Inspiring leadership
Breathe with the team
Elder Lin Fengliang's article "The Art of Leadership" in Issue 51 (Spring 2018) of "Kingdom of God" magazine mentioned that the conditions for a leader include character, humility, and ability to draw from God. These inner qualities and intimate relationship with God are indeed It is the best condition for a good leader.
Leaders roll up their sleeves and get into the firing line at the right time and take the lead. This example of leading by example is an easily detectable form of explicit leadership that cannot be ignored. But as Garth Saloner, dean of Stanford Business School, said: "Real leadership is the soft power of working with others and accomplishing tasks through others." This points out the key to leadership: how to influence , drive the team. I personally think that one of the most important lessons for leaders to influence and drive the team is how to motivate the team and subordinates, that is, motivating the leader - using biblical principles to "set goals" for the team, "stimulate potential", and make good use of "tangible incentives". Lead the team to "have the courage to change".
1. Set goals
The Bible Book of Nehemiah records that God placed the commission to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem in Nehemiah's heart. Nehemiah received permission from the King of Persia to lead the Jews who had returned from captivity to rebuild the wall. “The remnant of those who had returned from captivity were in great trouble and disgrace in the province of Judah; the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and its gates were burned with fire” (Nehemiah 1:3). After Nehemiah led the people to inspect the dilapidated city walls, he said to them: "Come, let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem so that we will not be humiliated again!" (Nehemiah 2:17) After his excellent leadership and effective The management of the city, "working with one hand and holding weapons with the other", not only broke through the enemy's obstruction and intimidation, but also completed the task of rebuilding the city wall in just fifty-two days. The first step in Nishihi's successful leadership was to set a goal for his followers who had returned from captivity - to rebuild the city walls.
Pastor Rick Warren, the author of "The Purpose Driven Life," proposed in this book that has influenced countless people that the primary question in life is "Why do I live?" He suggested that readers take forty days to find and understand how God created us. purpose and transform it into a lifelong goal. Time management guru Stephen Covey emphasized that the focus of time management is not efficiency and speed, but the value you pursue, which lies in the direction and goals you set in life. Covey said: "How fast you go is one thing, the direction is the most important." If a person is going in the wrong direction, going fast will only get further and further away from the goal. In other words, "doing things right" is more important than "doing things fast."
It can be seen that the meaning of goals in a person's life and how important it is to set goals. The same is true for leading a team. Only by setting goals can the daily operations of the team have direction, focus can be focused, and morale can be built up by performing tasks. Most importantly, setting goals allows the team and subordinates to know "why they are fighting."
The obvious effect of setting goals is to pool resources. A goal is like a magnet that attracts, challenges, and unites people, and mobilizes the investment of financial and other resources.
For leaders, setting goals can not only quickly incorporate external tasks into the goals, but also initiate reconstruction, task grouping, and the formulation of self-driven tasks within the team. When the mission goal is established, the team can have a strategy, and only after having a strategy can it master the steps of execution.
When I took over as the head of the new unit, I announced to everyone that I would make this support unit a "moving castle" for the entire organization, making the reception venue a "stage for promoting public relations" when handling events, and making it a "stage for promoting public relations" during daily maintenance and renovation. The entire office environment becomes "an indicator of the organization's image." An important indicator to check whether we are "doing things right" is to allow our supervisors to perform at their best on any occasion.
Gradually, colleagues who used to obey orders and do their own thing noticed that their efforts that were once ignored now have value. When team members see someone maximizing their efforts, they feel busy. And this depends on the leader setting goals for the team that everyone is willing to follow, so that team members can all face the same direction and move toward the same goal together.
▲Visualizing tasks can stimulate employees’ potential.
2. Stimulate potential
When assigned to lead an existing team, no matter whether the members are good or bad, the team leader can only use or not use them, and may not be able to replace them according to his own will. At this time, all the leader can do is to stimulate the team's potential. Once successful, the results are often Ability to transcend external conditions and accomplish seemingly impossible tasks.
Effective potential stimulation comes from building team confidence. Former U.S. President John F. Kennedy was a leader in modern history who inspired the confidence of his followers. He delivered the "Moon Speech" at Rice University and said: The decision to go to the moon was not because it was easy, but because it was difficult. ; Because this is a challenge we are willing to accept and unwilling to postpone. His speech inspired the confidence of government departments, followers and even the people of the United States. Landing on the moon and exploring space have become major events for mankind in the future.
How to unleash the potential of your team
If leaders can rely on God’s word and draw strength from their faith, their beliefs, words, and actions will also become an inspiration to the team. The apostle Paul went through life and death several times in order to preach the gospel, but he truly experienced that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) The letters he wrote under the guidance of the Holy Spirit have become He established a treasure for future generations of Christians, and his life also became an inspiration for future generations of Christians.
When I first walked into the office of my new department, I found that the working environment was less than ideal. In order to stimulate the participation of colleagues, I first designated two colleagues to be responsible for cleaning and beautifying the environment, and set a deadline. After the items were positioned, I placed the calendar whiteboard in the most eye-catching position, making it the center of gravity of the public area. Then hang a suitable painting on it. These actions inspire everyone to make small changes and step outside of their comfort zones. Colleagues gain confidence after seeing small achievements. I encourage everyone, "When we are faithful in small things, we will be entrusted with greater things." When colleagues start to come up with new suggestions, I see the confidence of the team fermenting.
One of the hurdles that must be overcome to inspire potential and confidence is to experience the unknown and the fearful. Leadership guru John Maxwell told us: "Courage is to do what you are originally afraid of." One of the most effective ways for leaders to lead their teams to overcome fear and overcome the unknown is to use the visualization method. Implement it on the spot and practice over and over again. Whether you use physical objects, pictures, images, or music to convey abstract tasks, it is all about visualizing the task, which is a good way to motivate. When the team sees the images you see and experiences them together, the leader has taken the first step in unlocking their potential. This is done to increase courage and confidence and enable everyone to go through difficulties together.
▲In management terms, a sheep can turn a group of lions into a group of sheep, but a lion can turn a group of sheep into a group of lions.
3. Tangible incentives
The Lord Jesus Christ came to the world to preach the gospel for only three short years, and often left tangible things as inspiration for those who followed Him. For example, He promised the fisherman Simon Peter that he would “catch men as fish” (Matthew 4:19), and allowed Peter to experience catching a fish that almost burst his net. At the Last Supper with his disciples, the Lord left us the most precious tangible inspiration—the Holy Communion. (Luke 22:19-20)
When we were carrying out the office beautification project, we also planned a Christmas tree lighting program for the entire unit. After our colleagues worked hard to make the program perfect, we specially hired a photographer to take precious photos in front of the Christmas tree.
When introducing new colleagues, we bought a cake to welcome them; after hosting the department’s most successful New Year reunion and social activities, I treated everyone to beef noodles as a celebration banquet. After the new colleague completed the office furniture replacement project for the entire office, I asked him to take a photo with his colleagues in front of the new sofa in the reception room to leave a tangible incentive for his work.
As for the National Cathedral of the United States, which we often cooperate with, in addition to visiting the senior pastor, we also invite colleagues to formally visit, so that colleagues can have a better understanding of American Christianity and architectural art, and have a closer working relationship with each other. It has a positive effect and is also a precious memory and tangible encouragement for the group. The purpose of this is to physically connect and breathe together as a team.
4. Courage to change and new status
The great discovery of our generation is that humans can change their outer behavior by changing their inner attitudes. When a leader wants his subordinates to do as well as he would have done it himself, he needs to find ways to make them believe like you that the task is worth the effort. To make subordinates willing to pay for the organization's ideals, leaders must invite them to accept a position and lead them to a new realm.
When colleagues tell me that past work efforts have often been overlooked, I often encourage them by quoting the words of the apostle Paul: “Forget what is behind and reach forward to what is ahead, and press on toward the goal.” (Philippians 3:13-14) I Let me tell you that the greatness of President Lincoln is not that he was born in a log cabin, but that he walked out of the log cabin and changed the world; similarly, if we have something to affirm today, it will not be because we work in a "log cabin" , but we make changes in difficult circumstances.
In management terms, a sheep can turn a group of lions into a group of sheep, but a lion can turn a group of sheep into a group of lions. I told the team that you were like ant soldiers in the past, and everyone has seen your efforts, but from now on, you are not ant soldiers, but lions who have fought a hundred battles. When you are on duty individually, you are independent warriors, but together our entire team is a moving castle, turning it into a stage for stylized public relations promotion wherever we go, because our work enables supervisors to Have the best performance.
After the leader leads the team to achieve the goal, he must continue to work hard. This is the second mile for the leader to lead the team. After motivation, the leader must quickly establish a consensus with the team, "set new rules and establish a new pattern" - to connect the team and subordinates with the goal, become the spokesperson of the goal, and implement the specific content of the goal.
“To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ… But speaking the truth in love, you will grow up in all things into him who is the Head, Christ… Building yourselves up in love.” (Ephesians 4:12 , 15,16) The secret to inspiring leadership lies within.
John Chen has worked in major cities in the United States for many years. He was baptized at the Wheaton Chinese Mission Church in Chicago in 2008. During his work, he led the team to handle many large-scale activities and carried out organizational management transformation. He believes that "leading with love", nothing is impossible with the Lord. thing.