What amazes me when I study leadership (in and out of the church) is how there are so many common themes I hear over and over again. Leaders (Senior Pastors, laypeople, etc) need to be honest, approachable, accountable, and consistent. What frustrates me is when I look back at myself, I knew what to do but too often failed at the most common things. Here are 10 reminders of the basics of leadership, “Leadership for Dummies, it is not that hard!”
- Genuinely care about people. People from all backgrounds and socioeconomic status, want to be cared for authentically and respected for who they really are behind the mask. Want your church members to be loyal? Genuinely care for them as people FIRST!
- Honesty is always a good policy. People follow those they can trust and know they will be upfront with them through the good and bad. If people don’t trust you, pack your bags because your days are numbered as their position leader.
- You will FAIL if you are not approachable, humble, and available as a leader. You will fail because you have not developed the trust needed to succeed. You remain a leader in title only (John Maxwell’s Level 1 Leadership). Don’t become the leader up on high or the unaccessible “man behind the curtain” like the Wizard of Oz. At some point, people will come to their own conclusion (true or not) you are not leading effectively because they have no personal connection or experiential evidence to prove otherwise.
- Become an expert at generational differences. Show younger generations you have not checked out as a learner and settling as a digital immigrant. Younger generations must show the maturity in respecting the collective wisdom of older generations while leading as a digital native. Never be satisfied as a learner and constantly be seeking more wisdom and knowledge, regardless of age.
- Organization rises and falls ultimately on the ingenuity, forward-thinking, and energy of the Senior Pastor.Regardless of how visionary, talented, or up and coming the staff or other lower level talent are, the Senior Pastor is at the face of the organization to the world.
- Leaders are not to be in positions forever. There is a true life span to one’s effectiveness within an organization. Boards and executives need to plan accordingly. Once the leader loses his/her vision and drive, the organization will soon follow. Ask where are the fresh ideas? What does the future look like or is the longtime leader only focused on remembering the glory days? Due to the digital age, change is taking place more rapidly than ever. “Glory days” no longer fit.
- Leaders do not lead by fear. Managers who lead by fear will ultimately have staff who will leave at the first chance they can with no regrets. Leading by fear such as firing on a whim, micromanagement, and gatekeeping of employees will exhaust your staff, and cause them to be brittle out of anxiety. They will have no reason to be loyal.
- Accountability is VITAL for organizations and ultimately the success of the Senior Pastor. If the Senior Pastor does not report to an accountability board (elders, leadership team, etc.) with the power to question them, watch out they are setting themselves up for failure. A weak/rubber stamp board creates a false sense of security and breeds blind spots. Removes checks and balances and becomes a blind, dying self-congratulatory organization.
- Release and multiply your leaders. Provide them the training they need, create a healthy culture of productivity, and give them the best opportunities to succeed. If you don’t, you will lose them anyway if you micromanage them.
- Leaders stick with your decisions and see them through. Leaders who change their minds often after decisions have been announced, cause their followers to be like seasick sailors who question your effectiveness of handling the “ship” and the confidence of your leadership. Be thorough in your planning and preparation and then see your decision, plan, program through to it’s conclusion.
I have a long way to go. I make plenty of mistakes (including the list of lessons) but I am always seeking to improve. I am learning every day and would love for you to add your comments as well.
From my writing on Leadership for LinkedIn. Check it out.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-dummies-complicated-john-roland
John,
Thanks for spot-on 10 reminders.
I would love to see these in a form dedicated for Church Leaders and a separate one for Business Executives in the world.
When these Executives join our “Boards and Committees” they often have little biblical awareness or distinctiveness. As a result, we have many churches with wounds this type of leadership can inflict. We begin to resemble 3M or Procter and Gamble more than a New Testament Church.
Would we do well not to use words like “Executives, Management, Boards, Senior and Committee”?
There is a biblical equivalent for each of them.
Semantics?
I would say the size of the organization plays a huge role in how these roles play out…A pastor of a 3,000 member church is something like a college president (my college had 3,000 students). He directs, gives speeches, manages a few dozen people directly, but doesn’t have much contact with most of those people.
The pastor at a 200 person church is much different. he probably can name most, if not all of those people, and knows them somewhat. Committees/teams at such a church can be much less formal and still be effective.
The pastor of a 50-member church is another different animal…some leadership principles apply to all three, but some things don’t.
Send Brewton-Parker trustees the list. About six or seven of these they seem to be unaware of.
Thanks for your comments and advice!
Thanks John, I agree with much of this…a few thoughts…
1,2,3,6,8,9,10 – Yes, no doubt.
4. I don’t know that being a expert is required, but being teachable and willing to learn about those of a different generation than you is required. A 60 year old senior pastor can be effective without becoming a tech genius…if he has a few people around him that can help bridge that gap.
5. I’m not sure I would feel the need to insist on the ingenuity of a SR Pastor for church success. I think a pastor can have success without being an endless resource for new ideas. There are many old ideas that work, many that don’t…wisdom to sift through those would seem more vital than coming up with his own ideas repeatedly. It seems an inordinate burden to place on a SR pastor to tell him “you must exercise great ingenuity, or this church will fail.” I don’t know that that is true, unless I’m using the word differently than you.
7. This is definitely true, but must be balanced, and perhaps not be the FIRST thing on a pastors agenda. Many a “bold” pastors have come to a new church and started changing things with good intentions, “not fearing man”, but really screwed things up because they did not take the time to earn the trust of the people, or to learn their history and values. It may take years, but a pastor who is honest, sincere, accountable, patient, and loving toward a church can find himself making a decision that, at the time, a majority of the church disagrees with, but they will support him because they know he has their best interests at heart, and that he must do what he feels is the right thing to do.
What amazes me is that people study leadership. What also amazes me is when people take worldly leadership principles and say, “Here, pastors, do this.” Many of these are biblical concepts and good ideas. All contain some kernel of truth but the applications are questionable.
Help me see the biblical basis for “Leaders are not to be in positions forever.” Or, “Leaders stick with your decisions and see them through.” Really? Even if someone comes to you and says, your decision is going to wreck the church and gives you good reasons why.
Sometimes it is good for leaders to move on, etc. It is also good to show a consistency in your follow-thru when you have made a decision.
I am also that 60 year old pastor of a small church and I’m pretty tech proficient. But I really don’t think that is significant in my relationship with young adults or youth.
I think the best thing you said is: “Leaders (Senior Pastors, laypeople, etc) need to be honest, approachable, accountable, and consistent.”
The best thing that could ever happen is for us Baptists to jet the CEO model of church leadership. I used to believe in very strong pastoral leadership, now I no longer do because I have seen too many pastors following their own agenda.
A few thoughts in reply. Yes, each of my 10 points can be defended Biblically but my point was not to tell pastors, “hey DO this!” Nor am I seeking to argue this is a divine decree.
As the Bible is clear our life is a vapor and we are not guaranteed another day, every tenure is temporary. God is a forward looking God. See Joshua 1–Now Moses is dead…rise up and take the Promised Land. Again and again, God called Paul from location to location from church to church in dreams and in other contexts. Just when we feel we have God figured out, He has other plans for us. Nobody has a divine right to “reign” forever as pastor or any other position. If God gives us another day, then I will serve at His pleasure.
My point regarding sticking to a decision is not about being stubborn or not being willing to adjust when circumstances change but a leader needs to project confidence and show the Lord has granted him wisdom. I have worked for leaders who were Godly men but changed their minds constantly, lacked wisdom, and caused their followers to not trust they knew where they were leading us. James 1–“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.”
Point 4, I do believe we are called to be experts at generational differences. I did not say become a tech expert but study people and what makes different generations tick. Paul says I become all things to all men in order to win some. It is a servant mentality I am advocating and an emphasis on putting on humility of generational differences. Not everybody has to be like me. Huge emphasis on being a LEARNER and being humble. These are just areas I have sought to grow in and have seen as areas which could improve pastors standing with other generations–young and old. “Digital Immigrant”–term for those who were not born into a true internet/technological world but were alive when the internet and technology came of age. Generation Y are digital natives since this is all they know. Internet and technology was already in place when they were born.
Point 5–The senior pastor is the one everyone looks to as the face of the organization. If he is tired, burned out, indifferent, everyone else will suffer behind him even if his associate pastors are full of life, passionate, and energetic. Point is, stay fresh because people are looking at you as the leader.
Point 7 is all about humility. Not leading out of position or out of a title you hold but being a servant and approaching the congregation with humility and gentleness of spirit.
Those are my thoughts for what its worth.
I taught high school for 30.5 years and served under a number of principals. The 2 that I liked best were opposites in personality and manner, one female and one male. This seemed strange to me until my wife (elementary teacher) said ,” With both of them you know exactly where you stand with them.” The lady’s motto was “Take care of your business”. She also led the senior sponsors in a meeting about how we would conduct graduation ceremonies and said ” Y’all decide how we are going to do this but once we do, we’re not changing it.” The other principal warned the student body about a matter and consequences possible. After the deadline, he came on the PA system and basically said ” Consequences in effect”. Click. The kids (my own children included) loved the guy.
This is a good list, especially for pastors. Something I learned in NCO school that I rarely hear taught in general is that different people have different leadership styles based on the characteristics of their personalities. Leadership is organic in this regard in that we should recognize that different leaders will need to take slightly different approaches to applying these principles to reach similar goals. That’s not an excuse to do what you want as a leader, but to recognize what works best for the way the people you lead perceive you. It’s not that it’s complicated, but that you should expect, and approach with intent, periods of trial and error in your leadership where you learn what works.
This list makes me think of this verse:
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected him. Man does not see what the LORD sees, for man sees what is visible, but the LORD sees the heart.”
John,
Great list, extremely relevant. Many of the young pastors ( I am speaking of seminary grads) have difficulty with basic leadership because 1) they did not see it modeled in the home, church 2) they were taught a managerial CEO style in academia. This list will be helpful for many.
wilbur
In looking at the list one thing that is missing and seems essential is the concept of “servant leadership”. Church leaders are to be servants to their people. I was fortunate to have good role models of servant leadership as well as having this concept explicitly taught in seminary. I sometimes brouse the management section in a local bookstore and even there in a secular environment they are stumbling onto the concept of servant leadership. That being “bossy”, manipulative, micromanaging does not work well. While leaders who are servants are effective. Jesus modeled this and made clear statements about the importance of servant leadership.
Robert
Good post. — Usable in leadership orientation classes and leadership refresher conferences.
Greetings CB!
🙂
Good to see you posting, sir.
Well, I must confess, the beating BAMA endured from OHIO ST did get me down a little. However, having some free time lately to read about some of St Nick’s new recruits has greatly increased my desired to once again declare:
ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!! . . . and LONG LIVE THE SEC!!
It’s odd, CB. Bama getting put in its place by a Big 10 school gave me a surge of joy. Odd how that works.
Almost thou persuadest me, SEC CB……….but, NO! Go Ducks!
CB, Tide was way overrated last year. You’re welcome.
Email me sometime sbcplodder gmail.