Over the weekend I have had dozens of people joining my Twitter group and following me. I am not sure if it is due to some kind of marketing scam (i.e. if I tweet about coffee I get a Coffee Company following me or I mentioned Hospital yesterday and got some Healthcare person following me!) or whether the UK is starting to get hold of Twitter which has been around for quite a while especially in the States, but...
...one of the most basic principles of Leadership is that you need followers. Someone once said if you think you are a Leader and you turn around and no one is following then you are not leading you are just taking a hike!
Since the age of 13 I have known that I have been called to lead people and specifically to lead the Church. The problem is being English we don't like to talk about our ambitions and leadership is always seen as such a lofty ambition. I don't like to make loud statements about the things that are so personal and important to me, I would rather carry them in my heart and see what happens (doesn't sound much like a leader to me!). At the age of 16 the Church I attended had a split and people scattered, my Dad was the Church Pastor - I didn't want to be a Church Leader any more, I had seen too much. Then over the next decade God kept prompting me to take up my gifting of Leadership and not to hide it - easier said then done. I thought of every excuse and allowed other people to push the gifting down in me rather than let it rise up as God intended. Eventually I did start to take on Leadership responsibility but always with a reluctant obedience.
Although I carry a Leadership role within the Church here in Southampton I am always hesitant to declare myself as a Leader and prefer just to be seen as part of the staff team in case I was misunderstood as trying to be something I was not. Ironically I was trying to be something I was not and God was on my case...
Last week at two separate Leadership meetings I was called out and prayed for specifically around this area of Leadership with the challenge to break off any old words that may have discouraged me and to step into the role that God has for me. So this week I am determined to start stepping into Gods plan for me, to take on the role and responsibility of leadership and lead well. I can't believe how hard this is to write on a blog, I am double checking every word in case people criticize and ask where is the humble leader who serves others? But at the end of the day I need to respond to Gods words on my life and not what other people may think or say - easier blogged than done!
Anyway enough said I need to get on with leading, anyone up for following?
Leadership in the Church - it's a calling!
Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Monday, 16 March 2009
Values of Leadership
As part of my study at Moorlands Bible College I am working on an assignment looking at a modern day leader. For my 4500 word essay I have chosen to look at Richard Branson which in itself has been a real eye opener, but maybe I will blog about that another time! I wanted to find some way of looking at Branson and how he works and trying to find some way of appraising his Leadership skills and values.
For this I came across the book "The Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes & Posner, which is apparently one of THE top books on leadership and highly reccomended. The authors have been studying thousands of leaders since 1987 and have one of the most comprehensive databases of leadership questionairres over more than two decades.
They have come up with Five Key Practices of a great leader which basically states that all successful leaders should: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable others to Act and Encourage the Heart. Each of the practices have two commitments which break things down further but you get the picture. I have read loads of books on leadership over the years and they all have their 17 laws, 7 steps, 24 values or something similar that makes all a bit too organised and boxed up for my liking. But what Kouzes and Posner have done is approached it from the other side and interviewed over 75,000 people across many countries since 1987 and asked the question "What do you look for in a leader?".
The answers were vast but the top four values were consistent every time they ran the survey in 1987, 1995, 2002 and 2007. First place was always HONESTY and then FORWARD-LOOKING followed by INSPIRING and COMPETENT.
People want their leaders to be Honest and Trustworthy, worthy of their trust. When leaders let their constituents down by not doing what they said they would there is a breaking of trust and this affects the leaders credibility.
A CHALENGE!! Am I consistent as a leader in those four values? Do I do what I say I will? Always? Am I always honest with people, my family and myself? Do I hold true to the vision that God has given me or am I persuaded by people and by circumstances? Do I inspire because I am inspired or because I am trying to manipulate a result and am I as at leading as I should be? How can I improve?
This is not just about Leaders of Nations, City Mayors, Headteachers, Church Leaders but about being a Great Father and Quality Husband - leading in every sphere of influence...
Anyway these are the kind of thoughts that are running through my head at the moment, bit preachy and Jerry Macguire-esque but hey - gotta be honest!! :o)
Heading into Childrens & Youth Workers meeting to complete the conversation on Generational Vision we started a couple of weeks ago, planning for a Business Leaders event this afternoon and then being interviewed by Rank Foundation for possible funding of a Youth Worker position within one of our Congregations - key week. Follow the updates on Twitter.
For this I came across the book "The Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes & Posner, which is apparently one of THE top books on leadership and highly reccomended. The authors have been studying thousands of leaders since 1987 and have one of the most comprehensive databases of leadership questionairres over more than two decades.
They have come up with Five Key Practices of a great leader which basically states that all successful leaders should: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable others to Act and Encourage the Heart. Each of the practices have two commitments which break things down further but you get the picture. I have read loads of books on leadership over the years and they all have their 17 laws, 7 steps, 24 values or something similar that makes all a bit too organised and boxed up for my liking. But what Kouzes and Posner have done is approached it from the other side and interviewed over 75,000 people across many countries since 1987 and asked the question "What do you look for in a leader?".
The answers were vast but the top four values were consistent every time they ran the survey in 1987, 1995, 2002 and 2007. First place was always HONESTY and then FORWARD-LOOKING followed by INSPIRING and COMPETENT.
People want their leaders to be Honest and Trustworthy, worthy of their trust. When leaders let their constituents down by not doing what they said they would there is a breaking of trust and this affects the leaders credibility.
A CHALENGE!! Am I consistent as a leader in those four values? Do I do what I say I will? Always? Am I always honest with people, my family and myself? Do I hold true to the vision that God has given me or am I persuaded by people and by circumstances? Do I inspire because I am inspired or because I am trying to manipulate a result and am I as at leading as I should be? How can I improve?
This is not just about Leaders of Nations, City Mayors, Headteachers, Church Leaders but about being a Great Father and Quality Husband - leading in every sphere of influence...
Anyway these are the kind of thoughts that are running through my head at the moment, bit preachy and Jerry Macguire-esque but hey - gotta be honest!! :o)
Heading into Childrens & Youth Workers meeting to complete the conversation on Generational Vision we started a couple of weeks ago, planning for a Business Leaders event this afternoon and then being interviewed by Rank Foundation for possible funding of a Youth Worker position within one of our Congregations - key week. Follow the updates on Twitter.
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