Leaders Go First

In today’s unforgiving environment, both seasoned leaders and those coming into new leadership roles need to hit the ground running, or at the very least, come up to speed quickly. This is simply a reality. In the past, doing church work, you could coast for a long time before your lack of leadership was noticed or harmed the organization. No so any longer.

A Hard Reality

I am a diver. I have been avidly diving since 1986 and I have a passion for the sport. I have yet to be on a dive boat where, once we are over the dive spot, I am not one of the first in the water and the last to come aboard. Usually I am the first. Why? Because I am passionate about diving. PASSIONATE! I love every moment of it.

If you are not the first one in and the last one out on every new endeavor, as a leader you are losing your authority. I am not saying that you cannot delegate. Delegate the lesser things. The important ones are yours. Build the team, inspire them to act, and take the first step. Your passion for the new endeavor will be contagious and you will inspire those behind.

I marvel at the many “leaders” that I speak to on a daily basis, and when I look behind them (figuratively) there is no one there. In fact, I’ve been there myself.

If you want to lead leaders, here are some of the things you will need to consider important.
• Time management skills
• Delegation and ownership
• Personal presentation
• The ability to drive values and objectives
• Complex decision making & problem solving
• Effective communication and consensus building
• Performance management and evaluation
• Dealing effectively with difficult conversations
• Ability to make the tough call
• Learning to tap into an individual’s innovation and creativity in times of great challenge
• Team building
• Giving and receiving constructive feedback that promotes growth
• Developing others
• Taking ownership of results (accountability)
• Self awareness and self-management

The last one’s a killer…