Being connected with people is vital to good leadership. Several elements will help establish that connection.
1) Be transparent.
2) Provide hope.
3) Consistency is essential.
4) Relate to people individually.
5) Find ways to genuinely compliment others.
Leaders who connect lead with passion and integrity. They know and are known by others. Love for others drives a leader’s heart. Reaching the goal motivates a leader’s actions. Staying connected keeps a leader balanced.
Consider the power of leadership to alter eternity. The influence of godly leaders makes a difference in the eternal destination of everyone around them.
The driving motivation behind leadership directly relates to the lives changed. When we think about it more closely, the moment someone’s life is changed by our influence, we cannot help but experience change in our own life.
If we truly believe that eternity matters that much, then let us exercise the type of diligence necessary to influence every soul we meet. We might just alter eternity, theirs and ours.
Jim Rohn expresses an incredible thought: “If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.”
The basic understanding of a leader is someone who is able to move others from point A to point B.
A biblical development of leadership prescribes the idea of helping those who are outside of Christ (point A) to turn from a self-directed life to obediently follow the Savior (point B).
A key element of this prescriptive help is an education built on biblical truth.
Grip, determination, and persistence are a few of the words associated with tenacity.
Being able to grip something, or hold on to it firmly, is crucial for long term success in leadership.
The quality of being determined presents an attitude of strength to endure the distractions.
Without persistence leaders find themselves easily ready to give up and move on.
Tenacity, as defined in these three areas, demonstrates the ability of leaders to take a group of individuals who might not otherwise continue and motivate them to heights unknown.
Leaders who approach the establishment of goals and the development of plans with tenacity, provide confidence for those who follow.
What’s missing in your leadership might range from the most simple of ideas to the most complex of leadership teams.
The value of exploring what might be missing for leaders demonstrates the kind of humility great leaders need in their leadership.
When humility is part of the equation, along with an openness to the possibilities, then followers will step up.
A sense of creativity, innovation, and motivation will exist to provide a stronger morale in achieving short and long term goals.
We cannot underestimate the power of humility seen in God’s leaders.
Jesus taught, encouraged, admonished, and equipped twelve men to go and make disciples.
Think about how Jesus individualized each word.
Teach: People will only do what they are taught to do, and our teaching must include application. When provided, everyone learns how to fulfill the task.
Encourage: Encouraging others motivates them to work harder than before. When criticism is tempered with encouragement, people change.
Admonish: Warning, advising, or even reprimanding others is needed to prevent harm. The attitude behind admonition determines the reception.
Equip: Providing tools to fulfill each task and responsibility are vital to the success of followers, especially as we prepare them to lead.
Whatever happened to the mindset of excellence, the desire to go above and beyond, to do something well because it is the right thing to do?
The answer is subjective, but still we wonder, “Why?”
Why is it allowed?
Why is it easier to go with the flow?
Why are we comfortable with the status quo?.
It is time leaders set a better example, to live consistent with their expectations of others, and to motivate followers by working beside them instead of lording over them.
Anything worth doing is worth doing right, and anything worth doing right is worthy of excellence.
The mentoring relationship is a mutual relationship designed to establish and achieve specific well-defined goals.
These goals are connected to developing the ability to know, think, and perform.
The ultimate purpose and design of mentoring is to create a relationship that nurtures learning.
A number of elements essential for a learning-centered mentoring program include: reciprocity, learning, relationship, partnership, collaboration, mutually defined goals, and development.
The design is to promote stronger relationships that motivate, inspire, and contribute to development and growth.
This relationship is collaborative and channeled to achieve a support system of success. The mutuality in mentoring increases the viability of the desired purpose in the relationship.
Lou Holtz once expressed, “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”
Scripture indicates we all have abilities. God intends for us to grow His church by utilizing our abilities.
What motivates us when we examine the leadership situation today? Are we comfortable with leadership left to someone else?
The choice of attitude is critical. When our attitude is misguided, motivation suffers.
It is time to step up. If not, the future of the church may rest in the hands of those who are incapable, unmotivated, and misguided. Where will that leave the church?
What motivates you?
The New Testament provides several counter-cultural examples to help us learn the power of motivation.
The motive for being first or greatest in the kingdom is about being a servant of all.
The motive for receiving is based in presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice to the Lord.
The motive for being blessed is about giving to others rather than receiving.
The motive for not forsaking our assembling together is through exciting others to love and good works.
Do we motivate others toward desired interests? Do we set the example based on what motivates us in the same direction?