Building Leaders In The Kingdom Of God – Part Two

May 4, 2013

Gary J. Borgstede Coaching Corner, Leadership Insights , , , , , , , 2 Comments

PraisingWhen we study the New Testament, we find that Spiritual Leadership combines two cups of leadership in the kingdom of God: a Spiritual Cup and a Leadership Cup. The Spiritual Cup entails exemplary living as a born-again child of God and the Leadership Cup entails the equipping of God’s people to do His work. As spiritual leaders in God’s kingdom, we are to become more like Jesus in exemplary living every day as we do what He has called us to do in the equipping of His people to do His work.

The Spiritual Cup Of Exemplary Living – Who We Become in Christ

In 1 Timothy 4:11-13, Paul tells Timothy, “Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them.” The Spiritual Cup of spiritual leadership pours into others from who we are in Christ. We live as an example to others by the power of the Holy Spirit that lives inside us. Through Christ in us, we become more like Him as the Holy Spirit teaches us all things and leads us into all truth.

The Leadership Cup Of Equipping Others – What We Do In Christ

In Ephesians 4:11-13, Paul tells the believers in Ephesus, “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.” The Leadership Cup of spiritual leadership pours into others from what we do in Christ. We equip others to do God’s work in the earth as His ambassadors on the earth. While Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords sitting at the right hand of the Father, it has always been God’s plan to empower His creation to carry out His will on earth by His authority given to redeemed men and women in Christ.

As spiritual leaders in the kingdom of God, who we become in Christ and what we do in Christ are equally important. In fact, we find this spiritual leadership pattern in the kingdom of God represented in Christ all throughout the Bible by the person of Jesus and the principles of Jesus. To be an impactful spiritual leader in God’s kingdom, we must not only know Jesus personally, but we must also do what He says to do by living out His principles such as:

  • Give and it shall be given to you
  • Lose your life to save your life
  • Serve others to be the greatest
  • Pray for those who persecute you
  • Forgive and be forgiven

In John 14:15-17, Jesus tells His disciples, “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you.” Spiritual leaders in the kingdom of God know Jesus and obey Him because the Holy Spirit lives inside us and teaches us how to live out His principles in life.

The Imperative For Developing Spiritual Leaders

As a young leader, the COO of our organization told me early in my professional life that I had to prepare myself to grow and lead in an environment with significant growth.  Additionally, I was encouraged that if I heeded that instruction, I too would enjoy the opportunity of personally growing the same way within the organization. In response to that instruction, I continued developing myself as a leader within the organization.

As a result, in 10 short years I went from being a Director of 3 teams, to an Administrator of a Clinic Division, to a VP of a consolidated Hospital and Clinic Division, to an SVP of a Central Business Office operation for 7 Hospitals and more than 700 Physicians, to a Chief Operating Officer of 7 different operating divisions. From the age of 30 to the age of 40, my leadership responsibilities grew from leading 45 people to leading over 1,000 people in my direct sphere of leadership influence because I was willing to learn, grow, and develop as a leader as well as equip others to learn, grow, and develop as leaders.

The reason I share this story is because the kingdom of God is experiencing significant growth in these last days and we must appropriately prepare ourselves as spiritual leaders in God’s kingdom if we intend to effectively steward the harvest of souls entrusted to us by the Lord. This means that spiritual leaders have to become better leaders and must effectively equip more leaders for the work of the ministry in God’s kingdom. The stakes are high and if we are not prepared for the growth, we will be at significant risk of ministry overload and personal burnout, even as spiritual leaders in God’s kingdom.

The Development Process For Spiritual Leaders

In order to effectively develop spiritual leaders in God’s kingdom for sustainability in their personal and professional lives, spiritual leaders must have a Personal Excellence Plan derived from a written Life Plan and a Professional Excellence Plan derived from a written Business Plan. The Personal Excellence Plan focuses on important leadership development aspects of the leader’s personal life such as the character development of the leader and the chemistry development of the leader within his or her team. The Professional Excellence Plan focuses on important leadership development aspects of the leader’s professional life such as the culture development of the leader and the competency development of the leader within his or her team.

A Personal Excellence Plan Supports Character Development And Chemistry Development In A Spiritual Leaders’s Personal Life

The Character Development of a leader builds the Spiritual Cup of a leader on a personal level. A good Personal Excellence Plan seeks to answer Spiritual Cup questions such as: 

  1. Who are you becoming when no one is looking?
  2. How are you becoming more like Christ each day in your personal life?

The Chemistry Development of a leader builds the Leadership Cup of a leader on a personal level. A good Personal Excellence Plan seeks to answer Leadership Cup questions such as:

  1. What are your personal leadership gifts and talents given to you by God?
  2. How will you personally use your gifts and talents to glorify God and benefit others?

A Professional Excellence Plan Supports Culture Development And Competency Development In A Spiritual Leader’s Professional Life

The Culture Development of a leader builds the Spiritual Cup of a leader on a professional level. A good Professional Excellence Plan seeks to answer Spiritual Cup questions such as:

  1. What type of team are you helping the organization to become when no one is looking?
  2. How are you helping the organization to become more like the kingdom of God?

The Competency Development of a leader builds the Leadership Cup of a leader on a professional level. A good Professional Excellence Plan seeks to answer Leadership Cup questions such as:

  1. What are your leadership commitments and responsibilities in the organization?
  2. How will you fulfill your leadership commitments and responsibilities as a kingdom ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ in your organization?

To be sustainable spiritual leaders in our personal and professional lives, we must continually fill our spiritual cup (who we are in Christ) and our leadership cup (what we do in Christ) in the areas of character development, culture development, chemistry development, and competency development. Otherwise, empty cups will lead to empty spiritual leaders.

To His glory, have a blessed “Make It Happen” day!

Building Leaders In The Kingdom Of God – Part Two Copyright 2013, The Make It Happen Learning Institute.  You have permission to reprint the leadership article, Building Leaders In The Kingdom Of God – Part Two, in its entirety only, and forward to your colleagues and friends, provided the copyright notice remains part of the reprint and transmission.  All other rights reserved.

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Chemistry Development – Rx For Execution

January 27, 2013

Gary J. Borgstede Coaching Corner , , , Leave a comment

Execution

Execution

There are some things in life that just plain go together and if they didn’t…well, life wouldn’t be the same. Imagine life without the following combinations:

  • thunder and lightning
  • macaroni and cheese
  • shoes and socks
  • soap and water
  • salt and pepper
  • questions and answers
  • songs and dance
  • bread and butter
  • and for my Grandma Clara’s sake, let’s not forget…spaghetti and meatballs!

For the Italian record, I’m really not sure how anyone could even think about having spaghetti without the meatballs? I realize I’m being light-hearted at the moment; however, there really is something dynamic that happens when things that are meant to be together actually do go together. And it’s the same way with any team. When a team of people are meant to be together and they actually do go together, great things can happen with such a team.

Chemistry Development Fosters A Spirit Of Team Unity

In Ecclesiastes 4:12 the Bible states, “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” When a team has good chemistry, people on the team stand together which allows them to accomplish so much more than each person could accomplish working alone. In fact, the acronym for the word TEAM that I like best is – Together Everyone Achieves More. The truth is that good team chemistry fosters a spirit of team unity that can only be experienced when a team works together, stands together, and experiences team life together.

This does not necessarily mean that everyone must be clones of one another in order to have good team chemistry. No, I believe good team chemistry actually involves a sincere appreciation among team members for the real differences that each person brings to the team. God has created each of us with different strengths and talents which can be combined with other people’s strengths and talents to make any team stronger as a whole. Any wise investment advisor knows that there is strength in a diverse portfolio of investments. The same is true for a diverse portfolio of people on a team. Teams are strong because people on the team are created differently!

Developing Chemistry Maximizes Team Execution

In his writings, the apostle Paul teaches that the human body is the sum of all the individual parts of the body and that the body cannot function well without each different part working together. Specifically, in 1 Corinthians 12:14-21, he writes, “Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, ‘I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,’ that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, ‘I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,’ would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you.’ The head can’t say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you.’

Imagine how difficult it would be to write a letter or enjoy a bowl of soup if a person was without a thumb. Although the thumb is only a small part of the body, it has tremendous value to the overall effective execution of the body. When considering all of the people roles on a team, do you know that each person on the team is like the thumb to the body in their value to the team? A team missing one person with the right strengths may experience great difficulty in effectively executing as a team. Understanding this truth, team members must exercise diligent care in finding the right people with the right strengths to fill all of the right roles on a team.

To help teams effectively do this, I recommend the following 4 practical steps to developing team chemistry:

  1. Include well-known personality and strength assessments in the talent recruitment process to gain a better understanding about the creative design of any new potential team member.
  2. Conduct team interviews in the talent recruitment process to gain greater insights about the interpersonal dynamics of any new potential team member.
  3. Assign an organizational mentor or sponsor to each new team member to assist them in learning the culture of the organization and help orient them to their role on the team.
  4. Host team talent reviews on an annual basis for senior leadership to assess each team member’s role clarity, organizational impact, and developmental opportunities within the organization.

Thank you and have a blessed “Make It Happen” day!

Chemistry Development – Rx For Execution Copyright 2013, The Make It Happen Learning Institute.  You have permission to reprint Chemistry Development – Rx For Execution, in its entirety only, and forward to your colleagues and friends, provided the copyright notice remains part of the reprint and transmission.  All other rights reserved.

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