbs from 37 million to 77 million in those five years.

Why?  The leader they brought in saw the need for expertise, however, the most successful of these leaders were business people who had Biblical training were even better then their counterparts with none - and that included the President. 

How does a pastor think about leadership in the business world?  I remember one former pastor who began working at the Canadian Bible Society.  He mentioned that he would rather study under a professor from Harvard than under the leadership of a pastor when it came to learning about leadership.  At the time I knew he did not know what he was talking about because Harvard was teaching principles that came out of the lifestyle of Jesus who they thought had the best leadership traits in the entire world because He changed that world in 31/2 years and has a following today that runs into the billions.

Your Biblical training will allow you to bring God into every area of your life - mentoring, discipling, discerning, growing, building, loving, leading, coaching your team.  Bring God in, let Him lead through you, and your life will change because you will be learning something everyday and your staff will be excited to work with you because through you, their lives are being changed each day.

Nothing excites me more than to go downstairs and experience God in my devotions as He gives me instructions for the day - through His Word - then I give that away to others.

Know God, know what real leadership looks like.

Passing the Baton

What about the actual "setting aside"of  the leader in a place where they are recognized for the call and "dedicated" to their position.

It is the "ceremony" itself that places a leader in the front lines of those they serve.

I think that there are examples in the early church when they chose leaders and set them aside for service.  We are not sure what that actually may have looked like, but we know it was a public recognition of a particular individual who had certain necessary qualifications and to acknowledge the special role the individual would be taking.  Many times that involved the laying on of hands and I am not opposed to that.

The interview process to select this leader would have been quite extensive. So we know that beside their charming personality and charismatic ability, they have been selected objectively to fill the role that they have been called to.  That will be reflected in the leadership circles this individual will find themselves in over the following months.

The community expects to engage with a leader who is experienced in public speaking, professional in their knowledge of the conversation at hand and able to lead others or to create confidence in their ability that others decide to follow.

Even though a leader need to remember that as a person they are no different from anyone else, the office they hold is unique and important, and it needs to be set apart - there needs to be a certain honour given or maybe the word is respect.

http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/realizing-when-to-pass-the-baton/sHsT61MqqFyEbhwsdl6VPQ

What does a leader look like?

With the loss of hierarchy in the workplace and with emphasis being placed on leadership as servanthood, everyone is deemed a leader and everyone is deemed a servant.

Sometimes we probably go to far in extremes where the position of the leader is almost indistinguishable from those who are without major responsibility.

Somewhere along the way, we need to introduce the acting and dressing with a certain degree of decorum and dignity.

Principal LeadershipTools

Have you ever complained to your dentist about the high cost of dentistry.  I have, only because I no longer have benefits.  When you do, be prepared to walk through the entire office where they will outline in detail the cost of each piece of equipment and the potential replacement time and cost as well.

Leaders require tools too, but unlike dentistry, there is no where to recoup the costs.

I remember buying gift cards to bookstores for my friends as they took on leadership roles in their lives.  Never seen so much excitement.  I just recently left the employ of a university and was absolutely amazed that the leadership team pitched in and gave me a gift card for the university bookstore.  Amazed because I thought that was a bit out of style - but am I ever glad they didn't think so.

My library is amazing - I still have books from when I was a child, books that were on my dad's shelf, books from the homes of those who found themselves downsizing in the later years of their life, books from university, my kids books from university, and books from Christian organizations. The temptation that seizes me when I walk into a bookstore today is incredible - this man of steel - and recovering bookaholic, should come across a book on sale - even in the library - becomes a fool in love.

Nowadays, I keep less and give more away.  Not sure if that is making a statement to the lack of theological depth in most books, or the absolute lack of contemporary exposure in others, but I am finding more less attractive.  So I change my strategy and take out the truths I need give the books away to help others in their journey.

With the desire for a great book to read, I am finding that my university librarian is an amazing fount of information and expertise - find one and use them.  The university bookstore I mentioned above always had a book ready for me to buy - find a great bookstore manager.  Talk to leaders that you admire, ask them what they are reading and would that be a book they would recommend or another and why - go find a leader you want to follow.

The greatest leadership book of all time is the Bible.  Since most of us are amateurs, we need a good contemporary translation and access to quite a few more and at least some access to the original language so that we are able to parlay our modern day parables without going to far astray.  If you do not know where to go from here - find someone who has a very open mind themselves and will help you to a study Bible and a few more specific commentaries that deal primarily with leadership issues.

 History is a great source of material.  My favourite happens to be books on war.  I like strategy and can relate very quickly to war plans, and have found myself engaging a few of them, philosophically of course, and succeeding.

Leadership theology are quite in-depth studies on what leadership looks like covering as many facets of leadership that you can imagine - providing breadth, but digging deep to find truths that are secure enough to build upon its foundation as you begin your own journey into building a case for what leadership really is.

Biographies cover a story of a leader's life that you would never see as clearly as when reading a book.  The movie does not cut it.

Pull together a group of "leaders" for a time of training, mentoring, encouraging, building, holding each other accountable in area like ethics etc.  It will make a difference.

Practice your leadership skills on kids.  Could be your own, join your church Sunday School program or mid-week activities, scouts or guides etc.  If you can't teach kids, chances are you are boring the brains out of the adults who are too kind to tell you so.

Look to missions as amazing models of leadership activity.  I just finished a book on the Jesuits.  Again, movies (just finished watching Behind the Iron Mask), wouldn't have helped me understand them well, but this book was an amazing articulation of what they did right - those things were incredible and I want to do incredible things - Jesuits lead the way.

Administration, the anvil of every ENFP (Myers Briggs) and yet I need to know how to organize my life, accomplish my tasks, organize my team, enlist and motivate others to carry out the work of our purpose.

Music, as simple as a phone call to a friend, actually a Skype call, and I heard music in the background.  My soul absolute sucked it up - and that was over Skype.  I hit myself silly, and as soon as I could, I put on my music.  Don't let the urgency of the day stop us from refuelling our soul for a leadership soul gives away constantly.

What are other leaders doing?  Sometimes it matters, sometimes not - but why re-invent the wheel we can take a roughly hewn one and replace it with wood , replace that with iron, replace that with steel and then cover it with rubber?  Just because someone came up with the idea to create a wheel out of animal bones and wrote a book about it - don't jump on bandwagons that do not have a proven track record over a considerable time period for you my find that they get brittle quickly and do not have any staying power.