Of course, you’ll want to weigh the feedback you receive and run it past your key circle of advisors to get some clarity. It’s a scary proposition because you may actually hear the truth, and the truth might hurt. But it will make you a better leader. It will also make your people want to run through a wall for you because you’ve shown humility and respect for them.
4. Celebrate Success and Respect Failure
What do you do when God uses your team to accomplish something great? Or when one of your team does something exceptional that reflects your core values? Do you celebrate it? It might be as simple as a quick email that says you noticed and appreciate them. It might be something you talk about at a staff meeting or a team gathering. It might be a gift card for a lunch or coffee. Success needs to be celebrated!
Perhaps even more important than how you celebrate success is how you show honor and respect when someone on your team tries something great that fails.
In our interviews with candidates, I’m usually far more interested in how a person talks about their failures than in what they have accomplished. What did they learn from it? How did it change them or cause them to grow? What do they do differently now?
If you want to be a leader that people want to follow, celebrate the successes of your team, but also honor and respect failure. Rather than simply chastising your team for something that didn’t work, use it as a teachable moment. Sit down with them and talk about what went wrong. What can you learn from it? What are ways that it can be redeemed?
5. Invest in their team members’ futures, even if it means they may leave your team one day.
In our work as search consultants, we often hear that “loyalty” is one of the character qualities our clients are looking for in their new team members. But loyalty is not just a character quality—it’s also earned by the way you invest in your team.
Great leaders that people want to follow want the best for their team members—they invest time, energy and money into helping their people reach their potential as leaders in their own right.
When you look at your team members, always ask the question: What is their next area of growth? What would help them get there? What can I as a leader, or we as an organization, provide for them to help them realize their potential? Do we need to get them more training? Do they need to be mentored? Do they need more opportunities to try some things outside of their current role?
That investment may ultimately lead to a team member leaving to join another ministry, but it won’t be because they don’t want to follow your leadership. It will be because you prepared them to serve the Kingdom in new ways.
What do you think? What are some characteristics that make people a leader worth following?
If you liked this, then you’ll like 3 Indispensable Management Principles for Leading a Church Staff.
