In our series on leadership attributes, we now look at how leaders empower others. John Maxwell writes about the Law of Empowerment in his classic book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, indicating that if leaders want to be successful, they have to be willing to empower others. He tells us that only secure leaders give power to others. One reason this is so is that secure leaders are not worried about team members achieving more, or going further in their career than they do. In fact, that’s exactly what a servant leader wants to happen.
Maxwell tells us that to lead others well, leaders in all areas – business, church, sports, non-profits, government, education, etc. – must help others to reach their potential. In other words, lifting others up, lifts you up.
But how do leaders go about empowering others? There’s a lot that we could say about this, but in this article, we’ll look at just three thoughts. They are: Continue reading
Category Archives: Articles ~ Work
Leadership Attributes: Developing Others
Helping others to develop to their fullest potential is my favorite aspect of leadership. I always enjoyed working with team members and mentees, and still enjoy the mentoring or discipling relationships that I am a part of. There is something about working with individuals who want to grow, improve, and reach their highest potential that energizes me. It’s a joy to see someone achieve their goals, which is oftentimes securing their first formal leadership position.
Pouring yourself into others was modeled for me early by my career mentor, Mel. I saw the joy he took when one of his staff members developed and moved on to higher levels of responsibility. He wasn’t interested in keeping them on his staff, which would have been comfortable for him in the short-term, but instead “pushed them out of the nest”. They knew he would always be available for mentoring later as needed.
I’ve never turned down anyone wanting to enter into a mentoring or discipling relationship with me, feeling it is what I should be doing as a leader. In addition, even though I’m the mentor, I always learn a lot from these relationships. John Maxwell has written that as a leader, you will never regret the time you invest in people, as raising up others is one of the greatest joys a leader can have. He goes on to say that it is essential to focus on raising others to a higher level.
It is important for mentor leaders to know how they can help others to develop. If it is a current team member, for example, the leader should have a good idea on what is needed as far as development and growth. If it is a mentoring relationship with someone outside of your team, the prospective mentee will need to express those areas that they need help with, to see if is something that the leader can actually help with. For example, if someone approached me to help them to grow in their technical skills, I would tell them that I would not be the best one to help them, and instead refer them to someone better suited to equip them. Also, it’s important to remember that the mentee has to drive the relationship. This helps to make them accountable for showing up to the meetings and doing the necessary pre-work.
Many of my mentoring relationships included reading and discussing a book such as Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Although the content of the book is important, I always found that the discussion around what we read was even more important. Its best to use a book that has questions for reflection and discussion, if possible.
Where I worked, we would at times provide high performing employees development opportunities in which they led a team for 12-18 months. It’s very important to take full advantage of such opportunities. I remember hearing from one of my leaders about an individual who they felt had done the best job of taking advantage of the opportunity given them. That individual has since gone on to have a good career in leadership and has even higher potential.
Another development suggestion is to give employees “stretch” assignments. A “stretch” assignment is outside/above their current level of responsibilities, and one in which success is not guaranteed. An example of such an assignment would be to lead a strategic effort.
Lastly, when helping others to develop, it’s important to help them to get into their “strengths zone”. As I referenced above, leading a highly technical team would not have been a good use of my skills, and would not have served that team well. Maxwell states that good leaders help others find their strength zones and empower them to work in them.
These are just a few of my thoughts about developing others. Entire books have been written on the subject. What would you add to what I have written?
Leadership Attributes: Leaders are Credible
In our series on leadership attributes, we now look at credibility. Leaders are credible. But what does it mean to be credible? Dictionary definitions include:
- Offering reasonable grounds for being believed or trusted, and
- Good enough to be effective.
In Albert Mohler’s book The Conviction to Lead, he writes that the most essential element in determining whether others will follow you is your credibility to lead them, and to guide the organization to the right future. If you are a credible leader, you are worthy of your follower’s confidence and trust. You are reliable, accountable, and dependable. Continue reading
Leadership Attributes: Compassion and Empathy
As we continue in our series on leadership attributes, we now look at compassion and empathy. Not long ago, I was talking with some friends, and they mentioned a leader at the organization that we all used to work at. The perception was that this leader was a person who had no compassion. That was a particularly striking comment, as the organization had been going through a difficult time, resulting in the reduction of a significant number of employees. Leaders, let it never be said of you that you lack compassion. Continue reading
Leadership Attributes: Communicating Effectively
The need to communicate effectively is important in every aspect of our lives, and it is an especially important attribute for leaders. Much could be said about this subject. Here are just a few thoughts on effective communications:
Leaders need to realize when communication should be face to face. Just as author Gary Chapman is famous for writing about our “love languages”, I believe we all have a primary communication language. Leaders are aware of those who are slow to read their emails, and yet almost instantly respond to a text message. My preferred communication language is email, but I realize that in certain situations a text message can be more effective. However, more important than what our communication preference is, is the means of communication required for a particular situation. If you are dealing with a sensitive issue, or what some refer to as a “crucial conversation”, your communication should be face to face if possible. If that is not possible, a Zoom call or phone call might be the next best option. Sending an email or text may be the easiest or most convenient option, but it’s probably not the best means of communication in those situations.
Leadership Attributes: Competency
As we continue to look at what will help make you a leader that others will want to follow, we look at the leadership attribute of competency.
When we consider this attribute, we can look at it from a number of various aspects. For the purpose of this article, let us look at the aspects of physical, knowledge, skill, and experience for the leader. Continue reading
Leadership Attributes: Leaders are Appreciative
As we continue our series on leadership attributes, we now turn to appreciation. Several years ago, I asked a group of leaders and co-workers in the organization I worked what attributes of a leader were important to them. I received a wide variety of responses. One of the attributes that was mentioned was appreciative. To be a leader others want to follow you need to be appreciative.
In my experience, most employees in whatever area – business, church, non-profit, etc. – work hard and want to do a good job. They take pride in their work. At the same time, they want to feel appreciated. They want to know that their leader notices the work they do. Continue reading
Living Out Our Faith at Work, Part 3
I had the opportunity to speak to a wonderful group at Truth in Love Counseling on living out our faith at work. This is part 3 of a five-part series inspired by that talk.
Suggestions on How to Integrate Your Faith and Work
What was it like for me to serve the Lord as a leader in a Fortune 50 organization, spending half of my time in the Administrative Services department and half in a large and diverse I.T. department? How did I try to live for Jesus in the workplace? How did I use the platform He had given me? How did I try to shine His Light to others? In other words, how did I try to integrate my faith with my work?
Tim Keller tells us “To be a Christian in business means much more than just being honest or not sleeping with your coworkers. It even means more than personal evangelism or holding a Bible study at the office. Rather, it means thinking out the implications of the gospel worldview and God’s purposes for your whole work life – and for the whole of the organization under your influence.” Continue reading
Learning Leadership Lessons
I was recently reminded how important it is to learn lessons from our leaders. That got me to thinking that there are a number of ways in which we can learn leadership lessons. For example, I learned a strong work ethic from my parents. They were both very hard workers, modeling that daily for my brother, sister and I. More recently, I learned lessons in courage from my brother, who nearly lost his life battling COVID, spending 53 days in the hospital. In fact, he was told just before he was placed on a ventilator that he probably wouldn’t make it. Who have you learned from, and what have been some of your best lessons learned? Continue reading
Integrating Your Faith and Work Through the Ten Commandments
Recently, I was teaching an adult Sunday School class at our church about what the Bible says about our work. We had a lot of excellent conversation, but I found one particular comment to be of particular interest because I had never heard it before.
I asked how the attendees tried to integrate their faith with their work. This can be difficult in situations in which speaking of your faith is not permitted. One individual stated that we could integrate our faith and work if we lived what the Ten Commandments taught. I had never thought of it that way, but it makes a lot of sense.
Here’s a few examples of how we can live our faith at work by obeying the Ten Commandments: Continue reading