TEXT : John 13:1; Habakkuk 2:2,3 ; Nehemiah. 2:11-18; Nehemiah 4:1-6; Nehemiah 5:14-19;John 14:12
I take it for granted that you have read the texts above . If you haven’t STOP NOW and do so before you proceed...
Well,well,well what a wonderful world we live in .We are making history. Hallelujah!
In the first part of this discuss , we examined Rom 12:2, and spoke on the leaders’ need to get ‘inside the change’ .That is a leader should model the transformation that he hopes to see in his organisation and followers ; then and only then does he qualify to challenge them constantly to transform.
In a nutshell the Concept of Transformational leadership focuses on producing leaders who have engaged themselves in personal change and are changing their organizations from ‘inside the change’.
In this edition , we shall be looking at the practicality of this!
The Challenge of 21st Century leaders
The main challenge for leaders in this ‘century of change’ is how to create an environment (of love and acceptance) that triggers the best in everyone they are leading so that the corporate goal can be achieved and of course the bottom-line (its okay to use the word ‘profit’) can increase. Did the Apostle Paul not urge his protégé, Timothy to do all he could so that his profiting may be known to all. C’mon guys, its time to get publicly quoted ! This can be done in the following pragmatic and easy ways:
1. Clearly Define Your Corporate Mission:
Set a high target. See it possible and effectively communicate your possibility openly so that all stakeholders might see the target with you! (Read that Nehemiah 2 again and note how in 52 days , Nehemiah motivated all to achieve a hitherto impossible task of rebuilding a perimeter wall ).Experts have said vision leaks and as such should be communicated every 26 days. Commnunicate with your followers every month without fail. Never allow your excitement to die! C’mon exhale!!
2. Communicate Effectively:
Use the most effective medium-conversations, strategy meetings ,bonding meetings or Cocktails , etc. Just about anything creative you could think of. Learn to use stories or images Use Powerpoint and slides for pictorial presentations.Paint pictures , they speak more than a thousand words.Use words that can draw pictures in the mind of your listeners.Jesus employed this most effectively by using parables and illustrations that are pictorial .e . g Jonah in the belly of the fish. He spoke about ‘break this Temple down and rebuild it after three days’. This is creativity at its best. He stretched their thinking.
3. Reconcile Individual and Organisational Goals: The whole has to be greater than the sum of its parts.There should be no ‘my goals’ but ‘our goals’. Everyone must find his place in the big picture. ‘I’ (personal goals)needs to thrive only inside the ‘WE’(corporate goals).
4. Foster Innovation
Think up how you can tap the best and most exciting New Thinking from your followers. Create conversational environments that nourish innovation-such as a Team building culture.Tell them also that they are free to make mistakes! Great things have come from small and sometimes failed beginnings.Like the Toyota brand phrase claimed: ‘Good Thinking ,Good Product!’
5. Develop People:
We develop people primarily through the words we speak to them.Words are seeds!There are leaders who kill anything good in their followers. They do this through destructive criticisms, hate and racist speeches, and their high-handedness.
A leader builds people by meeting the 3 main areas of need in their lives: (i)Need for Affirmation, (ii)Need for Appreciation and (iii) Need for Commendation. These build in the followers ,a sense of Self-worth, Significance and Esteem respectively.
6. Replicate Leaders:
Organisations wither and go out of business when they are unable to pass
on and transform their corporate culture. The future of any organization
depends on her ability to priortise people-development above financial
gains. The management guru ,Peter Drucker claimed the 8th Habit Of
Effective People is : Building Legacies.
NOW, PRAY THE LEADERS’ PRAYER :
‘Remember me with favour oh my God for all that I have done for this
people ’ (Nehemiah 5:19).
DO YOU KNOW?
Jesus died a horrible death on a cross to set you free from sin and to give you
abundant life here on this earth. As we know him more and more deep in our hearts,
He can help us grow into who we should truly be. Our lives are empty and hopeless
without Him holding us.A life without Christ is shattered dreams!
You Too Can experience His Love.Give Your heart to him.Do it Now!
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