Communication and Leadership

We have been working toward an understanding of what a vision is and how that is developed in us for leadership. We also looked at the concept of priorities and realizing that we must focus on the things that are most important for us to do as the leader or the vision will never be realized. Now we need to look at aspects of team development: communicating the vision, working with people and managing conflict.

When we improve our ability to communicate, we increase our ability to lead.

So how do we communicate this vision to others? As leaders we are responsible to unite a team of people to carry out the vision. Thankfully, God brings the right people into our lives at the right time to make this happen, which tests our trust in Him as well as our determination to obey no matter what. Our connection to this team will depend on our ability to communicate: learning to listen, learning to value their input, learning to shape our vision into words and word pictures, and learning to persuade and motivate. The leader really acts as a model, organizer, cheerleader and coach to understand how each member of the team works, use their skills and knowledge effectively and challenge them to do more than they thought they could do!

Remember that communication happens at many levels, one-to-one, small groups, large audiences, in writing, in speaking, with words, with attitudes, with tone of voice, with body language... each one is essential for the complete message and effective leadership! If you do not feel ready to speak in front of a group, don't worry. This takes time and practice; but you can still work on your communication skills in many other ways!

We will look at this more in our next session and then you can begin an assignment:
Prepare a 5 minute presentation which presents a vision for ministry in a way that will challenge and motivate your audience or small group to join you. This presentation should engage the mind as well and the emotions of your audience so they can see what you see and feel what you feel regarding the task ahead.

Priorities of a Leader

We have been thinking about vision - seeing into the future and what God might be calling us to do. This develops out of the passions that God puts in our heart, the circumstances in which we live and the people God brings into our life. Of course this vision must be communicated to a team of people who will join us in fulfilling the vision. But often one of the most difficult tasks for the leader is choosing which tasks to focus on and how to organize their time, resources and energy so that they can be effective leaders. This is a process we call 'setting priorities'.

So how do great leaders set priorities?

The “Pareto Principle” teaches us that if we focus our attention on our most important activities we gain the highest return on our effort. In fact, Mr. Pareto found that if we tend to the top 20% most important priorities, we will accomplish 80% of the results we are after. Some call this the 80/20 Rule. This principle can be applied to your everyday priorities to enable you to lead more effectively. If you were to list your top 10 priorities, you would likely find that getting done your first and second priorities will give you 80% of your desired results. This occurs because many of the lower priorities are minor tasks that need to be completed (sometimes urgently), but are not extremely important. These are not the priorities that you should focus on. To be a more efficient and effective leader,  you must embrace the right priorities, the crucial things that only you can do.

Which tasks do you focus on first? The ones that are easiest, the most urgent, the ones that will take longest, the ones that need the least amount of your energy, or the ones that are most important? Whenever we allow ourselves to be guided by the urgent, we give up our priorities as leaders. Good leaders know that if the most important things don't get most of our attention, very little of real importance will be accomplished.

Here are a few simple application questions and ideas... 

1. What was Jesus' top priority? How can this be shown in how He talked or how He used His time?
2. How many things do you put on your calendar each week that are independent of others and their demands on your time? 
3. What are the 2 most important items on your calendar this week that will bring you closer to understanding and fulfilling your God-given vision?
4. If you have 6 things to do today, think about which item is the most important and how much time that should take of all the time you have available - then do it first!

Here is the ppt for this session.