Positional Influence
January 28, 2008
We are currently in week four of working through ten sources or means of increasing influence in leadership relationships. Our working definition of leadership, taken from
Leadership for the 21st Century by Joseph Rost is:
“leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real change according to their mutual purposes.”
Even if you prefer another definition, it is hard to find anyone who defines leadership without the word “influence.” The Bible uses words like “power” and “authority” to describe the dynamic that exists between leaders and followers. Learning to use power appropriately, to manage authority in relationships for the common good is what I call “influence.” Understanding different aspects of leadership relationships will enable you to increase your influence in those relationships. We have already considered call, service, and the Holy Spirit as sources of influence. Now let’s turn our attention to a related concept – positional influence.
A leadership position comes vested with influence. For example, when I was 24 years old, I became a pastor for the first time. Our church had a policy, I later discovered, that no person could be elected as a deacon until they were 30!! Even though I was too young to be a deacon, I had been called as the pastor. When installed in that office, I became the leader – by position only. I clearly remember thinking in those early years, “People old enough to be my grandparents are now asking me for guidance.” Why? I was the
pastor.
When I became president of Golden Gate, my first cabinet meeting was similar. The other leaders in the room had more than 50 years of experience in higher education administration and yet everyone looked to me for leadership. I had never led a school of any kind and yet, once again, everyone was looking to me for guidance. Why? I was the
president.
Any position (youth minister, program director, professor, etc.) gives a leader influence. But be careful. Some leaders make the mistake of thinking their position gives them authority to give orders, make abrupt changes, squelch debate, and have their way. These leaders are really dictators, usually insecure men or women who use their position as a club to bludgeon their way forward.
Positional authority is a trust that requires stewardship and careful use. Very seldom do I ever say, “You are doing this because I am the president and I say so.” Is there ever a time to say something like this? YES. For example, in a crisis or a situation where reasons for the decision can’t be shared (legal, moral, or ethical), it is appropriate to simply say, “No discussion. Do it.”
When a leader does this, in the context of a track record of leading in a more collegial way – followers will usually respond positively. Followers understand sometimes a decision has to be made, period. No discussion. They also know very few situations call for this kind abruptness.
For example, I once had to dismiss a senior leader for inappropriate behavior. When I announced his departure, it was with a prepared statement to the staff that included “no questions, and no further information will be forthcoming.” Since this was a very unusual way for me to relate to them, they understood and accepted my decision.
Again, positional influence is a trust. Use it carefully. When the only answer a parent has is, “Because I said so,” real leadership of a family has probably been lost. The same is true in organizations – including churches. Use the “big gun” of positional authority for a problem or situation truly deserving such an approach.
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Gaining Influence Through The Spirit
January 22, 2008
Christian leaders have a unique source of power, authority, or influence in leadership relationships. Unbelievers, no matter how gifted they may be as leaders, simply don’t share this special source - the Holy Spirit.
We are in our third week of considering ways to increase influence in leadership relationships. This is essential because of our working definition of leadership. Joseph Rost provides our working definition: “leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real change according to their mutual purposes.”
If leadership is an influence relationship, and I believe it is, then it behooves us to increase our legitimate influence of others. This is not about learning manipulation skills or ways to get others to do what we want. It is about learning how to influence others in legitimate ways to accomplish shared outcomes.
A Christian leader is indwelled by the Holy Spirit. A Christian leader has the capacity to be filled, empowered, and guided by the Spirit. How does this increase influence in leadership relationships? Here are some examples.
Filling – When a Spirit-filled leader walks into any situation a new spiritual dynamic occurs. For example, this has happened many times. When I have visited someone’s home, they hide beer bottles or slide pornographic magazines under the National Geographic. Why? I would never be so rude as to suggest such behavior. But my presence introduces a new spiritual dynamic.
Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying I’m some kind of holy, spiritual dynamo. I’m simply saying the presence of the Spirit in me as a leader influences people to do things. They “just feel” they need to put out the cigarette (one tried to hide a lit one in his pocket) or stop cussing.
Empowering – When a Spirit-empowered leader speaks, it is louder than E.F. Hutton! People listen and respond in ways no one can really explain. For example, when preaching I am often amazed at the response. God works through me, sometimes giving me new thoughts or urging me to use some specific illustration that touches my audience. At other times, in meetings (or in a counseling session when I was a pastor), I will ask just the right question or give just the right insight. God is empowering me, using me beyond my abilities and training to accomplish his purposes.
Again, don’t misunderstand. People don’t hang on my every word. Sometimes, I say really dumb things. But more often than I could ever expect or predict, God empowers something I say to win someone to Christ, counsel someone about a personal issue, or help decide a complicated problem.
Sometimes, after an event like this, I pray, “Father, you were amazing back there. Thanks for what you did through me and for letting me be part of it.”
Guiding – When a Spirit-led leader is at the helm, he or she will have a sense Someone else is charting the course. A physician friend of mine once told me, “People have no idea how often we are guessing, how we are really ‘practicing’ medicine.” I feel the same way as a leader. My followers have no idea how many times I have no idea what we should do. So I pray “Father, I have no idea what to do. But I have to make a decision today about __________. Please guide me.”
God’s guidance is mysterious to me. I make decisions by faith, only sure of God’s guidance in hindsight. While I pray for it and trust God it is happening, the evidence is in the outcomes (sometimes not evident until a long time after the decision).
So, if you want to be a more influential leader deepen your dependence on the filling, empowering, and guiding of the Holy Spirit. Begin each day with fresh confession of sin (particularly of your big ego – every leader has one). Ask God to fill you with his Spirit. Ask God to empower your words. Ask God to guide your decisions. Yes, get down on your knees and pray like this every morning. Then do your best, by faith, trusting God to do more through you than the sum total of your skills, training, abilities, and experience could ever produce.
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Gaining Influence through Service
January 14, 2008
After hearing his significant vision for rapid and dramatic change in his new ministry setting, a young pastor asked me, “What do you think I should do first?” My answer startled him. “Go home. Marry and bury a few people. Then start making all these changes you are proposing.”
My advice was for my young friend to serve first, earning the influence necessary to make significant change. Serving is one way to increase your influence in a leadership relationship. In fact, serving is the primary way Jesus taught us to demonstrate our love for others and earn their loyalty and respect.
Remember our working definition of leadership, borrowed from Joseph Rost’s research? He determined, and I agree, “leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real change according to their mutual purposes.” We learned last week it is possible to increase influence by implementing and managing ten different aspects of relationships between leaders and followers. Your call was the first we discussed. The second factor is service.
Why does serving others increase your influence with them? Very simply, serving demonstrates love. Serving reveals your true motives. Serving communicates you want the best for your followers, that you are not just managing your relationship with them for your benefit.
Serving others demonstrates your commitment to leading like Jesus. Jesus sacrificed himself to meet the needs of others. Jesus told you losing your life was the way to find it. When followers receive your sacrificial, unselfish service – they know you love them and are more likely to follow you.
In my first pastorate, one family was particularly prickly and difficult to lead. After 6 years of working with them, my service through a critical illness and death of one of their children, changed our relationship. They saw my demonstrated commitment to their family and were finally willing to start following me as their pastor. Soon thereafter, I resigned to become a church planter. The matriarch came up to me in tears after my announcement and said, “Why are you leaving? You have just now become my pastor!”
Meeting a significant need, helping her family through a painful loss, had finally opened her heart to my leadership. What my preaching and programming couldn’t do, loving service did.
Are you having a hard time serving others? Do you need to fine tune your motives for leadership? If so, read through this excerpt from the chapter on servanthood from my book The Character of Leadership. Ask God to refine your motive (love) and empower your core method (service) for increasing your leadership influence.
Choose to do a dirty job. Most leaders are not expected to do dirty work – like cleaning toilets, changing diapers, or mowing the lawn. And, frankly, most of the time leaders should not do these jobs. Good leaders recruit, employ, and empower people to do all kinds of things like this. Part of being a good leader is realizing how different people can make a meaningful contribution and utilizing them appropriately.
But one way to do a “motive check” is to choose a dirty job and do it. One church leader, struggling with his motives, contacted his pastor and said, “The next time you have a really dirty job – like a toilet backed up or something – call me.” Within days, plumbing that always worked backed up badly! The opportunity to do some really dirty work presented itself, and with it, came a cleansing of both a bathroom and a young businessman’s heart. Choosing to do a job normally beneath this store manager’s dignity humbled him and helped him reconnect to love as a motive for ministry.
Doing something like cleaning up a sewage problem, without any fanfare or expectation of appreciation, can humble you. It demonstrates you are not above doing anything required of your followers. It sharpens your motives. There is no glamour, just the satisfaction of knowing you are willing to serve. There are no accolades, just the satisfaction of emulating Jesus.
Choose to serve anonymously. A second scenario that sharpens motive is choosing to do something anonymously. I was once responsible for a prolonged volunteer building project. For about two years, I spent every holiday weekend helping build a major ministry facility. Each time I worked with a different set of volunteers. Most did not know I was the CEO of the organization building the facility. I always tried to join a work crew, keep my identity quiet, and grind out the work.
One day, while moving multiple piles of plywood into position for decking, my co-worker asked, “What do you do for a living?” When I told him, he replied, “Wow, and you’re out here working?” My cover was blown!
But while it lasted, it was a great opportunity to work without recognition. I served anonymously, usually doing basic work setting the stage for the real craftsmen who would return on Monday. Their work was what people would see. They would get the well-deserved credit. Each session left me sore, yet deeply satisfied with what I had done. I had worked hard because of love – for the Lord, his work, and for the building’s ultimate purpose and mission. I had worked anonymously without recognition or reward other than purified motives. It felt good and reminded me all my work should be done with this spirit.
Choose to serve secretly. Occasionally, opportunities arise when leaders can serve without ever revealing their involvement. Serving secretly, perhaps like nothing else, will deepen love as your leadership motive.
For example, you can give money to meet a need only you know about. Give cash, directly to the person, secretly and anonymously. You can make another person successful without them knowing of your influence. You can meet a personal need without anyone knowing you have been involved. You can solve a problem without revealing yourself as the solution. Personal examples, on this point, have to remain secret. If I wrote about them, some of their power to shape my motives would be lost!
When I first became a denominational leader, my predecessor told me, “The things you will do in this job that will mean the most to you, no one else will ever know about.” He was absolutely right! My most deeply satisfying ministry has not been public ministry. It has been ministry done quietly, often secretly. Doing meaningful things for others, with only God for an audience, is a unique pleasure.
The recipient of secret service can also learn something about motives for ministry leadership. When our first child was born, a major department store delivered a full bedroom suite of furniture to our home. At first we refused delivery, denying we had made such an order. Then we realized we were the recipient of someone’s secret service. Many years later, we still don’t know who gave us the gift. But we learned a powerful lesson. Someone loved us enough to serve us, without any reward. Servant leaders do the same thing for others.
Choose to serve an enemy. Jesus said, “Love your enemies” (Matt. 5:44). Since he did not give pointless instructions, Jesus’ admonition means you will have some enemies to love! Leading involves taking public positions, making controversial decisions, and having opinions or perspectives others do not share. This creates opponents and critics who can become enemies. One way to learn to love others is to choose to serve an enemy.
Once, another leader asked me to help him with a family crisis. He had been a vocal, public critic of my ministry. Coming to me was humbling for him. Instead of referring him for help, I decided to help him personally and quietly. God used the circumstances to remind me how to love someone, no matter how they had treated me, and deepened love as my motive for ministry.
Pastors often have the opportunity to love critics and serve them quietly. On several occasions, church members have been critical of me or opposed my leadership and very soon after had a personal or family crisis. Something spiritually profound happens when you provide pastoral care for someone who does not care much for you. More than ministry occurs. God is often giving you a major motive check and the opportunity to sharpen your love for him and his people.
Choose to make someone else successful. A unique dynamic for ministry leaders is how much our work is empowering others for success. For example, for about ten years, part of my job was negotiating church planting funds from a national missions agency. Those funds would often flow to new churches many months after the negotiations had been completed. By the time the money arrived, my role would have been completely forgotten (if it was ever known!). The church planters who received the funds and the converts and churches that resulted often never knew about my role in the process.
A good way to purify your motives for leadership is to find ways to make others successful. When I saw those churches flourishing, I often left their services with a quiet satisfaction. I would pray, “Thank you, Lord, for letting me have a hand in their success. And, thanks for not letting anyone remember I had anything to do with it.” Leaders can make decisions, launch processes, create systems, and empower people to be successful without any hint of their involvement. Like a show’s producer, we can set the stage, employ the crew, choose the director, and handle all the logistics. But when the curtain goes up, we will not be anywhere on stage. Making others successful, and choosing to do it without expecting any recognition, is a surefire way to purify your leadership motives.
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Increasing Your Influence
January 7, 2008
My working definition of leadership comes from an exhaustive research project on leadership that resulted in the book
Leadership for the 21st Century by Joseph Rost. His definition is "
leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real change according to their mutual purposes."
Most people agree "influence is a key component to leadership. The rest of your definitions or understanding of leadership determines
how you seek to influence others, not whether or not you
will influence others. My perspective can generally be described as "servant leadership" which means increasing influence is rooted in the values of practices of that form of leadership. My perspective is also distinctly "Christian" which further determines the sources and systems appropriate for increasing influence.
Synonyms for influence are power and authority. Sometimes, people react negatively to one or both of these words. Depending on how one has heard these words used or modeled, one or the other of them can seem negative. But, really, neither is negative. Jesus, for example, has "all power" (Matt. 28:18-20) and establishes authority relationships in the home, church, and government. We should not shy away from accepting influence, power, and/or authority as part of leadership relationships.
Leaders who deny these factors in leadership relationships probably won't be leading very long-or will be miserable in the process. Denial doesn't make these issues go away. Some Christian leaders are also uncomfortable talking about "increasing influence," believing influence is a spiritual reality that "just happens." Implementing specific strategies to increase influence seems somehow sub-spiritual. It isn't.
Over the years, I have discovered ten sources of influence (power, authority) in leadership relationships. These influences are "relational," which means both the leaders and followers have potential for influencing each other in most of these areas.
Before we start working through my list, how many sources of influnce in leadership relationships can you name? Make your own list. Perhaps you will think of something I have not included. Email it to me and my list may grow! Here is the first item on the list.
The first source of infuence in a ministry leadership relationship is "call." When God calls, and a church or ministry confirms that call by asking you to become their leader, influence happens. God's call infuses a leader with authority, and humility, to lead. Authority comes from knowing
God has called you to do something. Humility also comes from knowing God has called you and you are
accountable to him.
Followers who extend a call, a formal request to be led, are using their influence to create a new relationship in which they voluntarlity submit to a leader's authority. This is a stewardship to be treasured and nurtured, not a privilege to be abused. A call gives influence and sets the stage for greater influence to be developed. Be careful to avoid thinking, "I'm your leader, follow me!" as an appropriate expression of the influence provided by your call. A call sets the stage for a significant influence relationship. How you manage that opportunity is part of increasing your influence over time.
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