The Starting Line

By Doug Franklin July 27, 2009

“I want to grow as a leader, so what do I do?”
“I want to develop people around me into leaders, so where do I start?”

I hear these questions a lot; people are coming to understand that leadership can be learned but they don’t know how to get started. Let me share with you the starting line for leadership development.

1.    Know how God has uniquely wired you
Your foundation of leadership is built on who you are. Each person is going to lead differently based on their giftedness, so we need to understand personality, spiritual gifts, unique abilities and leadership style. This information will determine how we act in different situations and allow us to serve others through our strengths.

2.    Balance leadership skills & character
We all know a great visionary who has acted inappropriately. We also know the leader who wants everything done right but can’t execute the vision. The key here is balance. When starting out in leadership, we often act the opposite way of the leaders we don’t want to be like, creating imbalance. Resist this temptation and pursue balance.

3.    Understand task vs. relationship
God has given us a mission and the mission is people. When I hear that first part about the mission I get all excited, it’s the second part where I struggle. Most of us don’t understand that task and relationship are tied together. Great leaders understand this and work hard to care for people, while still reaching their goals.

If you are unable to bring these principles into your daily leadership experiences, you will stumble; people will question your leadership and goals will not be met. Leadership will be a lot easier when you put these principles into action. People’s confidence in you will increase, dreams will be accomplished and teams will look to you for continuing leadership.