Delegating authority: a two-way traffic

 

As a leader, how well do you delegate authority?

• Do you feel comfortable dishing out a portion of your authority to a subordinate?
• Can you get busy elsewhere knowing your collaborator or assistant is doing a great job even in your absence?
• Do you give the opportunity to your collaborators to put their own gifts and talents to use?
• Will you protect, defend and back those you’ve delegated to represent you?
• Are you afraid to lose some of your authority if you gave part away?
• Do you feel threatened when your collaborator or associate seems to be doing a better job?
• Do you delegate authority and then stifle it by your attitude towards those you’ve delegated?

How well do you as a subordinate represent your superior?

• Do you take the tasks assigned to you seriously?
• Do you represent in such a way as to give a positive image of the one you represent?
• Are you accountable and responsible to the one who delegated you?
• Do you try to take more authority than you were assigned?
• Do you intentionally sabotage your superior when acting by delegation so as to become more popular than them?
• Can your superior trust to have you sit in for him next time?

Every human being is a delegated authority. God has delegated all of us to represent Him on the earth. How well do we do it?

As the leader, can you trust others like God has trusted you?

When you get delegated by a superior at work, how do you handle that responsibility?

Share your thoughts.

 

Keep it or you lose it

Give yourself some time to…

Sometimes we are in so much of a hurry to reach the next goal that we fail to take time to enjoy what we’ve achieved so far.

Take time to enjoy your achievements. There may never be another time for that.

 

The four deadly enemies of a Christian leader

As a Christian leader, your deadliest enemy is not the man next door who stares weirdly when you drive past to church; your worst enemy is right within.

Money: Yes, uncontrolled love and craving for money. Do you find yourself lying, cheating, swindling and even stealing in order to satisfy that insatiable urge to have more money? That enemy is out to ruin you. Face him squarely or he’ll destroy you.

Sex: What are you presently comprising just to satisfy that urge, that burning desire to be in their arms? Be sure you are not a victim of the spirit of lust or seduction, or both. That enemy will disgrace you when you least expect it.

Pride: You hate to be in a position of weakness; you always want to be at the top and in charge. You will intentionally hide the truth and engage in a lot of hypocrisy just to keep your pride. You hate to apologize even when you are sure you blew it. It’s hard for you to acknowledge you were at fault. Check your heart. That enemy will limit the extent to which God can use you.

Power: You can sacrifice everything and anything just to be “the one in charge here”. You hate to be the follower, even when you have much to learn from others. You want to teach everybody even when you’ve got nothing worth teaching. That enemy will keep you ignorant and empty, with the illusion that you know it all and can do it all. He will keep you from growing to greater heights.

We’ve got to always check our motives, re-examine our hearts each step of the journey. Our sincerity with God will earn us His timely intervention and save us  lots of future embarrassments.

I wish you the best on this journey.

 

Share with someone this season

They may not deserve it but they need it.

Merry Christmas to you all.

 

When people leave

Every leader will experience this at least once in a life time; people who choose to leave rather than stay. You’ve worked together, you’ve planned the future together; you’ve even invested a great deal into their lives, then one day they choose to leave the church, business, company, brand …

This can be a fairly bitter pill to swallow especially when they leave at a time you really need their services. It is therefore important to prepare oneself against such an eventuality by keeping it in mind that no matter how well you treat your team members some will always have a reason to leave.

• Search for greener pastures
• Discontent about some issue (for instance your leadership style).
• Call to other duties
• Incapacitation

The list continues.

As the leader, your reaction to this will reflect your level of maturity and the quality of your leadership. How will you react to such a situation?

• Brand them as traitors and unfaithful collaborators?
• Accuse a competitor for taking away (stealing) your members/customers?
• Accuse the devil for coming after you?
• Just slump into your seat and hope it doesn’t happen another time?

Rather than look around for whom to blame why not do a thorough self-examination?

• Am I giving them what they need?
• Do I know what they need?
• Do they feel fulfilled working with me?
• Have I done something wrong?
• Have I been listening to their complaints?
• Have I departed from the original vision they submitted to?
• Am I a good leader? Will I like to submit under my own leadership?

A good leader takes the blame first before investigating the cause.

It’s not wise to quickly name and blame others while exempting yourself from the responsibility.

It could be an opportunity for you to go in for self-improvement.

Very few people will choose to leave a winning team and even fewer still, will quit a place where they get satisfaction.

And if you think you gave them the best, but they left anyway, you will have a cool head and a clean conscience.

Some people come into our lives for a reason, some for a season and some for life. Get to know who is in your life and for what purpose.

“It’s your fault; it’s my effort”

A humble leader will take the blame and give the credit.

When things go wrong, “It’s my fault, I should have known; I should have predicted this…”

When things go right, “It’s thanks to the effort of my team; they’re an amazing group to work with…”

Rather than

When things go wrong, “It’s your fault; you’re all so incompetent”.

When things go right, “It’s thanks to my talent and ingenuity”.

When the leader starts taking all the credit and dishing out all the blame, we are just a step away from discontent and rebellion.

When a leader takes the blame it opens up an avenue for self-improvement.

When they take only the credit they can easily slump into a comfort zone and fail to predict future errors.

Discipline and sanctions: two delicate tools in the hand of a leader

Discipline and sanctions, when well-handled can be effective tools for the leader to get things moving in the right direction and with the right perspective.

But the abuse or misuse of these tools could have very negative consequences.

As a leader you should ask yourself these questions when faced with the possibility of meting out discipline or sanctions:

Why is it necessary at this point in time?

What is the expected outcome of this?

Who is the beneficiary in this?

Wrong motives for meting out discipline and sanctions

To earn the respect of others and gain influence

To establish one’s authority, “I’m the one in charge here…”

As a means to revenge or get back at someone who hurt you in the past

To degrade and humiliate a rival

To silence opposition and dissenting voices

As an attempt to hide your weaknesses and failures

When discipline and sanctions become tools that benefit more the leader rather than those who are led and the organization, they become dangerous tools.

• There is always a better way to establish your authority as a leader and earn respect from those you lead.
• Avoid dishing out sanctions when you are still in that mood that provoked the decision to sanction the individual in question.
• Postpone the sanction; reexamine the motive to see if you still feel the same the next day.

As a leader what are your motives for meting out discipline and sanctions in your home, organization, church, classroom…? Share.

 

 

 

 

If you’re too busy for your spouse, then you’re really too busy, Mr. leader.

Have you thought of taking her out for dinner?

When was your last date night?

You’ve really been too  busy of late.

Why not take some time off to be with her

Just with her.

Can’t you see the look in her eyes?

Don’t wait until it gets too late.

You have many genuine priorities,

But know that she is

Your number one priority.

Leadership: the home scenario

How do I strike a balance between my role as a parent and a leader in my home?

The home is a place where we expect the highest level of love, acceptance and understanding. We see it as a duty the other party is supposed to do; it’s not a favor we are demanding. So giving and receiving love, acceptance and understanding is almost synonymous to home life.

However, parents at the same time are expected to place themselves in a leadership role with all it entails. This could become really tricky if not well-handled. This can actually get out of hand if both parties misunderstand the role they are supposed to play. This could have very unpredictable consequences.

Based on my own experiences as a child growing up in a home, and as now a parent entrusted with the responsibility of leading my home, I will share some of the things I have learned so far.

• Love with discipline
• Discipline with love
• Talk less and do more
• Explain less, demonstrate more
• Preach less, practice more
• Don’t cry too often before your kids
• Go for a walk when you feel like raising a fist
• Don’t let your bleeding heart be seen on your face
• Be real without being too vulnerable
• Plan for pleasant surprises; don’t let the unpleasant ones become the order.

I wish a happy home to you all. Home sweet home!