See Differently, Serve Differently

30 Dec See Differently, Serve Differently

There are certain moments in the life of a leader when you pause from the high pace of your activity to take inventory of your leadership. The goal is to continually grow and be better moving forward. Here are 5 key areas of leadership for you to start to see differently so you can serve differently in the next phase of your leadership.

1. Purpose. Meaningful impact begins with clarity of purpose. When the activity slows down, you reflect on what you’ve accomplished and where you will chose to invest your time, energy, and resources going forward. Look up to God and ask Him to confirm the purpose He has for you. Look in to your core to reset your commitment to that purpose. Look out to the needs of those around you to align your resources with this next season of pursuing your great purpose. Then, create time for those on your team to go through the same process of clarification, both individually and together as a team. Here are some questions for the team to consider: What is our great purpose? What offers of commitment will you make to accomplish that purpose in this next season? How can we better align our time, talent, and financial resources to make the greatest impact for our great purpose?
2. Problems. Our natural tendency in times of assessment is to focus on problems- areas that are broken, not working, or gaps in performance not meeting expectations. Addressing low performance is important, however research shows a pre-occupation on problems actually constrains the creative thinking required for innovation and actions needed to breakthrough those problems. Serving differently actually begins with seeing differently. The most impactful leaders shift the focus from problems on to outcomes and assets. Servant leaders see past problems to avoid and take the time to define desired results. It’s easy to say what we don’t want or don’t like, but servant leadership moves you in the direction of the greater goals you desire most. Here’s something to remember: The fastest way to get to the greater goal is to leverage the assets you have. Taking inventory of your strengths- things that are working well- provides a stockpile of resources you can mine as you develop strategies to breakthrough your top performance barriers. What results do you want? What assets do you currently have working well? What else?! How can these assets be leveraged to breakthrough your top 2-3 barriers?
3. People. As you take inventory of the results you want to achieve, remember that people are the most important assets you are called to steward as a servant leader. Its easy to see people as objects, pawns to be moved in your chess game of strategic planning. However, people are not objects, they are…people… who have dreams, ambitions, feelings, and purpose. As you make adjustments to serve differently, see people for who they really are. Make time to listen and connect with people, because the greatest impact you have is in the development of other leaders. A focus on people is especially important in leading change. There is an irrational side of leadership that takes into account the complexity of people’s thoughts, feelings, and response to loss that comes with any change. Remember, results move at the speed of relationships.
4. Power. At the heart of servant leadership is a transformative shift in the way you view and execute power. Jesus showed us that the greatest leader is the one who serves (Mark 10:42-45). Contrary to the natural human tendency to hold on to power, Jesus also showed us that power grows when it is given away! He shared his power with his twelve disciples so they could carry out the mission in even greater ways (Matthew 10:1-4, Acts 1:8). This view of teaming and sharing power with others is reinforced when we see power in the way it is defined in physics: The rate of work.

In order to have the greatest impact in the least amount of time, power must be distributed to others who can replicate the work. Are you holding on to power, trying to protect your position? It’s time to serve differently in this next season. See shared power as the engine behind a movement of multiplied results!

5. Partners. The final area of leadership to assess is the area of partners. Too often you can fall short in reaching your full impact potential by going after your goal alone as a person or even a single organization. When I first stepped into leadership at the church where I serve as Lead Pastor, I noticed that we had a gymnasium going unused for much of the week. I immediately saw an opportunity to reach the community with sports ministry. When the local YMCA closed its doors, a window of opportunity opened. I recognized that other churches in the community also cared about reaching the kids and their families, so we decided to join forces and partner together on a community wide sports program. Five churches came together with Upward sports and created a league where over 900 kids participated. (Click here for a full article on this community transformation). If I would have started a sports ministry from our church only, we would have hit a lid of capacity to serve about 160 kids. Serving together with other churches created increased capacity for impact, as well as a better reputation in the community! Who else shares your purpose and cares about your desired outcomes? Consider partnering together for greater impact in this next season of your leadership.

The fact that you are taking time to assess your leadership is the first step to becoming even more impactful. Include these 5 ways to see differently and serve differently!