I was attending this Leadership conference organized by CMC (Chinese Methodist Church) at Port Dickson from 27-28 Feb. It called “ETLS” Eagles Team Leadership summit, well it is a gathering where pastors and lay leaders learn biblically informed principles, integrating church/marketplace perspectives to address current leadership challenges.
CMC invited this group from Eagles Leadership Institute (www.leadership.org.sg) with fabulous speakers, there was Michael Tan, Lim Peng Soon and John Ng (www.meta.som.sg). Although it’s just a day half of conference, I had gained a lot of knowledge and I believe 400 of the attendants had the wonderful class that how to be a leader in church or workspace.
What trigger me during the conference? Let me share with that.
Meaning of Leaders or who is qualified to be a leader?
L.E.A.D.E.R.S... each alphabet has its own meaning.
L- Long-term record of effectiveness
E- Egos surrendered to Christ
A- Approachable and accessible
D- Devotion to spouse and family, yes, support from family is important
E- Excellence in service & work
R- Reflection of Godly Character
S- Sharing with others
Although your position as a manager, supervisor, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization, this power does not make you a leader, it simply makes you the boss. Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals, rather than simply bossing people around.
To be a good leader with 8 Characters or it called 8P.
1) Purity of Hear (Mind and hands)
2) Posture of Servant hood (Pride)
3) Perseverance (Follow-through)
4) Predictability (Integrity)
5) Promise-keeping (Confidence)
6) Partnership (Faithfulness)
7) Prayer (Spirituality)
8) Passion for Christ (Sincerity)
Well, when a person is deciding if she respects you as a leader, she does not think about your attributes, rather, she observes what you do so that she can know who you really are. She uses this observation to tell if you are an honorable and trusted leader or a self-serving person who misuses authority to look good and get promoted. Self-serving leaders are not as effective because their employees only obey them, not follow them.
And remember, good followers manage themselves well, committed to the organization and build their competence & focus, courageous, honest and credible. Or I put the terms in this way…
Followership = Partnership = Leadership = Relationship
Coz leadership is everyone’s business.
