Leadership Does Not Arise From A Position, The Position Advances Leadership

Most often than not, leadership does not necessarily arise from a position, the position, however, advances leadership.

It seems to me that almost all the leaders we admire, whose stories we love to hear and tell, whose biographies and autobiographies have graced our bookshelves, have been people who have seen a need and rose to the challenge, to meet that need. It is this rising to the challenge – their leadership – that pushed them to a position, which we have come to recognize as their leadership position; it was never the other way round.

I am not talking about people who are born to find leadership positions waiting for them; leaders like queens and kings, I am talking about ordinary people who rose to be great leaders in their generation. I am talking about leaders like Mother Teresa, William Wilberforce, Festo Kivengere, Mirtin Luther King Jr., Billy Graham, Nelson Mandela, I am sure you can add to this list. These leaders did not rise to greatness because of their position prior to their leadership influence but rather, their leadership influence pushed each one of them to a position that advanced their leadership. It is what they did – their response to the needs of their time – that pushed them to the positions/levels of greatness that we have come to associate them with.

We can all agree that a leadership position is critical in order for certain objectives to be advanced and achieved. There are certain things that can only be achieved when a leader is in a particular leadership position no matter his influence prior to the position. However, as was the case in the examples mentioned above, and in many other cases we have encountered, people offer leadership positions to those who are already serving the needs to which the position is required, with the hope that the position will advance what they had already begun to do.

Whether one believes his teachings or not, Jesus Christ was spot on when he said that, “the greatest among you is the one who serves” (Luke 22:26). Servant Leadership, which is increasingly becoming popular in leadership and management studies, (go here for more on Servant Leadership), is about ignoring or even forgetting our positions, to serve/respond to the needs around us. The needs that surround us, which need our response, are service opportunities.

It is interesting to note that every time someone genuinely rises to meet a need, without any vested interests, people offer him the position and gift of leadership. I call leadership a gift because it is given by those who follow. It is given by those who accept to be moved by the leader’ influence towards the direction and, or goals he has set for them.

It should be noted also, that those who seek position for their own self interests have learnt the trick. They know how to deceive their ‘victims’ – the would be followers – in the short term. The only difference is that they do not last long before their true colors show. However, they never rise to true greatness like true servant leaders do. They may succeed in getting the position but that is all they get. They are soon forgotten when the position is no more. On the contrary, we still talk about and follow great leaders long after they have moved from their positions.

Does leadership arise from a position or does a position advance already existing leadership? Tell me what you think; leave a comment in the comments’ section bellow.

 

Why we should cease the opportunity that Youth present

A generation Y contributes at a conference

Generation Y, as it has come to be classified by the 4 to 14 Global Initiative, that is, young people between the ages eighteen to twenty nine, present to us a great opportunity for positive change and transformation. This opportunity sometimes goes unnoticed and untapped all together, and we miss out on the positive change and transformation that could have occurred, because of the beliefs and stereotypes that have been held against young people.

After over a decade of working with Generation Ys, I would like to share three reasons why I am convinced, and believe that they present a great opportunity for positive change and transformation.

Youth are leaders today, only continuing with greater responsibility and influence tomorrow. We have all heard the popular saying “Young people are the leaders of tomorrow.” Whilst that might be true to some extent, depending on what leadership responsibility and influence one is thinking about, I dare say they are leaders today. Definitely, there are tasks and responsibilities that require older people who have acquired more wisdom and experience. But why should we wait for tomorrow in order to expect today’s young people to be responsible and influential? I believe that if we treated and trusted the young people as people who could offer meaningful and productive leadership today, other than promising them leadership tomorrow – when they are old – they would raise to the occasion, they would surprise us with what they are able to do and to achieve. I have discussed in another article, click here to read the full article, that “Youth leadership, beyond youth activities, will not only enable young people to discover and develop their leadership capabilities but will enable us, the beneficiaries of their leadership, to enjoy the impact and results of their leadership today other than wait to receive it and enjoy it “tomorrow”.

Youth are one of the greatest missionary forces of our time. My understanding of mission here is “Everything that God sends us into the world to do.” There is a lot that God requires us to accomplish and the youth are a great force that has not been fully utilized. There is a lot of youth activity going on for which we should be thankful. However, I think that the focus of those activities is mostly on the youth as the beneficiary of change and not the agent of change. I think that the driving thought is “change the youth today so that tomorrow they can be the agents of change.” I also think that some of the activities are aimed at “containing” the young people, to keep them busy, or destructed so that they do not engage in undesirable behavior, while we wait for them to become of age. What if we equipped and empowered them to actually go out and be change agents instead of only being beneficiaries of change? It starts by recognizing that youth are a great missionary force, that they are change agents today and not just beneficiaries of change.

Lastly, God does not wait, and is not waiting for youth to become adults before using them to accomplish His purposes. There is a lot of both Biblical and contemporary history evidence of God working with young people to accomplish His purpose in His world. You probably know a young person or two who are changing the world around them for the better, in their families, at their school and in their communities. Apparently, the Devil seems to know that God works with and uses young people. The Devil to, knows the impact they can make and is actively recruiting them in his own force, for his own evil purposes.

We have no reason to wait. We should strategically invest in, and deploy the young people for the positive change that we so much desire. We need to listen to God and discern how He might be calling the Generation Ys to accomplish His purposes so that we can support and encourage them.

Why and how should we cease the opportunity that Gen. Ys (Youth) present? Leave a comment bellow.

 

Empowering local churches that minister in the context of poverty

Built on the Rock

How can local churches that serve in the context of poverty be empowered to realize their mission? This is a question that arose while working with local churches to reach out to children in poverty. Do local churches in poor communities see themselves as Christ sees them? Do they see themselves as being part of the Church triumphant? It seems to me that most of these churches have let the circumstances in which they minister determine the way they perceive themselves, and that, to some extent, has limited their efforts towards their God given mandate.

When local churches allow the hardships and difficult circumstances to define who they are, they fail to see themselves as Christ sees them. Their ability to bring about the Kingdom of God in the communities where he has placed them becomes limited. Ministries and organizations that partner with these churches have a task of ensuring that they do not promote the negative self perceptions that the churches have while they serve alongside them. They should strive to enable the churches to see themselves as Christ sees them – the Church triumphant and the vehicle for bringing about the kingdom of God in the world. I believe Jesus’ words to the Church in Smyrna “I know your afflictions and your poverty – yet you are rich” (Rev. 2:9), ring truer and should be an encouragement to such local churches serving in poor communities. Christ has not lost confidence in his Church regardless of the circumstances in its local expressions and neither should anyone or any organization that works with it.

Ministry partners with local churches should encourage their efforts however small. Most local churches, as I have noticed, are engaged in small initiatives though with much struggle. At one local church I was privileged to work with for example, the believers were struggling to build a sanctuary. They had managed to raise it up to window level. The Pastor informed that the youth of the church had made the mud for making the bricks. This was a powerful example of poor churches taking initiative; I did not hesitate to share that example when I visited other churches soon after that. I learnt that other than churches in poor communities waiting to have everything done for them through opportunities of a partnership, they to, can do something, and indeed a lot for themselves. Of course the project is not over yet, but when it is finished, the believers in that particular church will not have any other person to thank but will be saying “we did this ourselves.”

Encouraging efforts of the local churches will also include identifying and encouraging possibilities. Sometimes the local churches will need support in identifying possible opportunities. Numerous opportunities do exist. Most times, the only support needed is one of maximizing the already existing opportunities and not necessarily creating new ones.

Local churches must deal with, or be helped to change their limiting mindset. I noted above that the circumstances in which they minister affects the way they perceive themselves. This, to a large extent, and especially the churches that have received assistance along the way, has created a mindset of “always expecting help.” Help is definitely not bad given the challenging circumstances in which these churches minister. However, the helped seem to have developed and held to the belief that ‘once I am helped I will always be helped.’ This has killed the initiative they had before the help came and galvanized the limiting mindset.

In dealing with a limiting mindset, the churches should find ways of adding to, or even multiplying the help that they receive rather than only having to wait for the help. Members have to be reminded that when one is found “down”, you help them up, out of their “down” situation. You may help them walk ahead a little but the goal is for them to be enabled to continue ahead on their own, without help. You don’t help the person from “down”. I think that practices of helping the needy “from down” should as much as possible be avoided, they kill initiative and cause the helped to see themselves as those who can’t get up, as those who will always need to be helped from “down”.

People can be empowered to change their mindset regardless of their “down” situation. In Acts of Apostles chapter 3, the cripple who had been “down” for years and had come to believe and accept his “down” situation as a permanent one, was helped up by the Apostles, through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles did not see helping the cripple from down as the best option. They empowered him to continue on his own long after they had gone.

How can local churches that serve in the context of poverty be empowered to realize their mission?

 

Leadership: What has sex got to do with it?

Understanding our sexuality and how it affects us is fundamental to our ability to lead well. Good teaching about sex and sexuality, therefore, should be mandatory for leadership training.

This thought was further reinforced, after a five days training on sexual purity before and after marriage, for eighty one young leaders. The training was conducted by Choose to Wait, a ministry of Christ’s Hope International.

Understanding one’s sexuality, particularly when still young, is important because the sexual choices people make have far reaching consequences on their lives and their ability to lead well. In life, “we are free to choose” Silvia Holtzhausen observed, “but we are not free from the consequences of our bad choices.

Many young people in Uganda have limited understanding of their sexuality. This is a result of a culture that does not talk about sex. For many, talking about sex is taboo. Parents, whom I believe should be the first teachers of the subject, have relegated this vital responsibility to schools, the media, the peers of their children and other mediums. The outcome is confusion and skewed understanding that leads to wrong sexual choices.

It’s worth noting, also, that a lot of teaching on sex and sexuality common today is a form of ‘fire fighting’. I received what I would call my first formal teaching on sex and sexuality in primary five; and the reason? We had to learn and protect ourselves from HIV/AIDS. No one labored to explain to me my sexuality.

There is nothing wrong with teaching on sex and sexuality that is aimed at HIV/AIDS prevention; in fact more of it should be conducted. However, I think that teaching for HIV/AIDS prevention and other reproductive health related reasons a lone is limiting. There needs to be good and holistic teaching on sex and sexuality that focuses on both before and after an individual begins to have sex. In such teachings, the issues of sex and leadership, whose detrimental consequences we see in our society today, cab be effectively dealt with.

You must be asking for the meaning of good and holistic teaching on sex and sexuality. I say ‘good’ because I know there is a lot of bad teaching out there. I say ‘holistic’ because there is a lot of ‘bits and pieces’ teaching that focuses on different parts and not sexuality as a whole. Good and holistic teaching should be the kind that empowers the individual to understand himself so that he is able to make the right sexual choices both before and after he begins to have sex. It is through this understanding and being empowered that he can avoid the consequences of bad sexual choices.

What has this got to do with leadership? Quite a lot. Whether one’s service has been cut short because of HIV/AIDS, or one is having trouble because of a crumbling marriage, or children being raised without all of their parents, or someone is making news because of a sex scandal, all these affect the leader’s productivity and have far reaching consequences not only on the leader but on those that he leads as well.

I have found that the Biblical view of sex and sexuality, which is clear on how an individual should conduct themselves before and after they begin having sex, and in what context an individual should have sex, is not only good but holistic. It empowers individuals to make the right choices thereby avoiding the consequences of bad sexual choices.

It is my contention that understanding our sexuality and how it affects us is fundamental to our ability to lead well. We ought to make good teaching on sex and sexuality mandatory for leadership training.

What is the place of teaching on sex and sexuality in leadership training?

 

Leadership and Accountability

Who influences you? Who are you following? Who is a father figure to you? Who is responsible for you? Where do you turn when you have difficulty? Who disciplines you? To whom do you report? All these, and more, are questions that point to leadership and accountability and why we need it. We must be in position to answer them convincingly if our leadership is to be viewed as accountable.

Accountability and effective leadership go hand in hand. Show me a leader who is accountable and I will show you an organization or institution whose future, continuity and impact is sure.

Accountability among other things is about being as good a follower as one is as a leader. It is about learning to follow well, before beginning to lead. It seems to me that for a good number of leaders, it is much easier to jump in and lead than to follow. Leading is easier for us to do – so we think – than to follow.

I am aware that there are leadership situations where the accountability structures have already been set for us. In such structures, whether we like them or not, we have little or no say about following and being accountable to the establishment; we just follow. But how about situations/circumstances where you are at the top of the structure, or maybe even charged with the responsibility of creating the accountability structure? What if you were the main leader or founder? What if there was no one within the structure for you to be accountable to? What if there was no one for you to follow?

Sadly, we have scenarios – and they are not few – where leaders have acted as the ultimate. Such leaders have demonstrated no accountability, and it appeared as if there was no one to be accountable to, no one else they could follow. In their world, there are no other leaders for them to follow. They are the leaders, they can’t follow anyone; instead, everyone must follow them. Yes, a few follow-on, but many stop following sooner than later. In the end, such leaders end up in what J. C. Maxwell calls “taking a walk”, when there is no one following.

Of course there are always consequences, and they are not good most of the time. For unaccountable leaders, this signals the beginning of a downward spiral and at worst, a slip into self destruction.

Is it possible to lead well without being accountable? I think not and that’s why I am advocating for leadership that is accountable. I wish to see all leaders being good followers as well. I think this is what Paul of Tarsus means when he said to those he led “Follow me as I follow Christ” (1Corithians 11:1). In essence he was saying, ‘yes, I am your leader, you should follow me, but I am also a follower’. It gives me a lot of comfort, as a follower, when I know that my leader to, is a follower.

Being a follower first – which demands being accountable to the one we follow – will keep us in check, shielded from being destroyed by leadership. It will help us overcome the corruption that comes as a result of the power that leadership brings.

Make no mistake; all of us are potential candidates for the corruption that comes as a result of the power that leadership gives. However, if we are accountable, if we become good followers first before we demand that others follow us, we will overcome the corruption and the ultimate downfall that comes with it. The assumption is that we are choosing those that we follow and are accountable to very well.

Is it possible to lead well without being accountable? What other benefits exist in being an accountable leader? Leave a comment bellow.

 

Positioning Fresh Graduates for Local Church Work

Young adults, if well harnessed, can be a great resource for local church missions in Uganda. Other institutions seem to know the resource that young adults are very well and have used it to their advantage. Take the army for example; many of their fighting men are recruited from between the ages of eighteen and twenty five.

Every year, thousands of youth graduate from colleges, universities and other institutions of learning. Upon completion, each graduate hopes to gain employment and start earning a living immediately. Unfortunately, this has not always been the case for so many Ugandan graduates because of the very high unemployment rates in the country. It is not uncommon to find graduates who have been unemployed five years since their graduation.

It should be noted that high rates of unemployment do not mean that there is no work for graduates to do. In fact, the reverse is true; there is so much that needs to be done, however, there are not enough financial resources to hire every graduate for all the work that is available. It is on this premise that I believe we can utilize fresh graduates who are eager to put their energy, knowledge and skills to work without having to hire them as employees.

Looking at our communities today, there is no doubt that the church has a lot of work to do. Most local churches, and especially those in rural areas, complain about the lack of enough financial resources to hire all the professionals and human resource that they need. Local churches can creatively and intentionally tap into this opportunity of the thousands that graduate every year. These graduates have been equipped with the relevant skills and knowledge for the very work that the churches want to accomplish. Moreover, they are eager to gain work experience which is vital for their next step as they develop their careers.

Local churches can mobilize fresh graduates in their congregations to give at least one year of service on one of, or a number of their own projects. Also, churches can mobilize for other churches that have work to be done and yet have limited human resources. Urban churches – where most of the graduates are – for example, can mobilize graduates in their congregations to serve on projects in rural communities through urban-rural local church partnerships. Furthermore, churches can mobilize for Para-church organizations. There are many Para-church organizations that do wonderful work but are limited by human resources.

Parents should encourage their young adults to step out and serve instead of letting them seat at home while they wait for gainful employment. If possible, parents should take the initiative of seeking out these service opportunities on behalf of their fresh graduates.

This proposal is not farfetched at all. The writer himself is a beneficiary of a post-graduate one year service opportunity before embarking on gainful employment. After completing my university education, I volunteered with a Para-church ministry for one whole year before seeking gainful employment. I was not on the organization’s payroll. As it turned out, this one year’s experience became the stepping stone for my career development. The benefits for me, and I believe for all who will venture on this path, are innumerable: discovery of gifts and talents, acquisition of job knowledge and skills, gaining valuable work experience, mental, emotional and spiritual formation, formation of vital life and career relationships, to mention but a few. It should be noted, also, that during my service that year I added value and contributed greatly to the mission of the organization.

In what ways can we tap into the opportunity of fresh graduates for local church missions? Leave a comment in the space provided bellow.

 

How we educate our leaders matters

Patrick Awuah, cofounder of Ashesi College in Ghana and TED speaker, has argued that “the manner in which we educate our leaders is fundamental to progress on [the African continent].” This, in my view, is a strong argument that we should pay attention to. You can read his profile here and listen to his full talk on Educating Leaders at TED 2007 here.

According to him, “approximately 5% of school going population make it to the universities and they make up the elite, they are the leaders of the bulk of the people – we have to train them right.” The question is, how are we educating our leaders?

I have thought about the question of how we educate our leaders more this week as we oriented a group of freshmen, newly admitted to our Leadership Development Program, that are joining various universities at the start of the 2011/2012 academic year. Throughout the whole week, we engaged with young people brimming with a lot of potential. They present a world of possibilities in terms of being our next generation of problem solvers. I am asking myself; will they be educated right? Will the education be intentional or will it just be general?

As Awuah has observed, “Every society must be very intentional about how it trains its leaders.” I am asking myself and all those involved in leadership development, how intentional is our education system; how intentional are our educators in preparing the next generation of leaders? I sometimes think that a lot of our education in Uganda has been – to describe it in Awuah’s experience – one that prepares us to “take and follow orders.” I think that most times we “take orders” from the teacher and follow them religiously and when we leave the classroom, we continue “matching” according to the same orders, we never quite think and create matching orders beyond the classroom and the teacher.

I think that we must pay attention to how we train our leaders. We must be intentional about equipping them not only to ‘take orders’ but to think about ‘new orders to give’ beyond those received in the lecture room. Educators should teach us how to think about and create “matching orders” and not just give “matching orders.”

As the week progressed, I listened to some of the dreams of the freshmen or freshers as they are popularly known. For most of them, the chief concern was for the ‘right course of study’ so that in some way that might lead to the ‘right job.’ How I pray that somehow, during their course of study, they might be equipped to be critical, analytical and concerned about social issues so that at the end of their study the focus changes from finding the ‘right job’ to creating solutions to problems that they have been helped to think about critically and analytically and for which they have been equipped with knowledge and skills to solve. I hope that they can be helped to realize their creative powers because they posses them, and because, as Awuah has said, “the ability to create is the most empowering thing that can happen to an individual.”

How intentional are our educators in preparing the next generation of leaders? What can we do to be more intentional in preparing the next generation of leaders? Give us your view in the comments section bellow.