Selfless leaders wanted urgently!
How positively do you influence those around you?
President Theodore Roosevelt once said, “The best executive is the one who has the sense enough to pick good men [women] to do what he [she] wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” Bottom line: unless you learn to delegate, your leadership will deteriorate and your vision will stagnate.
It takes wisdom, maturity and humility to ask for help. And it’s a sign of strength, not weakness. That’s hard to come to terms with, for those of us who take pride in our ability to ‘do it all.’
As a leader, it’s easy to overestimate your own importance and competence.
God created us to be interdependent, not independent.
When you try to be ‘all things to all people,’ you end up frustrated. You’re not called to do it all, but to get it done through others. That’s what leadership is about.
When people feel ‘used’ they begin to drop out, but when they feel appreciated they’ll follow you anywhere.
Good leaders:
1. Are consistent. They set an example by walking the walk so everyone knows that what’s heard at the bottom is practised at the top.
2. Voice their appreciation, realising that people need to know they’re an important part of the team and the vision.
3. Always listen to suggestions, opinions, concerns and ideas. They don’t pre-judge, and they’re not dismissive. Author, Betty Bender said, “It’s a mistake to surround yourself only with people just like you. Throw off that warm comforter and replace it with a crazy quilt of different and imaginative people. Then watch the ideas erupt!”
4. Don’t see people as statistics. Businesswoman, Mary Kay Ash said, “P&L doesn’t mean ‘profit and loss’ — it means ‘people and love’.”
5. Explain why they like things done a specific way. It lessens mistakes, and the resentment that can stem from feeling ‘ordered around.’ Statesman Clarence Francis said: “You can buy a man’s time and physical presence at a certain place …. But you can’t buy enthusiasm, initiative, loyalty, and the devotion of hearts, minds, and souls. You have to earn these things.”
When you crave acceptance and approval, you end up being controlled by those you’re supposed to lead.
Afraid of causing upheaval in the ranks, insecure leaders agonise over decisions and assume responsibility for other people’s emotional reactions. They don’t realise that when you’re doing what you should be doing and others don’t agree, that’s their problem, unless you make it yours.
A mature leader deals with disappointment and keeps a good attitude; they’re willing to face the music even when they don’t like the tune.
The truth is, some people won’t like hearing the word, ‘no’ regardless of how old they get! But we all need to hear it from time to time, otherwise, we’ll never be happy with anything other than getting our own way — and that means getting nowhere or getting into trouble.
Correct people when they’re wrong – preferably focus on their behavior, rather than their character – rebuke them when they’re stubborn, encourage them when they struggle, be patient as they learn to grow, and make sure your instructions are clear and understandable. That’s what good leaders do — and the only way they learn it is by doing it.
How will you know you have the gift of leadership? Because you know where God wants you to go, and be able to show others the value of going with you.
There are many talented leaders who never become effective. Why? Because they’re more interested in themselves than in those they lead. What’s interesting, however, is once they go through the school of hard knocks, they become sensitised to other people’s needs.
But good leaders don’t wait for that to happen. They realise that ideas are a dime a dozen, but people who can implement them are priceless.
Legendary American football coach Bear Bryant used to say, “I’m just a plough-hand from Arkansas, but I’ve learned to hold a team together. How to lift some men up, how to calm others down, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat together. There are just three things I’d ever say: If something goes bad, I did it. If it goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it.”
When you have the gift of leadership, you’ll also be approachable. You won’t fly off the handle, you won’t let minor problems poison your outlook, and you’ll sandwich every slice of criticism between two layers of praise.
Robert Louis Stevenson said, “Keep your fears to yourself but share your courage with others.”
There are people who knock the heart out of you, and people who put it back in. The latter is the kind of leader each of us can aspire to become.
Cover Photo by Illiya Vjestica on Unsplash
