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Confidence, Uncertainty and Spiritual Leadership

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Confidence, Uncertainty and Spiritual Leadership

Leading with confidence is highly valued. The 1984 TV commercial for Gillette’s Dry Idea antiperspirant ended with the famous ad slogan: “Never let them see you sweat.” In recent days, Duck Dynasty’s Jase Robertson deadpanned: “When you don’t know what you’re doing, you might as well do it quickly.”

Most people and organizations value leaders who exude confidence at every turn. Hesitation indicates flawed thinking and indecisiveness marks weak character. For those reasons and more, young leaders learn early in their careers to push uncertainty aside and project an air of confident decision making. It’s a key character trait that usually leads to positions of status and influence.

But do leaders always have clarity and confidence about their decisions and plans? The honest answer has to be no. Don Moore’s Harvard Business Review article sums it up well:

In the long term, honesty is the only sustainable strategy. Rather than fooling themselves, or us, we should want our leaders to represent the truth, even when it makes their jobs harder. That is, after all, one of the great missions to which we entrust them: to take the complex information and broad vantage point to which they have access and convey it to the rest of us in a useful way. Doing so represents authentic and courageous leadership, even if it means being less certain.

Courageous leaders find a way to embrace confidence and uncertainty together as key characteristics of humble and honest leadership. What are the appropriate moments to be less certain about the future? Be honest when:

  1. You don’t have enough information.
  2. The pace of change—with positive and negative outcomes—is too rapid for accurate forecasts (and decision making).
  3. The opportunity cost for a decision isn’t clear.
  4. Sharp disagreement exists on your team.

None of this means that a leader should stop leading or making decisions. In fact, these are the times when honest leadership is most needed. Communicate with others that uncertainty exists. And recognize that there are times when God calls you to pause and wait. That’s not a comfortable place for many leaders, but it may be your calling for a season.

For leaders who find it difficult to practice uncertainty (and I count myself in this group), consider a few ideas for more honest and open leadership:

  • Wait on the Lord. Waiting is not easy in a culture of doing, but it’s a God-called place for every believer. If you spend too little time considering what God is saying in the quiet moments, then the watch word is “wait”—create some space in your day to pray, study the Word and worship. Read more
  • Expand your prayer habit. Make prayer part of your daily routine for greater effectiveness in every area of your life. Expand that principle to your family and church to appropriate divine power for living the everyday mission of God. Most of all, believe in the power of prayer. Read more
  • Practice humility. Demonstrate “serve first” leadership at every opportunity. Serve your leader with humility. Encourage a “serve first” attitude in the people you lead. Seek a “serve first” attitude in potential hires. Read more
  • Listen to learn. Discuss key challenges and decisions with team members at all levels of the organization. Collaborate with team members and listen to what they have to say.
  • Protect yourself from over-confidence. Check your motivations, your knowledge and your heart when you have a high level of confidence in a decision you’re about to make.
  • Conduct due diligence. Analyze the situation and research the facts impacting a decision. If you don’t have enough information to proceed, then it’s time to wait on the Lord.
  • Pause before big decisions. Plan an intentional pause before making an important decision.

So what’s the Big Idea?

Courageous leaders find a way to embrace confidence and uncertainty together as key characteristics of humble and honest leadership. Communicate with others that uncertainty exists. And recognize that there are times when God calls you to pause and wait.

Resources


Source

“Smart Leaders Are OK with Seeming Uncertain” by Don Moore, Harvard Business Review (February 10, 2015), https://hbr.org/2015/02/smart-leaders-are-ok-with-seeming-uncertain.

Make Prayer Part of Your Daily Routine

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Make Prayer Part of Your Daily Routine

Is prayer “missing in action” in your personal routine, family or church? I’m ashamed to admit that prayer falls to the bottom of my agenda far too often. Priorities and the tyranny of the urgent are the culprit, but there’s more to it than making easy excuses.

I’m compelled to ask myself whether or not I really believe in prayer. Do I faithfully expect that God will take my work and multiply it in the prayers I offer? Or do I have lowered expectations for the work God wants to do in and through me?

Spiritual issues and problems require supernatural solutions, and that’s where regular prayer becomes important. Prayer leads me to evaluate my priorities, decisions, motives and attitudes. It impacts my heart and mind, making me a more effective leader and servant.

Bill Hybels describes this “supernatural walk with a living, dynamic, communicating God” this way:

Authentic Christians are persons who stand apart from others, even other Christians, as though listening to a different drummer. Their character seems deeper, their ideas fresher, their spirit softer, their courage greater, their leadership stronger, their concerns wider, their compassion more genuine and their convictions more concrete.

I want that kind of power and conviction in my life, family and church. Perhaps you do too. If so, ask yourself some key questions about prayer:

  1. Where does prayer rate in your daily schedule?
  2. Does your family pray together regularly?
  3. Is prayer valued in your church or organization?
  4. How can you develop more effective prayer habits?

On that last point, let me offer a prayer model from Dr. Greg Frizzell, Prayer and Spiritual Awakening Specialist with the Oklahoma Baptist Convention. Based on The Lord’s Prayer, our most important biblical model, Dr. Frizzell’s PRISM acrostic is a powerful way to pray every day:

P = Praise
R = Repentance
I = Intercession (about spiritual things and for spiritual protection and deliverance)
S = Supplication (petition)
M = Meditation on the Word (listening for lessons in Scripture)

So what’s the Big Idea?

Make prayer part of your daily routine for greater effectiveness in every area of your life. Expand that principle to your family and church to appropriate divine power for living the everyday mission of God. Most of all, believe in the power of prayer.

Resources


Sources

Bill Hybels, Too Busy Not to Pray: Slowing Down to Be with God (10th Anniversary Edition, Revised and Expanded), 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998), 125.

Greg Frizzell, PRISM Prayer Model, January 19, 2015.

Servants Make the Best Leaders

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Servants Make the Best Leaders

Can a person lead effectively without the attitudes of humility and service? I don’t think so. Jesus said it: “Whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.”

Noted author Oswald Sanders reminds us that the word “leader” is used in the Bible just 6 times.  The word “servant” is used more frequently, and that’s a revolutionary leadership idea.

Servant leadership doesn’t appeal to everyone. Jesus knew that it wouldn’t. And yet that’s what he calls a godly leader to be. According to Sanders, the attitudes and inner motives of a true servant are:

  • Dependence – Emptied of self and dependent on God
  • Approval – Reciprocal delight between God and his servant
  • Modesty – Neither strident nor flamboyant
  • Empathy – Sympathetic and understanding
  • Optimism – Hopeful
  • Anointing – Spirit-filled

Here’s what the Bible says about leadership:

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. – Mark 10:42-44 (NIV)

Those words are a reminder to rethink marketplace ideas about leadership. I’m a “doer” with a tendency to eschew the divine, spiritual parts of leadership in favor of wisdom from the experts, so I need a regular reminder to evaluate my heart.

Don’t get me wrong, practical help and wisdom are important. I’ve learned volumes about teamwork, management and leadership from countless seminars, conferences, podcasts, blogs and books. But most of it rarely addresses the heart motivation at the core of effective leadership.

What’s your expectation: To serve first or lead first? It’s a question every aspiring leader has to ask. The “lead first” attitude is about a desire for power and status. The “serve first” attitude is about something else entirely.

My servant leadership takeaways are simple.  I will:

  1. Demonstrate “serve first” leadership at every opportunity.
  2. Serve my leader with humility.
  3. Encourage a “serve first” attitude in the people I lead.
  4. Seek a “serve first” attitude in potential hires.

So what’s the Big Idea?

The best leadership flows from the attitudes and inner motives of a true servant—dependence (on God), approval (from God), modesty, empathy, optimism and anointing. Servants make the best leaders.

Resources


Source

J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership: A Commitment to Excellence for Every Believer, rev. and exp. (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2007), 21-26.

3 Ways to Multiply Your Message

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3 Ways to Multiply Your Message

Successful communication happens when your message is transmitted to a listener, reader and viewer with the meaning you intended. When a listener “gets” your message, you earn the opportunity to say more about yourself, your product or your organization.

A successful message depends on:

  • The Right MESSAGE
  • The Right CHANNEL
  • The Right AUDIENCE

Evaluate your public, professional and private communication. How do you stack up in those three areas?

To go deeper about message, channel and audience, read on:

1. Send the Right MESSAGE.

  • Is your message clear, concise and creative?
    • Clear – Cover the basics (typically the who, what, when and where details) and don’t leave out important details.
    • Concise – Say it as simply and with as few words as possible.
    • Creative – Make it memorable and out of the ordinary.
  • Is your message purposeful and persuasive?
    • Purposeful – Know why the message matters.
    • Persuasive – Motivate, inspire and emote with your message.

2. Use the Right CHANNEL.

  • What channel is best suited for your message and audience?
  • Should your message be sent over multiple channels?
    • Digital – Website, blog, podcast, e-mail, text, digital ad placement, SEO and more
    • Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat and more
    • Print – Direct mail, brochure, card, letter, print display ad, etc.
    • Broadcast – Radio and TV
    • Personal – Anything that can be used to share the message from one person to another.
  • Will you use free or paid channels, or a combination of both?
    • Free – No-cost social media, web or print channels
    • Paid – Google, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook ads, sponsored Twitter and social media ads, display ads, banner ads, text ads and more

3. Choose the Right AUDIENCE.

  • Who are you trying to reach with your message?  What’s your target?
    Is your audience an internal or external core constituency?
    • Internal Core Constituencies – Employees, leaders, volunteers, contributors and more
    • External Core Constituencies – Current customers, potential customers, consumers, prospects and more
  • What demographic and psychographic characteristics describe your audience?
    • Demographics – Who your audience is and what they do
    • Psychographics – What your audience thinks and how they act

So what’s the Big Idea?

Send the right message over the right channel to the right audience.

Resources

Stepping Down into Greatness

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Stepping Down into Greatness

A few life lessons come to mind when I reflect on the life and legacy of coaching great Gene Bartow. By all accounts, he was a man of character with sincere concern and respect for the people he worked with and the players he coached.

It wasn’t all about winning–there were more important things than that. He understood that how you get there is just as important as getting there.

Bartow also showed us that sometimes the biggest step up the ladder means backing up and taking a few steps down.

After leading then-Memphis State to the NCAA national championship game in 1973, Bartow coached storied basketball program UCLA for two years, leading them to the Final Four. There was the prospect of greater things to come–more winning, more money, more recognition. And then he stepped down.

He stepped down to UAB in Birmingham, a second division program he would have to build from the ground up. But he saw the potential for something special. Within four years, he had moved the program to division 1 and led the basketball team to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Under his able hand, UAB made seven straight trips to the tournament.

In a world where the next promotion means more money and greater recognition, it seems counter-intuitive to opt for less of both. Yet that’s often the right choice, if not the conventionally wise one. Taking the road less traveled can offer rewards ultimately more satisfying and lasting. Just look at Gene Bartow.

Let Philippians 2:3 be your guide: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves” (NIV).

Lead and serve others with humility. And remember Jesus’ admonition in Mark 10:43-44: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” (NIV).

Step down into greatness.

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