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Blogs by Danny Renard Von Kanel
Developing Leadership Skills 2/4/2005 4:47:00 PM
Strong leadership signals a vibrant church. Throughout Biblical history, effective leaders have guided God’s people to significant heights in their journey with Christ. They did so because they possessed leadership skills beyond the ordinary.
In this letter, I address four ways leaders know they have these skills, three dos and don’ts, and three items needed to bring a mentor to them when one is not available locally.
Developing Leadership Skills
Strong leadership signals a vibrant church. Throughout Biblical history, effective leaders have guided God’s people to significant heights in their journey with Christ. They did so because they possessed leadership skills beyond the ordinary.
Leaders possess these skills when they:
1. are able to communicate what they are saying,
2. lead by example,
3. have people responding to their leadership,
4. know where they are going.
Dos and don’ts associated with developing leadership skills:
1. Do commit to the long haul. Skills aren’t developed overnight.
2. Don’t neglect learning from your mistakes.
3. Do ask God to sharpen neglected or dulled deficiencies.
If you don’t have a local mentor to learn from, you can bring one to you.
You will need:
1. Books by religious authorities who exhibit leadership skills.
2. Videos by the same authors.
3. A notebook and pen.
Build a personal leadership skill journal. As you read books of successful leaders and watch their tapes, jot down ways they led by example, communicated, propagated their vision, and rallied people to service. Commit to practice implementing one skill a week. Evaluate your progress at weeks’ end.
-The Scale. Using a scale from 1-10, chart your progress. For instance:
Communication 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Example 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Response From People 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
etc.
Realistically, mark your starting point. Seek to move up one number on the scale each week.
- The Solitude. Generally, spiritual leadership skills comes from solitude. Quiet times alone with God provides the opportunity to nurture what you lack. Ask God to guide you in where, when, and how.
- The Service. The ultimate objective of skill development is to help you better serve God’s people. Granted, you will experience positive feelings and affirmation when a skill is mastered, but it should not produce pride. The scale keeping and solitude should produce a practical and
spiritual balance. This balance allows for effective development of your skills.
