Natural Born Leaders
February 25, 2008
For several weeks, we have been considering ways to increase influence in leadership relationships. These skills are essential because our working definition of leadership, 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.”
One Christian leader, a friend of mine, believes leadership can’t be taught. He told me, “A person either has leadership ability or doesn’t. You can’t teach a person how to be a leader.” Obviously, I don’t agree. But my friend does make a valid point. Some people are natural-born leaders.
Recently, a young corporate leader showed me his annual review from his boss. The first sentence was, “This young man is a natural-born leader.” The review went on to describe innate qualities this man has which are making him successful as he begins his business career in a large company. After asking a few questions about his past experiences, it was easy to see this fellow has been a leader since grade school days. Truly, he was born with unusual leadership ability.
But there are two dangers here for Christian leaders. First, a natural-born leader has a tendency to trust his ability, rather than trust God to work through him or her. Many leaders know the pain of going through a “breaking experience” whereby they come to the end of trusting themselves and submit their leadership ability to God for his purposes. Every natural-born leader must go through this process in order to be useful to God. God does not use strength. He uses weakness to glorify himself.
One very capable young leader told me, “Until I learn humility, I know God can’t use me to my maximum capacity.” He’s right. What he may not yet understand is humility is often learned through failure. God allows natural-born leaders to come to the end of their abilities, often to fail, to learn humility and submission to him. Like Moses laying down his staff, only to pick it up again in the power of God, a natural-born leader must lay down his or her strengths and have God restore them for proper use.
A second danger for Christian leaders is shirking responsibility because you feel you don’t have natural leadership ability. The Bible has many examples of God selecting unlikely people – David is a prime example – and using them significantly. Limited natural charisma is no excuse to deny your call to Christian leadership. God calls, God empowers, and God enables you to learn the skills to improve your leadership influence. Do not succumb to the temptation to avoid taking leadership responsibility by using the excuse “I’m not a natural-born leader.”
Thank God he makes some people with significant leadership. Thank God many of these people surrender those strengths to God and become truly useful to him. And, thank God for many “lesser-born” leaders who are vital and useful in kingdom service around the world.
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It is what you know
February 18, 2008
Leadership involves influence. Increasing your influence increases your leadership effectiveness. We’re in the process of considering ten healthy ways to increase influence in leadership relationships. Our working definition of leadership, 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.”
We have previously considered call, servanthood, the Holy Spirit, tenure, position, and competence as sources of influence. Today, let’s add information to the list. There is an old saying, “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” Sometimes that’s true. But more often, what you know has a significant impact on your capacity to influence others. How so? Two more obvious, then two not-so-obvious sources come to mind.
First, Christian leaders are expected to know the Bible and be able to use it in decision-making. Gaining information about the Bible, how to interpret the Bible, and how to apply it to complex life situations is one kind of empowering information. When you speak with authority based on biblical insight, followers respond positively.
Another kind of influence-increasing information is insight about doing your job. My ministry has been unusual in that I have never had the same job twice. I have been a staff pastor, senior pastor, church planter, denominational executive, and seminary president. God has always given me a job I have never done before. Each time, a new information base and skill set has been required for effectiveness. My life has been one learning curve after another.
Learning opportunities abound for leaders today. Leaders are learners who pursue personal improvement and professional development. Reading books about how to do your job is one way to do this. Attending conferences and seminars, initiating mentoring conversations with more experienced leaders, and studying job-specific or job-related materials are also helpful.
But there are two additional types of information that also give a leader influence. The first is information you learn about your followers. For example, as a pastor I knew who struggled with alcohol, who was a compulsive gambler, who had marital problems, who had troubled children, and who was struggling financially. People tell leaders, particularly pastors, their deepest secrets. Leaders must never violate this trust by using information to hurt people. But knowing these secrets gives you insight into what to preach, the timing of important decisions, needed programs your followers are likely to support, and other bases for decision-making. Your influence increases because your followers admire your stewardship of their lives and insight into meeting needs others may not even know exist.
The second source of information is experience that produces what I call “leadership intuition.” I have been a leader all my adult life. I have had many different experiences. There are times when I am working through a problem when leadership intuition – experience coupled with Spirit-discernment – helps me make my decision. Sometimes, I know what to do but I don’t know all the precise reasons why. Be careful with this. It’s easy to be too strongly influenced by feelings. Leadership intuition is more than feelings. It’s good judgment shaped by a lifetime of leadership experiences.
What you know
does matter. Knowing how to use the Bible, knowing the information required to do your job, knowing about your followers, and knowing when to trust your leadership instincts all contribute to increased influence in leadership relationships.
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Competence builds influence
February 11, 2008
Leadership is usually defined, in some way, as influence. Our working definition of leadership, borrowed 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.” Ten healthy ways to increase influence is the subject of these short columns.
Competence is one key to influence. In short, the better you are at your role, the more likely others will defer to your expertise, trust your judgment, and cooperate with your decisions. Your competence is both real, and a perception your followers hold. It can be increased in several ways.
First, you increase competence by skillfully doing your job. Many things leaders do – public speaking, strategic planning, and personnel management for example – can be improved with study, coaching, and practice. Reading good books on leadership, continually shaping your thinking with best practices of other effective leaders is a simple step almost anyone can take. Seeking a mentor who can critique your work and make suggestions for improvement can also be helpful. As you learn more, and put new skills into practice, your followers’ confidence in your leadership will increase.
Second, you increase competence by making good decisions. When our new pastor came to our church in Oregon, he initiated several changes. In every case, he made good decisions. He demonstrated good decision-making skills, good decision-making processes, and we all gained confidence in him because of the positive outcomes.
In his second year with us, he proposed a major building project. This was a major strategic change for our church. Up until that time, we had a commitment not to build a permanent facility. We were intentionally portable as part of our strategic plans for our long-term future. Now, our new pastor believed God was leading us to build.
We had a family discussion of his recommendations. My oldest son was surprised, given the church’s history, when I voiced my support of the building idea. When asked why, my answer was, “Our pastor has built a lot of credibility with me. Every decision, so far, has been good for the church. He deserves our support.” We later built a complete campus and that pastor is still leading the church forward, making many more good decisions!
Third, you increase competence by leading successfully. Every organization has success indicators. Some are hard facts – money, attendance, enrollment, meals served, etc. Others are soft, but nonetheless real – like improved morale, deeper fellowship, or changed attitudes. When your organization is thriving, or at least improving, your leadership competence is strengthened. It is easier to initiate real change when you have a track record of successfully implementing other changes.
Increasing your competence, and your followers’ perception of your competence, takes time. Implementing best practices, making good decisions, and building a successful track record are all part of the process. You may feel competent, and you may even be competent, but demonstrating it so your followers perceive you as competent is part of the process of proving yourself as a leader.
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The Importance of tenure
February 4, 2008
Our study of increasing influence in leadership continues by considering this week the issue of tenure. I don’t mean the technical use of tenure in academic settings. By tenure, I mean longevity – staying in one leadership position for a significant period of time.
Our working definition of leadership, borrowed 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.” Influence is the key to almost every definition of leadership. Ten healthy ways to increase influence is the subject of these short columns.
My earliest mentoring in ministry was by a very effective pastor, Dr. T. C. Melton. “Brother Melton” as we called him was a model pastor. He loved people, preached passionately, witnessed consistently, and led our church in continual growth and progress. During the ten years he was my pastor, the church reached people, added staff, built buildings, and took several mission trips. He made it all look so easy!
So, following his example and inspired by his life, I set out to be a pastor. I had watched closely, learning to lead like Bro. Melton. Arriving as pastor of my first church, I started doing things just like he did them (or so I supposed). It did not go well – to say the least. I was baffled. Why weren’t people following me the way they followed Bro Melton? Why didn’t the people trust me more? Why was it so hard to influence any real change? Why so much confusion and so many questions?
Part of the answer – tenure. When I became a member of his church, Bro. Melton had already been the pastor
for 10 years. He already had 10 years of proven decision-making, loyal ministry provision, life crisis support, and wise financial leadership invested in his followers. By the time I moved to my first pastorate, he had been at the same church for over 20 years.
My mistake was leading as if I had tenure, when I had none. Tenure, not just being there but being there effectively, builds credibility. Credibility breeds trust. Trust evaporates fear. When fear ebbs, influence flows. Somehow, even watching carefully, I missed this backdrop to my pastor-mentor’s very effective ministry.
Young leaders often make this mistake. They copy more veteran leaders, naturally emulating their methods. But they forget we lead with tenure – a proven record of effectiveness and relational trust that magnifies our influence. So, if you are just starting a new ministry, understand it will take time to build tenure. And, also understand many people in your church or organization may have been there a long time and
have tenure. That doesn’t mean they can’t be led, or that you can’t become their leader. It does mean you have to take seriously the issue of tenure as you develop and manage influence relationships in leadership.
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