Tag: Vision

Essential Leadership

What is essential and what is not? Spiritually speaking, there are many answers: Here are four.

1) Character: General Schwarzkopf said, “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without strategy.”

2) Passion: It’s about sacrifice. Knowing what we are willing to give up is essential to our leadership.

3) Vision: Vision is about seeing into the future. Faith is essential to the vision of spiritual leadership.

4) Goals: David Schwartz said, “Goals are as essential to success as air is to life.” Goals are the essential fuel for leading.

These are only four areas that are essential to our leadership.

A Tenacious Leader

A tenacious leader possesses a certain ability to hold on to something tightly with an incredible determination.

Look around. It does not take much to see how tenacity affects all areas of life, from recreation to religion. When we examine our priorities we generally find our tenacity.

How can we become more tenacious?

1) Be passionate and remove the impossibility factor.
2) Know what is worth dying for.
3) Have a clear vision of God.
4) Challenge yourself and others to do something great!

These ideas can create a whole new approach to our leadership and move others to greater heights of fulfillment in the Lord’s kingdom.

Essential Leadership

What is essential and what is not? Spiritually speaking, there are a number of components that play a key role.

1) Character: The late General Schwarzkopf clearly indicated that character trumps strategy.

2) Passion: The origin of this word involves suffering. What are we willing to give up to lead?

3) Vision: Vision is about faith, and faith is critical to the development of leadership vision.

4) Goals: Without goals we have no clear way of knowing where we are going.

These are only four areas, but each of them are essential to effective leadership.

Leading by Design

At times, “flying by the seat of the pants” rules our approach to leading. Successful leadership, however, requires a dedicated effort to establish a systematic method for developing and executing a plan.

Designing the direction to lead means a consideration of three essential qualities.

Vision – the ability to see what cannot be seen, or as spiritual leaders, seeing Him who unseen.

Collaboration – the ability to work with others and the willingness to incorporate their ideas.

Ingenuity
– creativity goes a long way when investigating the design process for decision-making.

These three qualities go far in understanding how to take leadership to the next level.

Analysis and Communication

One of the greatest challenges to any area of leadership involves communication. When communication lacks clarity, the result brings confusion and frustration. How can leaders analyze and communicate their vision, mission, and values more effectively?

Use easy to understand language. Terminology is important.

Be careful about assumptions.
Do not make the mistake of assuming.

Keep the message concise. Avoid sharing everything. Less is more.

Remember the old K.I.S.S. acronym.
Keep it short and simple!

Consider these ideas when trying to analyze and communicate matters of vision, mission, and values as leaders.

Execution

As we begin 2022, execution cannot be overstated. All the resolutions in the world are merely words without execution. Goals and plans are simply ideas on a piece of paper without execution. Regardless of how good your ideas may be, they are worthless without execution.

James Clear recently said it this way, ”If you’re not working hard, ideas don’t matter. The best idea is worthless without execution. If you’re already working hard, ideas are crucial. Most effort is wasted on mediocre ideas.”

Develop a team of strong idealists who are willing to work hard at reaching the goals and vision.

Perseverance

A common phrase to encourage perseverance is “hold on.” Holding on a few more minutes can make the difference in securing hope, gaining a measure of strength, finding the answer, or reaching the goal.

When we consider giving up, the question becomes, “hold on to what?” Success seems elusive and passion has dwindled to little more than an ember. What can we hold on to?

Reflect on the past.
The past holds a key to how we move forward.
Remember we are not alone. Avoid the Elijah syndrome. God is there.
Realize faith in the vision. Without vision, there is no direction.

A Godly Leader’s Vision

Observation is more than a mental exercise or practice. How we see others as we walk through our day makes a huge difference in our influence in their lives.

The challenge is to avoid being cynical and negative. National and international news events tend to feed cynicism and negativity.

We must learn to see the world as God sees it. We need to see the battered, bruised, and hurting souls all around.

Instead of seeing color, language barriers, ethnicity, social position, or philosophical differences, our shift in thinking needs to focus on the love and compassion of an Almighty Creator who desires all to be saved.

An Approach to Conflict

Understanding why conflict exists is a beginning point. How should we approach conflict?

1) Anticipate conflict. With anticipation comes preparation, and when we are prepared we are better equipped to find resolution.

2) See the opportunity. Imagine the difference in facing conflict when we recognize conflict is an opportunity to improve relationships.

3) Deal with one at a time. At various times, we will face an overwhelming flood of conflict. The best approach is this step.

4) Focus on the objective. We easily lose sight of our objective, and our vision is clouded by the devastation of the conflict. Focus!

Turning Failure Into Success

When failure happens, it is often debilitating. We struggle to move forward and benefit from the experience.

Failure, however, can lead to success when we realize that it reveals ways not to do something, allowing us to channel our focus, investing our efforts into areas that lead to success.

Approaching failure with this mindset changes how we establish a vision for the future and how we respond to the challenges we face in life.

Spiritual leaders help others through times of failure with a vision of real success. Here we find motivation to conquer the greatest of failures.