Handling Pressing Issues From The Lens Of Christian Leadership
From the perspective of a leader, every leadership issue is a “pressing issue”. From the perspective of a follower, there are a plethora of issues that the leader needs to solve. Every organization has issues, some have more than issues – they have subscriptions. Truthfully, there will always be a need for more training and productivity within an organization. Likewise, there will always be a chair with a broken back in the conference room, a printer that chooses when it wants to work and an internet connection that only works when a person is close to the router. To a leader with a type “A” personality, all of these issues are pressing! However, there is one pressing global leadership issue facing our world today and that is the issue of the lack of followership within the leader.
A good leader can be inspiring and authoritative, but a spirit-filled and spirit-led leader understands how to follow. Good followership is the key to effective leadership. Just as followers react to leaders, leaders react to followers (Clark, 2014). Despite our human nature to reject submission, Jesus, the ultimate leader, proves to us how important it is to follow. Jesus was not a renegade carpenter that performed miracles, he was the messiah who followed his father’s instructions to literally save the world. The disciples were effective followers because they saw how Jesus modeled followership. If the Savior of the entire world saw fit to follow, then in turn, leaders must follow his lead.
When a leader leads without accountability, they become tyrant and dictators. The leader cannot see himself or herself as someone who is holding an office with high authority or someone who is always up to giving orders and or making all the decisions in the organization with accountability (Cox, 2010). This is not healthy for the Christian leader nor is it healthy for the organization. Followership is an emerging concept based on factors a set of skills and behaviors that help improve team performance (Whitlok, 2013). A leader that understands followership will understand the heart of his or her followers. In many cases, it’s difficult for the leader to be submissive and follow, but it’s imperative for the resolution of organizational issues. In order to successfully resolve organizational issues, leaders must:
Think like a follower
Have the heart of the follower
Be a follower
Lead the follower
This plan may seem extremely simplistic, but resolution has never been complicated to God. Consider this, since God solved our sin issue with love through a son who followed directions, how much easier is it for God to bring resolution because of a leader’s willingness to follow? Therefore, the question does not solely involve the labeling of a global leadership issue, but rather the leader who is willing to follow God through the issues.
Visit us at www.koinoniatrainingandconsulting.com
Email us at: koinoniatrainingconsulting@gmail.com