Lessons for leadership drawn specifically from Scripture

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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 8: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 8 – What Do You Hear?)

In my thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are leadership lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This particular series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament, the same lessons that I have published in my latest book. This week, in part 8, I am discussing one of several lessons on the practice of leadership, this is about the important of giving people a voice and letting them be heard. Here is the transcript of the podcast.

In this series we are diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying them to the practice of leadership. The purpose of the series, and of the website as a whole, is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that will help you grow in your leadership and make an impact. That starts with realizing that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it, and He has a part for us in this purpose.

We then spent 3 weeks laying the groundwork for effective leadership, using the analogy of the starting blocks in a race, when all the runners line up and get into position, and the starter yells, “On your mark, get set, go!” The first command, “On Your Mark,” was all about getting to the starting line and in the right place by getting yourself into the right frame of mind and equipping yourself for what is coming. Aligning yourself with truth by seeking and knowing God and knowing where He has placed you, and by establishing your foundational beliefs and values, gives you the capability to lead. The second command, “Get Set,” was all about getting into position in the right form, so that you are best prepared to start well. Performing the actions that set you up to be followed and trusted involves living your life so that your actions and behaviors reflect those beliefs, and that gives you the credibility to lead. The final command, “Go,” is when the starter’s pistol goes off and you start running. That’s when your work begins as you start leading your people and your organization toward your mission, vision, or change. This is hard work and therefore requires someone who is both capable and credible, and that’s why this step must follow the other two. But with those things in place, the race is underway, and what follows are the things you do to maintain your race. We have already talked about the importance of the ability to see the big picture as one of those things, and today we are discussing the important of giving people a voice in the process

Earlier in my marriage, my wife and I had moved to a new state for a new job, and I was trying to establish myself in this new organization. It’s helpful to know that I am an introvert by nature, and I tend to process my thoughts internally. How this manifested itself is illustrated by my tendency in leadership meetings almost everywhere I have worked. There will be a topic or agenda item on the meeting list, and the group will have a healthy and robust discussion all around this topic, and the whole time I am listening to what everyone is saying, thinking about the implications of what they are saying, and putting them in the context of the situation. Toward the end of the discussion, I will finally share the conclusion of thoughts. Usually, the response is something like, “Jeff, I think you’ve captured the right idea and plan.” In my experience, some people say something out loud then talk about it as part of their thought process.  I think about it in my mind first, and then say something out loud.

That is a great skill for decision-making and analysis, but it also has it’s flip side, which my wife helped my learn. In this new organization and new position, I was meeting with some employees who were expressing their concerns and ideas. I was sitting with them, and my mind I was attentively listening to what they were saying while I was carefully processing. When they were done and left meeting with me I continued to think and process, so that I could determine the best response and course of action. By the time I got home, however, word had already reached my wife that I didn’t listen to them. I was frustrated and was explaining to my wife that I was listening and thinking while they talked, and she said, “Jeff, they didn’t know you were listening because you didn’t say anything. And because they didn’t know you were listening, they interpreted that you were not.” Then she said, “If you give people a blank page, they will write their own story.” You see, because I gave no outward sign or indication, they felt like they had not been heard and did not have a voice in the situation. And I had a mess to clean up.

The reality is that people want to have a voice in the circumstances of their lives. Those circumstances include their jobs, which should matter to you. Remember that they are typically the ones who experience the effect of your decisions, and see how it is lived out around them.  They have knowledge of what has worked and what has not. They see how things are received. And they care about what is happening, so they want to be able to speak up and feel like they have been heard. Therefore, it is vital that you foster that kind of environment.

You need to make sure that people have a voice and feel heard. Those are two sides of this important topic. The first is that you need to give them the opportunity and a forum to speak up and share what they have to say.  But that’s only one side. You also need to respond with your words and act visibly in a way that communicates that you heard what they had to say. They are not usually speaking just to hear their own voices, but because they believe they have something important to contribute, and they want to know that you really heard their meaning and intent.

The bottom line is that you need to give people an opportunity to speak, and make it safe for them to do so (that’s another lesson, because if they don’t feel safe, you won’t get them to say anything). Find ways to let them share. Then respond back in ways that show them you heard them. And finally, act in a way that shows you took what they had to say and valued it. When you do that, people will feel like they have a voice.

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Leadership Ezra: Who’s In Charge Here? (Part 8, What Do You Hear?)

In thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (and then published in my latest book). This week, in part 8, I am discussing one of several lessons on the practice of leadership, this is about the important of giving people a voice and letting them be heard.

Let People Have a Voice

If you have been following this series, by now you realize that I have found that the book of Ezra is chock full of lessons and illustrations on leadership. I have already written about topics like understanding God’s sovereignty in my plans, preparing myself for leadership, team leadership, the work of leadership, and seeing the big picture. In my study of the book, I have also found application to many other leadership principles and concepts, like strategic planning, overcoming obstacles, building motivation, and more. Another of those lessons, which is illustrated in the events that take place in chapter 10, verses 7 through the end of the chapter, I believe specifically provides an example of the value of giving people a voice.

There was a time when leadership was viewed as an authoritative role that looked something like this: I am in charge, I know what needs to be done, I tell you what to do, and you do it. The assumption was that the leader was the one who really knew what was best, so he talked, and the followers listened. Classrooms used to operate the same way, when teachers would lecture, and students would listen and take notes; but it was a very one-sided dialogue. Studies of leadership recognize that this is not effective leadership, and that now we need to be willing to give people a voice in the process. Heifetz and Laurie, in their Harvard Business Review article “The Work of Leadership,” included in HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership (2011), found that “giving a voice to all people is the foundation of an organization that is willing to experiment and learn” (p. 69). However, that doesn’t mean that it’s no longer a struggle for us to do, and so it is still something that we need to intentionally cultivate in ourselves and in our leadership.

A couple of important concepts have personally helped me to recognize this truth. One was the realization that many people know much more than I do about many things, and there are many things that others can do better than I. I don’t know everything, and I am not the most skilled at everything. Therefore, I can be more effective when I tap into the knowledge and skills of others, but that, in turn, means giving them an opportunity to contribute. A second was the realization that those who are closest to a situation – those on the ground floor – generally have the greatest understanding of what is taking place. The people actually doing the job often have the best understanding of what works and what does not. The result, then, is that I have learned that I need to give people a voice, especially in the process of implementing change. If people are given the ability to speak into the process, they will in turn take more ownership of it and will be more involved and more committed. And this is where a look at Ezra 10:7-17 gives us some great insight. If we walk through the passage verse by verse, what we see is a great step-by-step picture of the importance and value of leaders giving people a voice in the process.

Verses 7 and 8 set the stage, describing how Ezra gathers everyone together. A proclamation is sent throughout the area instructing people to come to a central location for what will be an important meeting. They are given three days to arrive and gather, and the proclamation includes a rather severe ultimatum to ensure that people come. The important components that are immediately evident for our understanding of leadership are these:

  • Include those who will be affected, so that the ones who will be impacted have an opportunity to have a voice.
  • Provide a time and place for the dialogue to take place, making sure that the availability of those invited is taken into consideration.
  • Provide a motivation that underscores the importance of the meeting, increasing the likelihood of the right people being there.

Once gathered together (v. 9) – and notice that the attendees recognized the importance of this discussion – Ezra stood in front of everyone present and briefly explained the basic issue and the needed outcome (vv. 10-11). In their case, it was the sin of unfaithfulness to God, requiring confession, repentance, obedience, and separation. The example it provides helps us to see the next thing that  people need:

  • Provide a clear and understandable idea of what the issue is and what the outcomes need to be.

Before people can give input, it is the responsibility of the leader to communicate and summarize so that everyone involved can understand and engage. Everyone needs to see the picture clearly and be on the same page from the start. And clearly, Ezra did this well, because the response of the people (v. 12) was a resounding “Yes! We are on board and we will do it!”

At this point:

  • Give people the opportunity to speak into the situation – and make it safe to do so (vv. 13).

The discussion that ensues is a wonderful representation of the importance of giving people a voice. They have heard the issue and the needed outcomes, they have expressed absolute support, but they also recognized that there are some factors that need to be considered in the process, because those factors will affect their ability to accomplish the goal. In their situation, they identified the problem of volume – how many and how much (“there are many people,” and “there are many of us who have transgressed”) – and the problem of physical circumstances (“it is the season for heavy rain”). Very often, it is those who are on the ground floor and in the trenches who are best able to understand what is being faced and how it will impact those involved. The leader may be the one who is best able to “zoom out” and see the big picture, but once you “zoom in,” the people who are carrying out the work of the tasks may be best able to see the details and provide input. They will see things that you miss, and so if they are not given the opportunity to speak, you may be creating obstacles that can greatly hinder the likelihood of accomplishing the goals.

But it didn’t end there. The people knew the obstacles that would increase the challenge, and they were able to offer ideas to solve those issues (v. 14). They proposed a solution that addressed their problem of volume and allowed for the disruption caused by their physical circumstances. Then, because they were empowered to speak, they got behind the leadership and took ownership of the issue and the solution. Their solution, based on their first-hand knowledge of the circumstances, included identifying representative leaders, arranging a schedule and time frame, establishing a process, and clearly communicating the purpose. This provides a great example of the result and benefit of giving people a voice. When people are given the opportunity to participate and contribute, they buy in and take ownership. When that happens, you will have their support and involvement and have a much higher probability of accomplishing the tasks. And keep in mind, because they may have the best picture of the details, they can provide valuable input into a workable solution.

With that backdrop, verses 16 through the end of the chapter reveal the final – and critical – step by the leadership:

  • Listen to the people and take their input into consideration when determining the action steps.

They then followed that established process, completed the plan, and achieved the goals. But before that happened, verse 15 points out an interesting side note: the proposed solution did not have unanimous support. Several leaders of the people opposed the idea, including at least one spiritual leader. One of them, Meshullam, is also mentioned in Nehemiah 3:4 as someone who was helping to repair the wall in Jerusalem, so I don’t think these individuals were opposed to the goal, just to the process that was proposed. This gives us a good picture of how the process operates in organizations (and how the body of Christ operates): there will likely never be full agreement on anything, but giving the people a voice will bring the best ideas, and it is then the responsibility of the leadership to filter the responses, seek God, and determine the direction. As Seth Godin says in Tribes, “Listen, really listen. Then decide and move on” (2008, p. 128).

Ezra’s leadership shows us the value of giving people a voice. If we don’t do the same, we only make our job more difficult. So I say, “Let the people speak.”

Godin, S. (2008). Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us. Portfolio: New York, NY.

Heifetz, R. A., and Laurie, D. L. (2011). “The Work of Leadership,” in HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership. Harvard Business Review Press: Boston, MA.

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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 7: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 7 – What Do You See?)

In my thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are leadership lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This particular series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament, the same lessons that I have published in my latest book. This week in part 7, I am discussing one of several lessons on the practice of leadership, this one is about the importance of seeing the big picture (and especially of seeing it from God’s perspective). Here is the transcript of the podcast.

In this series we are diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying them to the practice of leadership. The purpose of the series, and of the website as a whole, is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that will help you grow in your leadership and make an impact. That starts with realizing that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it, and He has a part for us in this purpose.

We spent 3 weeks laying the groundwork for effective leadership, using the analogy of the starting blocks in a race, when all the runners line up and get into position, and the starter yells, “On your mark, get set, go!” The first command, “On Your Mark,” was all about getting to the starting line and in the right place by getting yourself into the right frame of mind and equipping yourself for what is coming. Aligning yourself with truth by seeking and knowing God and knowing where He has placed you, and by establishing your foundational beliefs and values, gives you the capability to lead. The second command, “Get Set,” was all about getting into position in the right form, so that you are best prepared to start well. Performing the actions that set you up to be followed and trusted involves living your life so that your actions and behaviors reflect those beliefs, and that gives you the credibility to lead. The final command, “Go,” is when the starter’s pistol goes off and you start running. That’s when your work begins as you start leading your people and your organization toward your mission, vision, or change. This is hard work and therefore requires someone who is both capable and credible, and that’s why this step must follow the other two. But with those things in place, the race is underway, and what follows are the things you do to maintain your race. One of those things is the ability to see the big picture.

Early in the doctoral program for my Ph.D., my cohort was assigned a book to read by Margaret Wheatley, called “Leadership and the New Science.” The book was a discussion of leadership principles and ideas drawn from the illustration of Chaos Theory. The author provided some explanation of what Chaos Theory was as it pertained to science, with some of its components and implications, such as a discussion of something called fractals, and then made applications to lessons that applied to how we can lead.  I particularly remember the discussion on fractals, because that was a place where I could so clearly see a reflection of God (even though that was not the author’s intent). Fractals are complex patterns that make up the miniscule detail of matter in various ways. At first glance, and in a close-up view, they generally appear to be random and chaotic (hence the connection to chaos theory), but when you expand and repeat the view of the pattern, their seeming randomness is revealed to be part of a greater pattern that makes sense and is very beautiful. [For any Chaos Theorists and scientists who hear this explanation, I know I oversimplified it, but the basic premise is still true.] When I read this in Wheatley’s book, what struck me is how this is a picture of God’s activity in our lives.  There is much that happens that may seem to be random, or that we don’t understand, but from God’s perspective, it is part of a large purpose that He is using to create a beautiful picture.

What I learned from this book while in the context of my doctoral program was not just lessons about leadership, but lessons about how my life and purpose were part of a larger picture in God’s purpose. When I began to see my leadership this way, it helped me to get outside of my circumstances and see a greater purpose that I couldn’t see as well while in the middle of it. On one level, the existence of fractals is a lesson on leadership in that it is an illustration of the patterns that are there, that we can identify if we step back and view the big picture, which then helps understand what is happening and make better decisions. But on a deeper (and, in my opinion, a more important) level, it is illustration of how our lives have purpose in an intentional plan that God has for us. We may be too close to the situation or too recent in time to see it, but that doesn’t make it not true.  

The point for you is to recognize the same thing.  In your organization, there will be identifiable patterns that you can find so that you can anticipate, respond or act in the best way possible. There are patterns and models that you can follow because they have been proven to be true over time, even if there are variations in circumstances.  For example, there are certain steps that consistently lead to weight loss, primarily eating a healthy diet with appropriate portion sizes and doing moderate exercise.  There are lots of variations in how that can be done, but the basic pattern is the same. It’s the same in your leadership. However, I believe it is even more important to see the big picture from God’s perspective, recognizing that your experiences are part of His design and pattern, and are there for a reason. Embrace that knowledge, and have the confidence that God has a purpose in your leadership.

I have learned to see God’s purpose in all my past experiences as part of the preparation for where He has my today.  The experiences in my life, when viewed through that lens, reveal an order in my life that has equipped me each step of the way for what is next. For example, when I had to use much of what I had learned in my counseling background to help individuals heal in an organization that experienced great wounding, I could see the purpose of that background is part of God’s plan to prepare me, even though at the time I had no idea I would need that capability in this organization. So when I can see my life, experiences, and leadership in that way, it brings peace and confidence. The secret to having that lies in seeing the big picture from God’s perspective.

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Leadership Ezra: Who’s In Charge Here? (Part 7, What Do You See?)

In thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (and then published in my latest book), and this week, in part 7, I am discussing one of several lessons on the practice of leadership, this one is about the importance of seeing the big picture – and especially of seeing it from God’s perspective.

I enjoy puzzles. I enjoy all kinds of puzzles – word puzzles, number puzzles, brain games, etc. – but in this instance I am specifically referring to jigsaw puzzles, the ones that are pictures cut into hundreds of little pieces that need to be assembled. And I have a preferred method of assembly: first turn all the pieces face-up, setting aside those that have a straight edge (the outside frame); then assemble the outside frame; finally, begin to assemble the rest of the pieces, looking first for pieces that more obviously fit in the same section together. In the process of putting the puzzle together, however, one of the most important components is not the puzzle itself, but rather, the picture on the box.

It is the picture on the box that provides the perspective and the vision of what is being assembled. It provides a visual landscape that helps in determining the general context or place where an individual piece belongs. It’s a map that lets you see where you want to go. I once used the picture on the puzzle box to illustrate a lesson, by giving a puzzle to each of several small groups of people. Some of the groups had the puzzle box, so they could see their picture, but some of the groups did not (and some had all the correct pieces, but some had the wrong pieces or were missing pieces; that served to make a different point). Part of the purpose of the lesson was to illustrate the importance of “the big picture,” or the master plan, for managing a process, a task, or life itself.

The implication of this illustration is simply that a good leader needs to be able to see the big picture. Like puzzle pieces, each piece of the context, the environment, the organization, or the situation fits into a larger context, and a leader can best see how it fits when viewing the whole picture. In order to see the whole picture, that leader must be able to get on the balcony, zoom out, and get above the forest to be able to see clearly. Being able to do this will keep him from getting lost among the trees and will provide the perspective necessary to implement changes and adjustments.

However, for a Christian leader, there is an even bigger picture and a more important lesson: seeing the big picture from God’s perspective. I have discussed in other articles about the fact that God has a sovereign plan and purpose, and it is against this backdrop (of the clear evidence of God’s sovereignty) that we learn from Ezra how to see the big picture from God’s perspective, and even how that affects motivation and purpose.

The lesson emerges in chapter 7, a pivotal chapter in understanding Ezra’s leadership. The chapter details how Ezra had been granted permission by King Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem (with another reminder of God’s hand in that circumstance in 7:6 – “and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him”). But then the king went beyond granting permission, and wrote a letter that provided authority, protection, and significant resources for Ezra (7:11-26). After the proclamation of the letter, Ezra’s initial response is recorded in verse 27: “Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart.” His response clearly reveals that Ezra saw God’s hand in all that had happened. He was able to look beyond his own finite, human scope of vision and see the events from God’s perspective. He recognized that God’s purpose was over and through the circumstances.

As a result, he understood the real importance of what was happening, which in turn shaped his purpose and drive, and his communication to his team, which we see in 8:28: “And I said to them, ‘You are holy to the Lord; the articles are holy also; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord God of your fathers.” Ezra helped his team to understand that God had a sovereign purpose, and therefore the tasks that they were carrying out were being used by God to fulfill that purpose; therefore, their work was holy. Ultimately, an understanding of the holiness of their task (and of themselves) impacted their drive, their commitment, and their performance.

This story from the life of Ezra provides a great lesson for our leadership: while it is important – and even necessary – for a leader to be able to see the big picture, the Christian leader must take it a step further and see the big picture from God’s perspective. Then, when our understanding and determination of purpose are filtered through recognition of God’s purpose, it affects how we answer two important questions: Where are we going, and why are we going there?

It is always important for a leader to determine and define the necessary and intended direction (where we are going), but part of understanding this comes from seeing the bigger picture of context from God’s perspective. When you are able to do that – to see the big picture from God’s perspective – you have an understanding of destination that goes beyond the visible and immediate future. You recognize a purpose that is bigger than you, that is bigger than your big picture, and which has an eternal impact.

What follows is an impact on motivation (why we’re going there). For people to respond, there must be a clearly established and communicated purpose and motive, one that makes sense to and resonates with people, and helps them to understand and believe in why they are doing what they are doing. When they can see that they are fulfilling a role in God’s plan, then the work they are doing is elevated to a new level of importance; more than that, it is elevated to an act of holiness. For the follower of Jesus, this provides true motivation.

So, seeing the big picture is important, but seeing it from God’s perspective is more important. The challenge for you and me is to learn to open our eyes to God’s presence and intentional involvement, not just in the history recorded in Scripture, but in our lives today. It is to see the events and circumstances that are taking place in our daily experiences from His perspective. And when our eyes have been opened, and we recognize His sovereign purpose and see the big picture from God’s perspective, then our responses, our purpose, our motives, and our motivation rise to whole new level.

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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 6: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 6 – There is No “I” in “Team”)

In my thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are leadership lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This particular series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament, the same lessons that I have published in my latest book. This week, in part 6, we are taking a minute to step away from our discussion of your individual leadership and talking about the idea of Team Leadership. If we carry the “running a race” analogy forward from the last few weeks, this would be a little like a relay race, in which you are dependent on others for combined success. Here is the transcript of the podcast.

In this series we are diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying them to the practice of leadership. The purpose of the series, and of the website as a whole, is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that will help you grow in your leadership and make an impact. That starts with realizing that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it, and He has a part for us in this purpose.

We just finished a 3-week subset in this series in which I laid the groundwork for effective leadership. I used the analogy of the starting blocks in a race, when all the runners line up and get into position, and the starter yells, “On your mark, get set, go!” (I know that the starter actually fires a starter’s pistol, and doesn’t yell “go!”, but you get the idea.) Those three commands capture the ideas I discussed:

  • “On Your Mark” – that’s all about getting to the starting line and in the right place. As a leader, that means getting yourself into the right frame of mind and equipping yourself for what is coming. It involves aligning yourself with truth by seeking and knowing God and knowing where He has placed you, and by establishing your foundational beliefs and values, and this is where your capability comes from.
  • “Get Set” – that’s all about getting into position in the right form, so that you are best prepared to start well. As a leader, that means performing the actions that set you up to be followed and trusted. It involves living your life so that your actions and behaviors reflect those beliefs, which is another way of describing a life characterized by integrity, and this is where your credibility comes from.
  • “Go” – that’s when the starter’s pistol goes off and you start running. As a leader, that’s when the work begins as you start leading your people and your organization toward your mission, vision, or change. It involves stepping out and doing the work of leadership. It’s hard work and therefore requires someone who is both capable and credible, and that’s why this step must follow the other two.

In one of my early experiences in school leadership, I was the head of a school that had been struggling, and the enrollment was very low. As a result, the school was operating with minimal staff, which meant that along with the teaching faculty, I had an administrative assistant and a one of the teachers who also served as the athletic director. Often, when I would walk back into the office area after spending time observing classrooms and interacting with students and teachers, I would comment to my administrative assistant that I was going to my office to have a administrative team meeting with myself. Although I was joking about it, the reality is that I did not have a team, and so there was little I could delegate and little opportunity for discussion with fellow administrators.

However, in another school experience years later, I was blessed to have a full team of administrators serving with me. When we did skill assessments, they revealed that we had a well-balanced and complementary set of skills and personalities, and the combination filled in all the gaps for the needs of the job. We intentionally cultivated excellent interpersonal relationships as well, and the result was a high functioning team that worked well together.

What a difference a good team made! Sometimes, you have limited access to other people, and you have to do everything yourself, but when you can have a team, it can be a tremendous asset. I say “can be,” because it’s not a guarantee. Teams are very capable of being dysfunctional, and I’ve been part of my share of those. For a team to work well, there needs to be the right combination of gifts and abilities, and a willingness to be collaborative. Without those, there will either be a lot of conflict and dysfunction, or there will be poor performance due to deficiencies. That was the blessing of the team I had – when you looked at the typical four quadrants of abilities that are categorized on profiles, our combination filled in every quadrant. In addition, we respected each other’s roles (such that no one wanted any of the other persons’ jobs) and built a positive and supportive relationship with each other. We had disagreements, but because of our attitudes and relationship, we were able to work through those and come out better.

The point for you is to recognize the value of team for your leadership, but only if it is the right kind of team.  In the Leadership Ezra website article that corresponds to this podcast episode, I talked about three types of people: those with leadership ability, those with wisdom, and those who are humble spiritual leaders. In addition to that, you also need to gather a team that fills out different abilities: at the very least, you need a visionary, a people-person, a detail planner, and a jump-in-and-serve person, and then whatever other skills are needed for your group or your task.

You may not always have the privilege of putting together and working with a good team, but if you do, you should take it.  Be intentional about it, and seek the right people, including the ones that every team should have as well as the ones uniquely needed for your team. Then cultivate the relationships between and among the team members. When you can do this, the end result is that what you have will be greater than the sum of the parts, a team that in combination with each other that is greater than the individual members.

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Leadership Ezra: Who’s In Charge Here? (Part 6, Let’s Go, Team!)

In thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (and then published in my latest book). This week, in part 6, we are taking a minute to step away from our discussion of your individual leadership and talking about the idea of Team Leadership. If we carry the “running a race” analogy forward from the last few weeks, this would be a little like a relay race, in which you are dependent on others for combined success.

Today I am deviating a little bit from our study of leadership applied to you as an individual, and turning briefly to the study of leadership applied to teams. I am still taking the lessons from Ezra, and will be exploring Ezra’s experiences in some detail, revisiting chapter 7 and then looking at chapter 8. In my original study of the book, I learned many lessons that were personally valuable for my spiritual growth. Beyond that, though, I also identified a significant number of lessons that I thought were particularly applicable to leadership, and especially to Christian leadership. One of those leadership lessons that struck me involved Ezra’s approach to team leadership.

I think it helps to revisit the entire context: The book of Ezra describes some of the events surrounding two stages of a return to Jerusalem by the Israelites. The first stage involved a group returning in order to rebuild the temple, and the second (nearly 60 years later) involved a smaller group that returned in order to rebuild the spiritual condition of the people. Ezra – considered to be the author of the whole book – is actually only specifically involved in the return of the second group, described in chapters 7 through 10. More pointedly, chapters 7 and 8 describe the preparation of Ezra for that return, the assembling of his team, and the carrying out of the mission given to his team. In application to lessons on team leadership, this points to the three components of a team that are evident in these chapters: the leader of the team, the team, and (putting those two things together) leadership of the team.

Chapter 7 introduces us to the leader of the team, Ezra, and clearly presents his preparation for leadership in verse 10, which says, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” As I had explained in the previous articles, this verse points out a sequential, three-step process of development that I believe is essential for the development of any individual Christian leader. Step one is “learn.” In a general sense, any leader of a team needs to learn the history and context related to the organization and the strengths and characteristics of the team members and needs to understand the issues to be faced. But at a deeper (and more important) spiritual level – shown by Ezra in this chapter – the Christian must learn to know God. He needs regular, intimate time with God, because this is what gives him the capability to lead. Step two is “live.” This means that the actions of the leader must reflect what he has learned with authenticity. He must “walk the talk,” demonstrating consistency between values and actions, and this is what gives him the credibility to lead. It is only after growing deep in his relationship with God, and then applying and reflecting God’s truth in his life, that he can move on to step three, which is to lead by teaching, guiding, and showing others the way.

Chapter 8 introduces us to the team, specifically in verses 15 through 18. Here we see that Ezra, before beginning any tasks or moving forward, took time to look at the people around him and gather his team together. The first thing he noticed is what he was missing on his team: spiritual leaders (“I looked among the people and the priests, and found none of the sons of Levi there.”) The rest of the team was made up of two different groups: 1) those he described as “leaders,” the ones who had previously demonstrated effective leadership ability and experience, and 2) those he described as “men of understanding,” or those with a gift of insight and understanding who would be advisors and counselors (the term “understanding” is the same one used to describe the wisdom and discernment granted to Solomon in I Kings 3:9-12). With these two segments of the team in place, Ezra selected a spiritual leader, and specifically one with discretion, before setting up the plan for the mission. Ezra knew that he had to have, as Peter Northouse explains in Leadership: Theory and Practice (2013), the right number and mix to have an effective team. Therefore, he was very intentional about putting together a combination of people who would meet the specific needs of the mission, reflecting the idea that “the most cohesive and successful teams possess broader groupings of strengths.” (Rath & Conchie, Strengths-based Leadership, 2008) He didn’t move forward until he had the right team in place, a team that was willing to submit to God and follow Ezra’s leadership. In the words of Jim Collins from his thoughts on Level 5 Leadership, he “got the right people on the bus, moved the wrong people off, ushered the right people to the right seats – and then [he] figured out where to drive it.” (HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership, 2011)

This takes us to the final piece of this puzzle: putting those two pieces together to establish the leadership of the team, which is presented in chapter 8, verses 21 through 31. Ezra had prepared himself, and he had assembled the right people for his team, and now they had a mission to accomplish. While the task was to be carried out by the team, not an individual, he as the leader of this team knew it was his responsibility to make sure they effectively accomplished the goal, and there were four components that he incorporated into that leadership. First, he set the example – specifically, a spiritual example – in attitude and humility, recognizing God’s sovereignty in their task (vv. 21-23). Then he assigned responsibility, by dividing up the resources that were to be carried by his team and giving them their instructions (vv. 24-30). Third, he provided motivation, reminded them of who they were and of the magnitude of their task (v. 28). Finally, he maintained unity in the group, as they undertook the mission together (v. 31).

As a Christian leader, these are significant and important lessons for your leadership development. First and foremost, intentionally recognize and submit to God’s sovereign activity, purpose, and process in your life, in the team and in the task. Make sure – and this one is absolutely critical, which is why I have included it so often in each of the articles in this series – that you are aggressively pursuing an intimate relationship with God and living a life consistent with God’s truth. Intentionally gather the right people around you, including those with leadership ability and those with wisdom, but especially include spiritual leaders who are humble and committed to God. Then, and only then, lead your team.

Collins, J. (2011). Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership (pp. 115-136). Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

The Holy Bible: New King James Version. (1979). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Rath, T., & Conchie, B. (2008). Strengths-Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow. New York, NY: Gallup Press.

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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 5: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 5 – Go!)

In my thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are leadership lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This particular series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament, the same lessons that I have published in my latest book. This week (along with the last two weeks, and in honor of the Olympic Games in Paris) we are starting the race of leadership. Today, in part 5, it’s “Go!,” when the starter’s gun goes off and the runners take off and run the race. This is when your actions of leadership begin. Here is the transcript of the podcast.

In this series we are diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying them to the practice of leadership. The purpose of the series, and of the website as a whole, is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that will help you grow in your leadership and make an impact. That starts with realizing that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it, and He has a part for us in this purpose.

Now we are in a 3-week subset in this series in which I am laying the groundwork for effective leadership. I am using the analogy of the starting blocks in a race, when all the runners line up and get into position, and the starter yells, “On your mark, get set, go!” (I know that the starter actually fires a starter’s pistol, and doesn’t yell “go!”, but you get the idea.) Those three commands capture the ideas I am discussing:

  1. “On Your Mark” – that’s all about getting to the starting line and in the right place. As a leader, that means getting yourself into the right frame of mind and equipping yourself for what is coming. That’s what we talked about 2 weeks ago.
  2. “Get Set” – that’s all about getting into position in the right form, so that you are best prepared to start well. As a leader, that means performing the actions that set you up to be followed and trusted. That’s what we talked about last week.
  3. “Go” – that’s when the starter’s pistol goes off and you start running. As a leader, that’s when the work begins as you start leading your people and your organization toward your mission, vision, or change. That’s we are talking about today.

In the work that is involved in leadership, there are two ends of the spectrum where you can go wrong, and when your hear this, it will make sense.   On one end is the mistake of doing lots of preparation but never getting started on the work. This is the mistake of all talk and no substance. This can stem from either perfectionism – you keep trying to get your plans to perfection before starting, but that will never happen – or fear and a lack of confidence, which causes you to continue hesitating. On the other end of the spectrum is the mistake of jumping into action before you know what you need to know.  This is the mistake of leaping before you look. This can step from disorganization (the opposite of perfectionism), which leaves you unprepared  and ill-equipped, so when you jump into the work you’re ready, or it can stem from ignorant arrogance or over-confidence (the opposite of fear and insecurity), which causes you to make foolish and damaging mistakes.. The answer to these extremes is simply, balance.

One of the best personal illustrations of this for me was an experience I had with my brothers and my father. I was in my early 20s, and my siblings and I, with our families, were all visiting my parents for a family get-together.  As my dad was cooking on the grill for everyone on the small slab outside the back door, he commented on his desire to build a deck there on the back of the house. We picked up the conversation and asked what was keeping him from doing it. The basic answer was time and help.  So we offered to help get it done.  My dad proceeded to draw out plans for the deck, and created a list of supplies based on those plans.  We checked the weather for the next day, and he placed the order for the supplies form the lumber store. The next morning, the materials arrived, and by dinner time, the four of us (my dad, my two brothers, and me) had built a beautiful 20’ by 16’ deck that became a favorite place of relaxation for my parents.

What had really happened was that my dad had reached the place where he was ready to build a deck. Then he planned and prepared everything that would be necessary to physically build the deck. And then we did the work, resulting in a wonderful outcome. First, he prepared himself, then got everything ready, then did the work. That illustrates perfectly this whole idea we have been discussing and reflects the balance between planning and doing. The work that you do stems from the preparation you did beforehand, and the preparation you did beforehand should set you up to do the work well. That was the point of the two previous lessons of “On Your Mark, Get Set!”

You see, once you have prepared yourself, and then put yourself in position, then you can begin to work.  Don’t wait until everything is perfect, otherwise you’ll never start; but also don’t run before you have your feet under you, or you will fall and fail. Where you need to be is in the middle. Intentionally ensure that you are prepared and equipped, and that you have thought through and created plan, and then get to work. Knowing that it won’t be perfect, you can give yourself the room to assess and adjust along the way, but knowing that you have prepared appropriately means you can gain momentum as move down the path.

As I said last time the bottom line is that leadership is like starting a race:

  • “On Your Mark!” – means to align yourself with truth by seeking and knowing God and knowing where He has placed you, and by establishing your foundational beliefs and values. This is where your capability comes from.
  • “Get Set!” – means to live your life so that your actions and behaviors reflect those beliefs, which is another way of describing a life characterized by integrity. This is where your credibility comes from.
  • “Go!” – means to step out and do the work of leadership. It’s hard work and therefore requires someone who is both capable and credible, and that’s why this step has to follow the other two.

In the last two weeks, we focused on the first two steps. But today, our focus was on the importance the starting the work of leadership. In the article that corresponds with this podcast episode, I talked in more detail about ten actions that make up the work of leadership anytime you take up a task, initiative, or project, so I would encourage you to read the article. But the important thing for you to walk away with right now is that if you have prepared yourself and if you gotten everything into position, then the starter’s pistol has fired, and it’s time for you to “Go!” and do the work in front of you.

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Leadership Ezra: Who’s In Charge Here? (Part 5, Go!)

In thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (and then published in my latest book). This week (along with the last two weeks, and in honor of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris) we are starting the race of leadership. Today, in part 5, it’s “Go!,” when the starter’s gun goes off and the runners take off and run the race.

In my first year as the head of a school, I was enthusiastic and organized, with big dreams and a plan that I was developing and implementing. At first, though, I kept finding myself getting frustrated, because I would have seemingly constant interruptions that kept me from getting to the tasks that I need to do in order to carry out my plans. I know now how foolish this sounds, but I was getting frustrated because people were getting in the way of the tasks. Eventually it dawned on me that people were part of the job, so to alleviate the frustration, I began to designate specific time periods each day for people. And of course, people couldn’t seem to keep their interruptions confined to the times I had designated (you can read sarcasm into this). Finally, God smacked me over the head by reminding me of a former pastor’s sermon in which the message had repeatedly emphasized that people matter to God. I realized that the work of ministry is primarily about people, because people matter to God (and therefore they should matter to me), even though tasks are a necessary part of the work of effective leadership. I finally understood that leadership is about both people and tasks, and that the real challenge is in undertaking the work of leadership in a way that accomplishes tasks well while also meeting the needs of people in a way that draws them toward God.

Years of research and study on leadership by many researchers have concluded that the work of leadership does indeed boil down to these two things: tasks and people. At its core, effective leadership must be able to manage and direct the tasks appropriate to the circumstances, and at the same time manage and direct the people involved in a relational way that develops them individually. Very simply, it means getting the job done well, while working well with people and making them better in the process.

In practice, though, this is hard, and leadership is more complex than this, because there are lots of variables in both tasks and people: different personality types, different circumstances, different strengths and weaknesses, different obstacles, different tasks, and so on. And beyond that, it takes lots of work to develop a vision, then make plans, and finally implement the vision and plans in a way that most effectively accomplishes the tasks and leads people. The reality is that the work of leadership is daunting. However, the book of Ezra can and does help with this, providing some valuable lessons that help us identify important principles that make the work of leadership more effective. In his story, we find lessons that are beneficial for our own personal spiritual growth, but that are also applicable to our role as leaders. Specifically, Ezra chapters 7-10 illustrates ten actions that are necessary in leadership: three things to get and seven things to do.

First, there are three things to get:

  1. Permission: Getting permission can come from superiors, who give the necessary approval needed before getting a green light to go, but it also needs to come from below, by getting buy-in from followers. If they haven’t agreed to follow your lead, very little movement is going to take place.
  2. People: Getting people involves the task of identifying the necessary strengths needed for the task, and then assembling the best group of people to accomplish those tasks.
  3. Resources: Getting resources involves gathering those things – tools, supplies, finances, or people and skill sets – that must be assembled before beginning the tasks. First identify what you have available and then identify and solicit any additional needed resources. Figure out the resources you have and the resources you need.

With those three things in hand there are then seven things to do:

  1. Give recognition: Give credit where credit is due, immediately and at the front end of the process. First and most importantly, give honor to God, acknowledging that He is ultimately sovereign and responsible. People also need to be recognized and feel valued, believing that they are important to the process and the vision, and so recognizing them early (and often) affirms their value and enhances their level of commitment. Therefore, it is important to recognize the benefactors, the idea-makers, the planners, the leaders, the contributors, and the participants.
  2. Give people a voice: Give people an opportunity to speak and be heard, then listen to what they say. Often, those who are on the ground floor, or in the trenches, have an awareness and understanding of the obstacles, the needs, the details, etc., that the leadership does not clearly see because they are further removed from it. Therefore, there is great value in intentionally soliciting input and validating concerns and viewpoints; and where appropriate, that input should be used to modify or adjust the plans.
  3. Select the leaders: Gather a team that reflects the two purposes of oversight and representation. Those who are charged with oversight are people from among the leadership who have the task of overseeing and managing both the planning process and the implementation of the plan. Those who are charged with representation are people from among the followers who serve to represent and act on behalf of the people. Both kinds of leaders must be people submitted to God, and both are necessary for the work, therefore both need to be included in the teams you assemble.
  4. Define the purpose: The idea of purpose is related to the two questions of “Where are we going?” and “Why are we going there?” Answering the question of “where” happens when people can see the big picture, the overall goal. Answering the question of “why” happens when people understand motive, and it must be a motive that resonates with them. In any task, the motive must be clearly established and communicated.
  5. Determine the direction: Once the purpose has been established, direction can be given, both near (in the short-term) and far (in the long-term). Determining the right way to go (direction) naturally follows determining purpose, because once you know where you are going and why you are going there, you can then identify the path you need to take to get there. Like mapping out a road trip, this includes determining the next step or stop, and then the one after that, and so on, as well as determining the overall route.
  6. Establish the process: The process is the flow, the way in which everything takes place and connects together. The process of implementing a plan takes time and also brings many challenges, but there are important factors that – if communicated at the front of the process – will in turn help the process to flow well. These factors are: boundaries, including both limits and freedoms; methods, or, how the process will happen; and timing, including a schedule, checkpoints, and completion. Establishing these factors early will serve to greatly enhance the smoothness of the process.
  7. Provide the structure: A procedure provides the necessary guidelines for implementing a plan. The first procedural step is to meet, gathering the necessary people together to clearly communicate and initiate the plan. The last step is to celebrate (giving credit to God), and in between the first and last steps are incremental goals, or benchmarks, that need to be achieved (and should also be celebrated). Along the way, it is necessary to periodically assess progress and communicate.

At its most basic level, the work of leadership centers around and involves both people and tasks, and it is hard work that requires an intentional plan which includes these three things to get and seven things to do. It is, however, also incredibly fulfilling to be an instrument in God’s plan in that work. As His instrument, our desire and effort should be to do this work with excellence, and understanding these ten components will help us to do so. And when you reach the destination, don’t forget to celebrate, and don’t forget to give credit to God.

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Podcast, Season 2, Episode 4: Lessons On Leadership From the Life and Times of Ezra (part 4 – Get Set!)

In my thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are leadership lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This particular series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament, the same lessons that I have published in my latest book. This week, (along with last week and next week, and in honor of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris) we are starting the race of leadership. Today, in part 4, it’s “Get Set!,” where we get into position to start running by first preparing ourselves, both personally and spiritually, with lives of integrity. This is the transcript of the podcast.

This is a series where we are diving deeper into principles and practices that connect biblical truth with wisdom and applying them to the practice of leadership. The purpose of the series, and of the website as a whole, is to connect faith, wisdom, and leadership in a way that will help you grow in your leadership and make an impact. That starts with realizing that God has a plan and purpose that can be trusted, whether or not we can visibly see His hand in it, and He has a part for us in this purpose.

Now we are in a 3-week subset in this series in which I am laying the groundwork for effective leadership. I am using the analogy of the starting blocks in a race, when all the runners line up and get into position, and the starter yells, “On your mark, get set, go!” (I know that the starter actually fires a starter’s pistol, and doesn’t yell “go!”, but you get the idea.) Those three commands capture the ideas I am discussing:

  1. “On Your Mark” – that’s all about getting to the starting line and in the right place. As a leader, that means getting yourself into the right frame of mind and equipping yourself for what is coming. That’s what we talked about last time.
  2. “Get Set” – that’s all about getting into position in the right form, so that you are best prepared to start well. As a leader, that means performing the actions that set you up to be followed and trusted. That’s what we are focusing on today.
  3. “Go” – that’s when the starter’s pistol goes off and you start running. As a leader, that’s when the work begins as you start leading your people and your organization toward your mission, vision, or change. That’s we will be discussing next week.

In the specific ministry to which God had called me, part of my purpose was to help facilitate restoration, healing, and health. Depending on where the Lord placed me, that took different forms relevant to the history, context, and mission of that organization. One of those places, I discovered, was most in need of healing and restoration of relationships. I recognized God’s sovereign purpose and process in bringing me there, so when I arrived, I first took the time to learn the history and context to understand the culture and it’s needs, and I diligently sought God’s discernment and leading (those actions reflected the step of “On Your Mark!). In doing that, what I learned was that there was a tremendous level of hurt and wounding that occurred prior to my arrival, and lots of leadership dysfunction that had caused that hurt. As a result, there was a lack of trust across all levels of relationship – administrators didn’t trust the board of directors, teachers didn’t trust administrators, the board of directors didn’t trust either the teachers or the administrators, and the parents didn’t trust any of them.  For the most part, these were people who loved God and loved the organization, but the dysfunction and wounds had led to everyone’s need for self-preservation to inhibit transparency and trust, which in turn was affecting the health and function of the organization.

I knew that my most important job early in my leadership there was to help people heal and restore trust. So, that’s what I set about doing.  How I chose to do that was by first focusing my energy on being trustworthy.  I wanted everyone to see that I would do what I would say I was going to do, and that therefore, I could be trusted. Every week I would tell teachers things that I would be doing – visiting their classroom, sending out a communication to explain something, providing some resources, and many other things. Before I ever said those things out loud, I had made sure, with certainty, that I would be able to do those things. In most cases, they were things that I would have been normally doing anyway. They difference was that I said it out loud where they could hear me.  Then, I made absolutely sure that I did it. After doing that over and over again, people began to believe that they could trust me to do what I said I would do.  All I was doing was building trust. Understand that this was not manipulative behavior on my part, because I was being genuine to who I was and to what my purpose was.  Integrity is one of the virtues that I most value, and so it is important to me that people see me being who I say I am. That mattered in this context, because people could tell that not only would I do what I said I would do, but they could tell that it was a reflection of my character. The end result was the restoration of trust.  I still remember the joy I felt at the end of the school year when almost every one of my employees included “trust” as one of the top three positive factors in the year.

Here’s what really happened: I lived out in my actions what I believed to be true and important, and that produced the credibility that people needed to see in order to follow me.  In previous episodes of this podcast series, when I talked about the importance of pursuing an intimate relationship with God as well as learning to understand where He has placed you, that was all about developing the capability to lead. But when you then live a life that is clearly consistent with what you say in your words, that develops the credibility to lead. When you have both the capability and the credibility, you become an effective leader who makes an impact. I often point to Ezra 7:10 as a model of this, which says that “Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” First Ezra had learned to know God, then he lived it out, and then he was equipped to lead, based on the capability from what he knew and the credibility from how he lived.

What that means for you is that if you want to succeed at the work of leadership, you first need people to accept you as the leader. Before they will do that, they need to know that they can trust you. That means that before you can do all the work that is required of leaders, you first have to live a life that is consistent with your beliefs and values, and do it transparently enough that people can see it so that they can tell that you are authentic and genuine. But even before you can live consistent with what you believe, you first have to know what you believe. In other words, before leading comes living, and before living comes learning.

The bottom line is that leadership is like starting a race:

  • “On Your Mark!” – means to align yourself with truth by seeking and knowing God and knowing where He has placed you, and by establishing your foundational beliefs and values. This is where your capability comes from.
  • “Get Set!” – means to live your life so that your actions and behaviors reflect those beliefs, which is another way of describing a life characterized by integrity. This is where your credibility comes from.
  • “Go!” – means to step out and do the work of leadership. It’s hard work and therefore requires someone who is both capable and credible, and that’s why this step has to follow the other two.

Last week, we focused on the first step. Next week we are focusing on the third step, the crucial components of the work of leadership. But today, our focus was on the importance of living a genuine life, one where your beliefs and your behaviors match, so that people will trust who you are and be willing to follow.  As my dad would say, “Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.” If you want people to follow you when you do the work of leadership, they first need to see that that you are living what you believe. And that’s what it means to “Get Set!”

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Leadership Ezra: Who’s In Charge Here? (Part 4, Get Set!)

In thirty years of life and experience in leadership roles in Christian organizations, there are lessons that I learned (and continue to learn) from the life of ministry to which God called me.  Over that time, He taught me lessons based on stories, principles, and truths from the Bible that have been translated into personal application.  This series of articles focuses on a set of those lessons drawn from the book of Ezra in the Old Testament (and then published in my latest book). This week (along with last week and next week, and in honor of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris) we are starting the race of leadership. Today, in part 4, it’s “Get Set!,” where we get into position to start running by first preparing ourselves, both personally and spiritually.

Do you remember your first opportunity to serve in a leadership capacity? I do. I remember feeling like I was not ready but putting on a front to convey the opposite. I was young and had accepted a position as the head of small Christian school. I knew how to teach, because I had been doing so for a number of years. I even knew some things about school administration, because I also had experience in the role of assistant and had developed academic programs. But this time I would be the senior person in charge, fully responsible for the operation of the school. And as excited as I was about the opportunity, when I began the job I felt great uncertainty, unsure of whether or not I was ready to lead well. I was questioning myself, wondering if I had enough knowledge and experience to be prepared.

The book of Ezra provides us with a lesson on leadership preparation, through the illustration of two particular experiences, and they paint a picture of what an effective Christian leader can do to become prepared. The first is in Ezra 7:6-10, and it informs us that Ezra had requested and would be receiving permission and resources from the King, in order to return to Jerusalem. Pay special attention to the last verse in this passage: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” The second is shared in Ezra 8:21-24, and it describes specifically the preparation for the journey they would take. Here we see that Ezra had gathered his team together and would soon be traveling to Jerusalem with the supplies for the temple. However, before leaving, he stopped to proclaim a fast and to entreat God for the coming task, and then began dividing up responsibilities.

The first passage above provides a picture of the preparation of the person, and the second provides a picture of the preparation for the task. Together, they provide an overall picture of the preparation for leadership, both spiritually and personally. Ultimately, this preparation is applicable to both who we are and to what we do.

The spiritual preparation for effective Christian leadership begins with an understanding of the all-encompassing context of God’s sovereignty and presence. Throughout Ezra, there are examples of God’s intentional activity, and that includes both of these passages. Verses 6 and 9 in chapter 7 both point out that God’s hand was involved in those circumstances, and clearly Ezra realized that concept, because verse 22 in chapter 8 reveals that Ezra had shared that very same truth with the king. The implication that we can draw is clear: spiritual preparation arises out of recognition of God’s sovereignty. By learning to do this, we can begin to see His purpose in all circumstance

Therefore, the first step you must take in preparing yourself to lead, before doing anything else, is to acknowledge God’s sovereign activity, and then submit to Him and to His plans and purpose. Prepare your heart by seeking God (through prayer and through Scripture, as Ezra did in chapter 8), submitting your plans to His grand design, and recognizing His role in your circumstances. Submit to Him for His direction, His blessing, and His instructions. By doing this, you move yourself into the right frame of mind to allow His involvement to shape and filter your actions and your responses. I talked a lot about this in part 2 in this series, God Has A Plan.

Once you have done this inward step, the outward step is your response to God with your ensuing actions, because stepping follows seeing. Having oriented your thinking to God, now it is time to move forward in obedience and start the tasks that you have been given, and that’s where the work of leadership will start. That’s what I’ll be focusing on in part 5. Remember, even with the recognition of God’s role, leadership is not a passive process. It requires intentional planning and action, carried out with skillful practice, but it still must take place within the acknowledged context of God’s activity. In essence, the spiritual process of preparing for leadership is one that is first inward and then outward: first, seeking God and preparing your heart, recognizing His sovereign purpose and involvement, and then second, responding to God’s direction with steps of obedience and action.

In between those two things is something that is crucial to the success of your subsequenct actions. It’s personal preparation for effective leadership that is modeled by Ezra and spelled out in 7:10, which states that his preparation had been “to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” This statement describes the simple, yet profound, process of learning, living, and leading (a microcosm of the current series articles, “On Your Mark,” “Get Set,” and “Go”),

  1. “On Your Mark” (last week’s discussion) – It begins with what we introduced last time, which I call “Learning.” As Ezra showed us, “to seek the law of the Lord,” requires spending time with God and in His Word. It means investing yourself in study of Scripture to learn who God is and what he says. It also means cultivating an intimate, personal relationship with God. For Ezra, it was this knowledge that stemmed from his relationship with God that gave him the capability to lead effectively, because he had taken the time to first spiritually prepare himself. As a result of this, he was able to see and trust God’s involvement, and could therefore act with boldness and confidence.
  2. “Get Set” – This is the crucial transitional step between the inward and outward pieces that is highlighted in this week’s discsussion. In Ezra’s words, this is “to do it,” the step I would call “Living,” and it requires putting the Word of God into practice in your life. This means consistently and willingly obeying God’s commands, observing and following the truths of His Word. In doing so, you follow God in obedience with your practice, by what you do, and you provide an example of obedience in who you are. For Ezra, his practice and his example gave him the credibility to lead effectively, because he demonstrated consistency and authenticity in his leadership. His walk matched his talk, his life matched his words, so the people believed him and were willing to follow.
  3. “Go” (next week’s discussion) – This is the outcome of leadership preparation, when the work begins, and is the step I would call “Leading.” In Ezra’s words, this is “to teach statues and ordinances,” and it means that Ezra was now prepared to lead because he was able to teach and explain God’s Word and God’s direction out of his knowledge and relationship with God, and his teaching and direction was believable because of his own life of obedience. He had prepared himself first, and by doing so, had made himself an effective and believable messenger of God, ready to teach, ready to lead, ready to motivate and influence. In the next article, we will break down what those action steps of leadership would be.

It’s that middle step, the personal preparation for leadership, that I am highlighting, and it can be as important as leadership itself. Ezra showed us what it looks like, and the outcome for him was a high level of competence and effectiveness. The methods and process of his personal preparation therefore provides us with valuable tools for our own leadership. And the order that he prescribed for the process is also important. You have to do before you can lead, but you have to know before you can do. So first you have to know it, then you have to do it, then you can teach and lead others.

Ultimately, preparing for leadership involves both spiritual preparation and personal preparation. Effective Christian leadership, therefore, sees God in circumstances, submits humbly to Him, builds a depth of knowledge and relationship, and lives those values consistently, resulting in the preparation to lead well. It is the living out of those values that becomes your starting position in the runners block, so that you are set to start the race when the starter’s pistol is fired.

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