We previously looked at the leader communicating effectively. Related to that is the running of effective meetings. If you are like me, you dread meetings, well, at least poorly run meetings. Most meetings I’ve participated in over the years are boring and ineffective. But meetings are the place when many important decisions are made. As a result, great leaders need to run great meetings.
First, I have to say up front that there are a variety of different types of meetings. There are daily status or “stand-up” meetings, weekly staff or team meetings, quarterly strategy meetings, annual planning meetings, etc. How you approach these meetings differs, but I want to share a few general principles that I have learned that might help you to be able to run better, if not great, meetings. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Leadership Attributes
Leadership Attributes: Leaders are Results Driven
In the organization that I worked at, there were three “Obligations of Leadership” for all of our leaders. They were: drive results, build a high performing work environment and develop people. I believe that’s a good summation of what the obligations of each leader should be. However, the achievement of each of these obligations was not rewarded equally. What I tended to see was that those who drove results were rewarded and recognized at a higher level than those who built a high performing work environment or those who excelled at developing others. And as important as those latter things are, organizations pay leaders to drive results and move their organizations forward. In our series on leadership attributes, we now look at the importance of leaders driving results. A leader who is results driven excels in many leadership attributes and competencies. Briefly, here are 10 of them: Continue reading
Leadership Attributes: Perseverance (Finishing Well)
In our series on leadership attributes, we now turn to perseverance, or finishing well. We can see our calling as a leader as a race. And after all, as we finish our race, don’t we long to hear Jesus say to us:
‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ Matthew 25:23
But how do we persevere as leaders? I’ve seen many emerging leaders work hard on their development, pursuing educational goals, working with mentors and taking on challenging assignments. At times they would express concern to me that they were working much harder on their development than existing leaders were. The perception was that for some leaders, once they achieved a formal leadership position, they tended to coast – and I’m sure that’s true. Servant leaders, on the other hand, desire to keep on growing as leaders and adding value, as long as they are physically and mentally able. Continue reading
Leadership Attributes: Leaders are Mentors
In our continuing series on leadership attributes, we now come to a very important one – leaders are mentors. Mentors are more experienced leaders who willingly share their experiences with younger leaders and those aspiring to be leaders. I always enjoy mentoring others, and it would give me pleasure to see mentees go on to grow and achieve higher levels of leadership. Continue reading
Leadership Attributes: Leaders are Interim
For a few years, I assisted one of the pastors at our church in teaching soft skills to seminary students in one-day classes through the NXTGEN Pastors organization. We taught a class entitled “Healthy Pastoral Transitions”, which was written by pastor Christopher A. Polski. The module was specifically written about making the transition from the founding pastor of a church to the first succeeding pastor. A key takeaway from the session for me was that every pastor is an interim pastor. Click here to read my article “A Leadership Succession Success Story”. Continue reading
Leadership Attributes: Leaders Empower Others
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
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: 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
Leadership Attributes: Humility
What makes a great leader? A few years ago, I asked a few colleagues at work to tell me what they thought were the attributes of a great leader. As you can expect, I got a wide variety of responses, from motivator to inclusive to risk taker and problem solver. In this new series on leadership attributes, I will write about several of these attributes. The first one will be humility.
Jim Collins, author of the business classic Good to Great, in looking for what made the difference in companies that were able to move from “good to great” and sustain that greatness, identified two distinct characteristics among the leaders of those companies, one of which was humility. At first, the importance of humility seems surprising. Think of some of the leaders you have worked with. Would the attribute of humility describe them? I hope so, but I’m not sure. Or consider some of our national political leaders. Humility may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of them. Continue reading