I recently attended the Willowcreek Global Leadership Summit – how does the faculty get better every year? There were loads of fantastic things about leadership, and I have decided to share some of them in my blogs.
The first talk – from Bill Hybels – had the title above. Throughout it he kept referring to the “Joshua Prayer” where God tells Joshua “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear. I am with you always!”
Firstly, a leader must have a vision – a picture of the future that creates passion in people. The leaders role is to take people from HERE (the status quo) to THERE (the picture of the future). Many leaders are putting a vision to the side rather than following it to avoid the hassle. Too many cool visions are being aborted. What is your vision? Are you following it? Do your people get it?
Secondly, a leader must define current reality. An organisation can be in three realities – either in a downturn with things not going well, in a status quo where things are flatlined but ticking over, or on an upturn with the organisation rocking. Leaders need to face up to reality – because the staff and volunteers know which reality fits the organisation. The leaders need to face up to it and lead your people appropriate to that reality. Which reality is true of your organisation? Are you admitting your reality? What are you doing about it?
Thirdly, leaders need to build a fantastic culture. Do you want a healthy, flourishing, God-honouring culture? Then you need to create it! This has to be driven by the person at the top. Staff/volunteer cultures will only ever be as healthy as the CEO/Senior Pastor wants it to be – this is not something that can be delegated. Don’t forget – it is a well-known fact that “people join organisations, they leave managers!” Are you a culture builder or a culture buster? Do your people want to follow you in your organisation – or do they want to leave you?
Fourthly, leaders need to establish and enforce values. You need to make space to talk one-on-one with your people. Listen to them. Do they know the values that you seek to build into your organisation? Leaders must stop continually saying something is a good idea, waiting until everyone gets it – there comes a time when they must lead into it. Sometimes, you must reach a point where you announce that the vision or good idea you have been banging on about for ages is now an inviolable value of the company. This is how we behave from now on. Do your teams know what your values are? Do they know what is expected? When it comes to defining inviolable values, are you a courageous leader – or a cowardly one?
Lastly, leaders must finish strong! If you lead an organisation for a long time, during the course of that you will need to totally change the organisation and your form of leadership several times. You will say goodbye over the years to colleagues that you have raised up. But to ease the passing on of the mantle, start those succession conversations. Some of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences in a leaders marathon are saved for the last section of the race.
Will you be a courageous leader? Will you cast the vision, define your reality, build a fantastic culture and establish and enforce values?
Do not bail out on your mission – whatever it is – FINISH STRONG!!