Tag: Success

Spiritual Evaluation

Most organizations require a quarterly report. This is an evaluation of the work. Corporate leaders want to know the facts and figures contributing to the success or failure of plans to reach projected goals. Nearing the end of the year, we should also evaluate the year overall.

With spiritual leadership this quarterly or year-end report is just as valuable.

Evaluations are usually difficult. They cause us to examine what we do not want to face and take an honest look at reality. They are necessary. Our integrity will be demonstrated and challenged.

However, a spiritual quarterly report helps us prepare for the next step in growth.

A Gift

Every company depends upon physical, financial, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual contributions. Without these gifts, success is hindered.

The development of our spiritual leadership hinges on what we contribute to the work. Are we giving whatever it takes to the needs that exist? Will our contribution make a difference?

When we contribute to the spiritual development of God’s kingdom, we know God will take what we have planted and make it grow.

Make a contribution today that leads others to know Jesus better. It is a gift worth giving.

Purpose

Where do we focus our attention? What purpose drives us as leaders? We can easily get distracted and lose focus and forget our purpose.

There are times we spend too much energy putting out “brush fires” and we lose sight of the goal. We must remember, and followers need to be reminded of, our purpose.

Be driven by it.
Determine to succeed.
Establish unity in the work.
Promote it at every opportunity.
Never quit.

Impossibilities disappear when we are driven by purpose, especially when that purpose has a godly foundation.

MVP

The idea is often thought of as the most valuable player, a person recognized for their outstanding abilities, contribution, or accomplishments to the team.

Generally, they are a stand-out person, one that everyone sees leading others to a specific measure of success.

However, when we think about leadership, the MVP may not always stand out and be in front of the rest. Their contribution may be minimal in the eyes of many, if not most, but what they give is critical and vital to success.

Think about what the mother of a boy with five loaves and two fish taught him. Who is the MVP where you lead?

GRIT

I came across a thought expressed by Shayne McClendon that has great implication for leadership, “I will breathe. I will think of solutions, I will not let my worry control me. I will not let my stress level break me. I will simply breathe. And it will be okay. Because I don’t quit.”

I specifically found it interesting because it directly relates to one of the strongest books I’ve read in recent years written by Angela Duckworth, Grit. This one is worth your time.

The power of passion and perseverance in leadership cannot be overstated. No matter what happens, GRIT is the core of success.

Planning…Strategically

Everyone knows the value of good planning. Leaders will especially appreciate the need to make proper plans to reach established goals.

Plans are not wishes or resolutions.

Plans are not goals.

Plans involve the activities necessary to reach for our wishes, keep our resolutions, and achieve our goals.

There is an old adage that says; “those who fail to plan, plan to fail.”

We all need short and long-term goals, both on a personal and professional level. However, once your goals are established, focus on the details of a proper plan to ensure success.

Wisdom and Courage

Wisdom and courage are both critical to the development of leaders.

Mark Amend increased our understanding when he said, “Wisdom is learning to let go when you want to hang on. Courage is learning to hang on when you want to let go.”

How many projects have we held on to that were destructive, when wisdom said we should have let go long before?

How many times have we let go when the courage to hang on one more day or week would have delivered success?

We need to develop a posture of learning. Wisdom and courage provide great benefit when we learn from them.

Learner-Centered Leadership

A learner takes responsibility for the priorities, learning, and resources for achieving a capacity for self-direction. The idea expresses moving “from dependence to independence to interdependence” (Lois Zachary, The Mentor’s Guide, Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships, 3).

A number of elements are also essential for a learner-centered program: reciprocity, learning, relationship, partnership, collaboration, mutually defined goals, and development.

The design of each of these elements 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.

Confidence

Confidence in one’s ability diminishes when leaders experience failure, suffer discouragement, or they are harshly criticized by others.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal” is the powerful thought expressed by Winston Churchill. Recognizing that the only time failure exists is when we give up helps us redirect our thinking when success is beyond our reach.

Suffering discouragement generally follows moments of failure. We begin to overcome discouragement by evaluating the cause and seeking help to address it.

Criticism, even when harshly given, provides growth benefits if we are able to see them in this way. Instead of “reacting,” we need to “act” appropriately as a spiritual leader.

Improving Others

Improving others is one of the greatest keys to successful leadership.

Jim Rohn said, “A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.”

The quality identified in this act is simple. We are talking about genuine love.

When leaders care for and demonstrate love for others they will always work to serve, placing the needs and desires of the other person above their own.

This attitude was beautifully exemplified in the life of Jesus and, as Christians, we have a responsibility to help the world to see Him in us.