Leadership Determines the Direction of the Organisation Leaders cast the vision and have a high influence on the direction the organisation will take. It can take time before everyone can attain to the leaders vision and the speed at which the organisation moves towards it will depend on how well he can communicate it. It is evident therefore that leaders need to be good communicators.
Structure Determines the Size of the Organisation. From the top to the tea boy if everyone has clear direction, knowing exactly what there role is, knows to whom they are accountable, is working within the area of their capability or being stretched towards their true potential; if the load is spread fairly and the chain of command clear and adhered to: the organisation will thrive and grow to any size...assuming of course it is meeting a genuine need in the community or marketplace.
Relationships Determine the Morale of the Organisation. If the structure takes the strain and the people are happy within it, good relationships among the members of the organisation will make it a happy and productive place. If everybody understands the big picture, is clear about their own role and can appreciate the importance of the other people's role and the difficulties they might face in it then morale will be high and the operation will run smoothly. If issues do arise from time to time, as they inevitably will, they are more easily solved when relationships are good.
Personnel Determines the Potential of the Organisation. How far and how fast the organisation can move towards its corporate goal and even the nature of the oal itself will depend on the abilities and attitudes of its key people. Since like attracts like the key people are likely to be cut from similar cloth to the leader. If he wants to attract better leaders then he must develop himself, continually improve the environment and provide the right kind of resources.
The success of the organisation will be determined by the thinking of its key people so the ability to discover, raise up and keep good leaders is key.
There are 4 levels of leadership
1. Entry Level Leaders...know where they are going…(but then lots of people know where they are going but that doesn’t necessarily make them leaders)
2. Credibility Level Leaders...can take themselves to where they are going and may have previously done so.
3. Accepted Level Leaders...are able to take themselves and their followers there...so now we have real leadership
4 High Level Leaders... are able to influence leaders and take them where they are going….They Produce more leaders who bring their followers along with them.
If you have followers you are, by definition, a leader but you can only grow so big if you only have followers…if you have the ability to raise up leaders then you will always have followers…their followers as well as your own.
There is a leadership vacuum in all areas of society. We need leaders in the church so we had better develop them. Taking that a step further it needs to be a strong church that once again takes the lead in Britich society.
If we want to be leaders we have to ask ourselves three questions
If not me, who?... which determines my willingness to take responsibility
If not now, when?… which establishes my priorities
If I do it just for me, why?…which reveals my motives and my heart.
So we have leaders who are looking for followers and we have High Level leaders who are looking to raise up other leaders. How can we seperate them and what will be the difference in their results? Lets look at the first 3 areas this time with more to follow in the next sesssion.1 Desire Leaders who want to develop followers need to be needed…leaders who develop leaders want to be succeeded. One wants to be recognised…the other wants to be replaced. One wants to be indispensable, the other wants to be able to take off and to know it will be safe in his absence. So I must ask myself honestly, "Do I need other people to need me, or do I want to help people to be better than me?" If you want all the credit you will not raise leaders.
2 Focus The two levels of leadership mean their focus is different. Leaders who raise up leaders deal with strengths, leaders who want followers concentrate on weaknesses. One focuses on the strengths and their people grow into leaders and the organisation grows, the other focusses on the weaknesses of people and they get to keep them as followers for life and the organisation stagnates.
If the leader focusses on strengths he empowers people…The essential of empowerment is that you are willing to release and eventually they will help each other…and they will multiply the group instead of adding one needy person at a time.
If the leader focusses on weaknesses he makes the follower dependent on him and they finish up trapping and eventually hurting each other.
3 Priorities….Leaders who raise up leaders focus on the top 20% of the people in the organisation. They prioritise the people according to influence and effectiveness and they work with the top 20%.
Why? Because if you have 100 people 20 of them will do 80% of everything that needs to be done.
Leaders who want followers spend most of their time with the bottom 20% whose problems will always keep the leader busy but never cause the organistaion to grow.
The issue is not do you spend time… the issue is where do you spend your time.
Why do we fail to give the top 20% of our people 80% of our time?
a. Lack of leadership training, we just don't know why we should. But we do now.
b. We are not prepared to deal with the best people because we feel intimidated by them, especially in a church or voluntary organisation. They might have a higher status than we do outside of the church, they might be wealthier and we might not be confident enough to believe we can add value to them.
c. We are training and conditioned to work with the bottom 20%. We are constantly drawn towards ministry and away from strong leadership. Pastors can be accused of a lack of love if they do not give people what they want and expect.
d. Weak leadership skills…the bottom 20% are easier to handle… they follow like sheep… the top 20% will only follow if they know you know where you are going... and they will bring their followers with them. The aspiring leaders yu are trying to develop have an agenda….they have things to do…they don’t want to take up lots of your time because its their time too.
The bottom 20% will take all day and they will tell you things that if you are not careful you will believe. They will massage your ego and that will continue to foster a co-dependent relationship.
To finish....we do recognise that these people in the bottom 20% have legitimate needs. They need taking care of. That is not in question…THE QUESTION IS WHO SHOULD DO IT.
For too long we have thought the pastor should do all these things…Is it time to think again?