People need encouragement in life. The essence of leadership is to help people achieve greatness in life. Amidst today's degrading and discouraging culture, encouragement is needed more than ever. One of the most important aspects is the internal and external need for motivation. Motivation is much more than telling people to keep moving forward. It is to see ahead and visualize achievement for the people and express it in way that they can understand. People are easily discouraged and every leader must learn to express and reveal positive encouragement. A leader must learn to verbalize achievement for others if people are going to be motivated. People not only need to hear it, but they need to feel it in the body language and expressions of the leader. Non-verbal communication is what most people notice long before they hear someone speak. The leader must be willing to put the encouragement on paper so that people can adequately understand the goals. People are looking for tangible ways to jump aboard the vision. It is the task of the leader to help people see themselves as a vital part of the vision. If people do not feel a part of the vision, they will begin to lose interest. God has called leaders to be champions and coaches for people to be all they can be in Christ. It is vital for leaders to motivate and encourage people to see their potential in their walk with God.
Keeping Quality Student Leaders
Vision is the most important aspect of leading people. If workers do not know where a leader is headed, it is hard for them to know how to serve. People have to understand how important their input and investment is in the ministry. Training must be a priority on a regular basis in order to provide encouragement and evaluation of the team. It is wise for leaders to build relationships with each worker. People need to know how much a leader cares so that they can have the internal motivation to continue serving. Relationships are important to form trust and loyalty into workers. The leader must set the example of being consistent and committed to the ministry. One of the biggest struggles of churches is the rapid turnover of the leadership. The rapid turnover is one of the keys to the lack of commitment and longevity of lay workers. If a leader will commit to standing by their workers by continually encouraging and investing time in their life, it will lead to a healthy team. The quality of the workers will also attract more committed leaders. It is a priority for the leader to set an example that attracts people who are committed to excellence. When excellence is revealed, people want to join it. It begins with the example of the leader and will eventually become a part of the culture of the workers. Retaining workers is a key ingredient to building a strong and long-lasting ministry.
A Leader's Skills - Delegation
A leadership skill that is needed is the ability to delegate. It is unproductive to go about ministry with a “me-for and no-more” mindset. Using a team of volunteers is important to fulfilling the ministry’s mission. A leader who does not delegate takes the ministry upon himself and makes it all fall upon his shoulders.
One pitfall of many leaders (including myself) is perfectionism. Everything MUST be done a certain way.
In Blackaby’s book it he states, “Whatever the reason for reluctance to delegate, leaders must understand that mastering the art of delegation is preeminent among leadership skills. It is one of the wisest uses of a leader’s time.”
One person can not do it all. They can try but the ministry will suffer if the leader is controlling and has a perfectionist attitude.
Bill Bright said, "Great men lead people, but greater men train leaders.”