8. A good leader always follows up an assignment.
I had a staff member who went through a number of assistants rather quickly. Finally I decided to debrief one who was leaving. “He’s a wonderful person,” she said, “but he throws us into this office to do a hundred jobs and never shows us how. It’s so frustrating, and we hate to disappoint him.”
There are two ways to follow up: formally or informally. The first is to set up a meeting in the office and ask for a full report. “Hey Bob, could we get together tomorrow morning? I’d like to see how your assignment is coming along?” By giving advance notice, you give Bob time to get his act together. The second is to call on the phone (or stop in the hallway) and ask, “How’s that project coming? Anything I can do to help?”
If you appoint someone to a task but never follow up, you are almost guaranteeing either they will not do it or they’ll do it poorly. And it’ll be your fault.
9. When you find yourself with a person who has achieved success, pick their brains on lessons of leadership they learned along the way.
We never arrive. Leadership is an ongoing subject, with specific lessons and requirements for every field.
When the deacon’s wife was in surgery, he and I shared the hospital waiting room for several hours.
Since he was a high administrator in a Washington D.C. agency and formerly president of the American Bankers Association, he had a great deal of church leadership principles to teach his young pastor. I picked his brain and carry valuable lessons to this day.
10. Once your team has finished a project, thank the members.
There are a hundred ways to do this, some more appropriate than others. A huge project might require a public celebration of thanksgiving and recognition. Something lesser might require only a hand-written note in the mail.
“That the leaders led in Israel and the people volunteered, O bless the Lord!” (Judges 5:2)
That’s the ideal: Leaders doing their job, following church leadership principles, and the people stepping up and volunteering and serving well.
This article on church leadership principles originally appeared here.
