lead with your strengths developed from 15 years of ncls research among 10,000 church leaders over...
TRANSCRIPT
Lead With Your Strengths
Developed from
15 years of NCLS research
among 10,000 church leaders
over 22 denominations
in 4 countries
• A book presenting the conclusions of the research.
• A booklet to help leadership teams engage the main points.
• A workbook for leaders and leadership teams.
• A web based interactive process for those in leadership.
Lead With Your Strengths Kit
Think of a time when you have experienced leadership that has inspired or motivated you
Think of the people involved
Think of the circumstances
What were the key elements of that leadership?
Lead With Your Strengths
Think of a time when you have been part of a group that has energised you
Think of the group
Think of the people
What were the underpinning elements that made this group so exciting?
Lead With Your Strengths
• Engage with them
• Develop shared directions
• Create a secure base
• Act with purpose
Lead With Your Strengths
Communities require their leadership to:
12 Leadership Strengths
Engage with
others
Develop shared
directions
Create a secure base
Act with purpose
• be fully present to people,
• check that you’ve heard others correctly,
• put yourself in the other’s shoes,
• be interested in what people have to say
• ask questions and engage with their issues/stories
Strength 1: Listen deeply
Engage with others
• make time to develop relationships,
• seek ways to work together with other groups and people,
• listen to dissident voices as well as supportive ones,
• ask who is missing from groups and networks and involve them.
Strength 2: Build connections
Engage with others
• lead the community to articulate the yearning of its heart
• emphasise the vision often
• remind people of the vision in difficult times
• encourage people to be keepers and proclaimers of the vision
Develop shared directions
Strength 3: Envision together
• develop questioning and reflection as part of the community’s life
• openly value diversity
• share in people’s questions rather than giving answers
• support the dreamers and link them with the pragmatists
Develop shared directions
Strength 4: Explore options creatively
• inspire commitment to the journey, not the leaders,
• point always to Christ,
• encourage one another and foster hope,
• promote playfulness and laughter along the way.
Develop shared directions
Strength 5: Inspire heart commitment
• encourage people to contribute,
• value people’s contribution and encourage them when they fail or fall short,
• create space for others to move in and contribute,
• trust in God and in the community
Develop shared directions
Strength 6: Empower people to contribute
• ensure everybody knows what is expected of them
• establish clear boundaries and transparent processes
• make systems simple, predictable and intuitive
• give honest and open answers
Create a secure base
Strength 7: Create clear positive structures
• provide information to people as early as possible
• create diverse means of information flow
• establish varying forums of dialogue
• check how others hear what is being communicated
Create a secure base
Strength 8: Develop reliable communication
• move beyond a ‘problem focus’ in planning to a ‘possibility focus’
• help everyone to acknowledge and develop their strengths
• create a safe place where people’s hopes can be aired and explored
• challenge attitudes of helplessness
• share stories of small victories
Create a secure base
Strength 9: Build a culture of optimism
• develop a solid basis of trust
• check who is ‘around the table’ and draw in those who are missing
• work with motivations and passions rather than needs and fears
• be ready when the moment of action arrives
Make things happen
Strength 10: Move to action
• accept the responsibility that comes with making decisions
• model clarity of purpose
• be prepared to adjust direction to the vision in the light of new realities
• embrace difficult issues rather than retreat from them
Make things happen
Strength 11: Maintain resolve
• model humility and a willingness to learn
• seek wisdom in every situation and every person
• be comfortable with complexity, ambiguity and diversity
• grow enthusiastic curiosity and foster it in others
Make things happen
Strength 12: Learn & Grow from experience
Personal Foundations
Our Personal Foundations
Sustain us over the long haul
Protect us against burnout
Help us maintain our enthusiasm
Shape our values and our priorities
Personal Foundations
• Spiritual foundations
• Clarity of purpose
• Sense of self
• Integrity
• Supportive relationships
• Balance and boundaries
Personal Foundations
Healthy and sustainable leadership spends time developing all six of these Personal Foundations
Lead With Your Strengths
Build up the Strengths we have rather than pouring our energy into Strengths that don’t come easily to us
Name our Strengths
• Monitor and refine
• Reflect and pray
• Re-read the chapters
• Choose one strength to act on
• Evaluate each day
• Discuss
Developing your leadership strengths
Leadership Teams
NCLS Research findings affirm the effectiveness of Leadership Teams.
Why do you think this is so?
• supportive
• empowering
• dynamic
• organic
• more than the sum of their parts
Leadership Teams
Leadership Teams gather diverse Strengths into one unit that is
Leadership Teams
Processes for Leadership Teams
• Team Appraisal Process
• Team Mapping Process
• Matching Strengths to Projects
• Using Team Strengths best