Tag: Relationships

Relationships

There is a powerful relationship between life and leadership.

The mindset of trying to do things on our own will ultimately fail. We need one another. There is a minimum of twenty-four “one another” passages throughout scripture. These passages teach us about the spiritual relationship and responsibility we have to each other.

When leadership engages these thoughts to strengthen relationships, the result brings a powerful boost to our leadership.

When we fulfill the responsibilities outlined by the New Testament writers, the church grows stronger.

Isn’t it time we built the kind of relationships to accomplish both?

Relational Shepherds

Leaders must learn how to address difficulties that arise from within and without. Who’s right? What’s right? Why? When? How?

When shepherds are solely focused on decision making, the ability to lead the sheep is relegated to the task of ensuring people hear a message from the pulpit that is healthy to scripture.

The avoidance of close, intimate, personal relationships has caused more confusion for the church today.

The questions confronting shepherds strike at the core of their being and the inability to provide biblical answers has caused more than a few to see the Bible as outdated and the church as a relic of past ritualistic practices.

We need good shepherds.

Knowing the Shepherds

While shepherds need to know the sheep, it is also vital for the sheep to know their shepherds.

For this to take place, it requires shepherds to be in the homes of those they lead and have the sheep in their own home. In fact, having the sheep in the shepherd’s home should be first.

Shepherds need to promote greater transparency and intimacy. When this happens, they will soon be seen as approachable, and deeper discussions allow members to open up and share the challenges, struggles, temptations, difficulties, and the joys experienced in their lives.

At this point, true shepherding occurs and relationships blossom as greater connections are made.

Measuring Up

Who determines the scale between 1 and 10? Does it differ from one person to another? Is there a consistent standard allowing for accurate evaluation?

How would we rate on a scale of 1 to 10?

Consistency is a needed virtue. Therefore, consider a couple of factors:

1) People rate our leadership (like it or not).
2) The rating is determined by ability, decisions, relationships, and success.
3) We will give an account for our leadership.
4) The standard is God’s word.

A change in our rating is up to us. Again we ask, “How does our leadership measure up?”

Familiarity

Developing a familiarity between leaders and followers takes time and a process that involves several key factors.

A mutual respect for the life experiences of each other builds a stronger relationship of trust in the common goals and expectations.

Another critical component to familiarity is to share life experiences with each other. The biblical teaching of “weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice” must be applied.

Create an open door policy that contributes to the approachability of everyone involved. Achieving this task is not easy, but the results bring lasting leadership.

How we address familiarity can hinder or strengthen our leadership.

Reliance

When considering the idea of dependent leadership, a number of words are associated, the primary of which is reliance. Spiritual leaders understand the need to rely upon God. They are dependent upon His guidance, direction, strength, and provisions to lead others.

Spiritual leaders are also aware of the fact that followers are also dependent upon them to provide the same.

Guidance, direction, strength, and provisions are all directly related to the dependence that is associated with our relationship with God and those who fill the role of leading God’s people.

This role supplies all the basic components to our growth in relationship with God and others.

Relational Leadership

The Gospel of Matthew wants us to pay attention and observe. The genealogical record, activity of angels, fulfillment of prophecy, and the involvement of dreams are all significant to the claim of Jesus as the Christ.

Several terms used to describe the work of Jesus as the Christ include: shepherd, ruler, king, light, and healer.

Another is built upon the name, Immanuel––God with us. The true nature of relationships involves being present.

If God left the glory of heaven to be with us––to shepherd, rule, provide light and heal––then we should also recognize that leading others necessitates our being present in all our relationships.

Communication

Google articles on communication in leadership abound. Forbes has an online article that shares ten secrets about communication in leadership. Two of the secrets are significant:

1) Speak not with a forked tongue: When leaders have a reputation that lacks character or one of poor character, people will not trust them. Communication and character go hand in hand in building trust.

2) Speak to groups as individuals: Leaders who establish a personal atmosphere where people feel valued as an individual build a rapport where a leader is heard.

When leaders work to improve communication, stronger relationships will result.

Leading from Peace

While peace is often associated with the cessation or absence of conflict, there is a positive connotation to peace, a wholeness.

Individualism, and its promotion, strikes at the heart of achieving biblical peace.

Compartmentalizing life, defending our rights, and sanctioning violence are only a few of the ways peace is attacked.

Incorporating baptism, edifying one another, admonishing one another, and forgiving one another are ways to support biblical peace.

When peace becomes a way of life there will be the kind of harmony and wholeness that can only be the result of a relationship with God and one another.

Leading with Love

The character of love, as defined by God, is a love that is unmerited, steadfast, suffering, and knows no bounds. It should move us to consider that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more, and nothing we can do to make Him love us less. His very essence is love.

Love is always divinely defined by what is done for others, in this case, you and me.

In a marketing environment that is based on self-interest and one that puts a price on everything (and everyone), cultivating love will require a devotion of our time in building relationships.

This is the essence of leadership.