Leaders Serve
Do you want to be successful?
I know you do. As a parent, a pastor, or ministry leader, you want to be successful in your vocation or part-time job, hobbies, or personal life.
Successful leadership is not based purely on the KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators); although the metrics are important, they don’t show everything. Successful leadership is also measured by how well you connect and help others along the way.
Patrick Lencioni shares his experience of wanting to “Change the world,” after graduating. However, he didn’t realize two critical questions about leadership: “Who are the people I am really serving? And am I ready to suffer?”
Who Is Following?
Leaders who don’t serve those they lead will one day turn around and see that no one is there.
Brian Kelly, the former head coach at Norte Dame (he just left that position to be the head coach at LSU – he left in the middle of the night) might be learning a few lessons about servant leadership. Kelly asked others on the staff to join him down at LSU.
Here is what happened. Nobody left. Nobody joined him. No one followed his lead.
Serving Brings Loyalty
John Gardner, the former Secretary of Health, Welfare and Education, and adviser to six U.S. presidents, states, “A loyal constituency is won when the people, consciously or unconsciously, judge the leader to be capable of solving their problems and meeting their needs.” Leaders don’t fix YOUR problems; they help YOU to fix your problems.
Consider Galatians 6:2-3 (NLT)
Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.
Leaders are Servants to those they lead.
To be a servant leader, one must be aware of the needs of others and then help or coach them to solve their problems. Jesus is the best example of a servant leader,
Philippians 2:3-8 (NLT)
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Skills to Learn to Be a Servant Leader
- Be observant of those you lead.
- Know the heart, desires, dreams of those you lead.
- Take time to listen to those you lead.
- Be patient with those you lead.
21 Blog Post in 21 Days
Day 1, December 6, 2021
