WISE, INTENTIONAL

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

TITUS EMAIL

Volume 3, Number 11 – November, 2009

I hope you are encouraged by this month’s topic which is very key to developing as spiritual leaders.  Followership in the leadership ranks is not taught much in the Church, yet it was foundational to Jesus’ ministry and development of His leadership team.  To be an effective leader, you need to be a good follower.

In three weeks, I will be going to Uganda to provide training and vision casting for central Africa.  Please pray with WILD that this trip will be effective and not only be fruit-bearing now but in greater amounts in the years to come.    Mike

ELISHA’S FOLLOWERSHIP

A famous orchestra conductor was once asked what the hardest instrument was to play.  His reply was second chair.  Second chair is any instrument where the musician is not the lead but essentially following what the lead musician is playing.  No one really cared to play the second chair.  Everyone wanted to be the lead.

In Biblical leadership we essentially struggle with following.  It is hard to follow.  Yet to have an effective team, you have to have followers who will carry out what the leader has directed.  Not everyone can lead at the same time.  Nothing would get accomplished.

In 1 Kings 18 and 19, Elijah had just been a part of a great victory for God over the Baal worshippers.  Then Jezebel threatened vengeance on Elijah, throwing him into a terrible depression.  God met Elijah in the wilderness and told him to go anoint someone who would not only help Elijah but be his successor.  Elijah found Elisha farming, plowing a field (19:19-21).  Elisha was from a wealthy family.  Elijah went to Elisha putting his cloak around Elisha signifying Elisha would be Elijah’s successor.  That cloak was left later with Elisha indicating the transfer of authority was complete. 

Before leaving, Elisha said good bye to his parents.  Elisha understood the decision he made for he had the oxen slaughtered that he was plowing with and held a feast.  He knew he would not be returning to his former way of life as a wealthy farmer.  When Elisha joined Elijah, he was not made the successor immediately.  Rather he had to follow Elijah for some time, learning from Elijah, faithfully serving the prophet.  Elisha could not go back home for he had made the commitment illustrated by the offering up of the oxen.  He would have to be the follower, Elijah’s attendant. 

Eventually Elisha became the leader, the prophet of God.  His ministry included more than 50 faithful years in this capacity.  He was an effective replacement for he not only learned from his master but also built upon Elijah’s achievements.  In other words he made Elijah ministry much more credible. 

It is so easy when being put in charge to do everything differently than the previous leader, making a name for yourself.  Obviously there are times that needs to be done especially when the previous leader was not at all effective or had sin issues.  If the previous leader had done a good job, faithful to the responsibility, it honors God when we build upon that legacy.  It is hard to hear sometimes how wonderful the previous leader was when you are presently in that position.  Yet without that previous leader’s foundation, chances are you would not be doing what you are doing. 

If the previous leader’s standards were high, out of respect, maintain those levels and even go higher.  If the standards were not high, then work to make them high. Do not rip apart or destroy the previous leader’s reputation as you are developing higher standards. 

Playing second chair is not easy because you are not the focal point but without you, the musical piece would not sound complete.  Yet when you are first chair and simply trying to make a name for yourself, your music will terribly stick out and potentially destroy the musical piece.  How do we want to answer to God for our actions?

ILLUSTRATION

Japanese businesses require long apprenticeships and socialization periods.  In comparison, their American counterparts often scale the corporate ladder quickly, but superficially.  After six months or a year, American managers move on to new jobs, whether or not they have mastered their current responsibilities.

Japanese executives will spend several years at each rung (level of job).  This allows them to master every detail, nuance, and contingency of each level.  When they face a stressful situation, this training and mastery gives them an intimate and seemingly intuitive understanding of its impact at all the different levels through which they have passed.  They also have a wide and complex repertoire of ingrained responses to fall back on, unlike the more shallow set of their fast track U.S. counterparts.      From, “The Power of Followership”

QUOTES

“Followership is not a person but a role, and what distinguishes followers from leaders is not intelligence or character but the role they play….effective followers and effective leaders are often the same people playing different parts at different hours of the day.”                               Robert Kelly

“It begins with the natural feeling…deep down inside…that one wants to serve, to serve first.  (That person is sharply different from one who is leader first.)  The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served.  The best test and most difficult to administer is: do those served grow as persons?  Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?”             Robert Greenleaf

“…exemplary followers don’t believe they have to know everything.  Instead, they actively learn by asking tons of questions, of the leader and their co-workers.  They watch what happens around them.  To them, followership is not an individual sport, like running a marathon.  Instead, they get all the help they can without being a boor or a pest.”            Robert Kelly

Nobody Is A Whole Chain

Each one is a link.  But take away one link and the chain is broken.

Nobody is a whole team.  Each one is a player.  But take away one player and the game is forfeited.

Nobody is a whole orchestra.  Each one is a musician.  But take away one musician and the symphony is incomplete…

You guessed it.  We need each other.  You need someone and someone needs you.  Isolated islands we’re not.

To make this thing called life work, we gotta lean and support.  And relate and respond.  And give and take.  And confess and forgive. And reach out and embrace.  And release and rely…

Since none of us is a whole, independent, self-sufficient, superb-capable, all-powerful hotshot, let’s quit acting like we are.  Life is lonely enough without our play that silly role.

The game’s over.  Let’s link up.

                                                          Charles Swindoll, The Finishing Touch