Get Better as a Leader - Part 1

Over the last month, I have been reminded of some important leadership principles. Most of the reminding came after listening to a talk by John Maxwell at a conference I attended this summer. At this point, I rarely learn anything entirely new about leadership, but I do find I need to be reminded of certain vital principles over and over and over again.

First and most important is that everything rises and falls on leadership. If a parish or a ministry is succeeding, you will find a leader—or more likely, a healthy leadership team—that’s making it happen. God uses leaders to accomplish his work and his will on this earth. Throughout the Scriptures, we see that when God wants his plans fulfilled, he starts by calling a leader such as Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Gideon.

We see the importance of leadership so clearly in the kings of Israel. When the nation was headed toward God, they had a good kingly leader who worshiped God and worked to honor him. However, the nation would go astray whenever an idolatrous king came to power.

The second key principle about leadership is the law of the lid. The law of the lid says that an organization or parish, or department will rarely, if ever, go above the leader who sits at the head of the organization. As the head of Rebuilt, the organization will rise and fall with my ability as a leader. If you are the pastor of your parish, you are the lid on its future growth. If you run the youth ministry or children’s program or the small groups in your parish, you are the lid. The parish or department will rise and fall in relation to your abilities as a leader. Sobering, isn’t it?

Here's another part of the law of the lid: your leadership capacity will determine the people you attract to your team. If you are an “eight” as a leader, you will not attract “nines” and “tens.” Like attracts like, so at best you will attract other eights. More likely, you will attract “sixes” and “sevens” or lower numbers. So, if you would like to get better leaders on your team, you are the lid to attracting high-quality leaders. Sobering, isn’t it?

Okay, now that I have upset you, take heart, here is a third key leadership principle. You can grow as a leader. You can lift the lid. Leadership is not static. While some people have natural leadership abilities, there are no born leaders. You grow as a leader because leadership abilities and skills can be learned. You grow as a leader because leadership flows out of our being and character. You grow as a leader because God’s in the leadership development business. The story of the Scriptures is that God takes numbskulls and nothings like Moses, David, Esther, Peter, and Paul (to name a few) and turns them into incredible leaders.

In the next blog, I’ll offer some thoughts on how to grow as a leader. Until then, I would encourage you to do a little self-evaluation. On a scale of 1-10, how do you rank yourself as a leader? Give yourself a number overall. Then rank how well you have been leading this past week. It’s not a final judgment. It’s a moment in time. Once you identify that number, name one thing you could have done that would have increased your number in your mind. It will help you take this large concept of leadership and show you ways you can get a little bit better. That’s where we start. We get a little bit better over and over again—and over time, we will lift our lids.

Rooting for you,
Tom