Follow Me: Workplace Leadership
Not all leaders at work believe in or have a relationship with God. This has been very evident to me with my 25 years of personal workplace experience. Working in the secular world without God as my source and now working in the secular world WITH God as my source has taught me about the true meaning of workplace leadership.
Since starting Rooted, Heather and I have realized and agree that all of the practical advice given in secular leadership books is also in the Bible – but the BIBLE’s advice is even better!!
My biggest nugget of advice on becoming a leader who people will want to follow is to READ your Bible, absorb the knowledge, apply it & you will be on the road to becoming a GREAT leader!
From what I have learned, GREAT leaders are NOT just born! It DOES take effort to become a leader. God does empower and enable us but He also gives us the responsibility to learn and grow.
Below are some examples I have learned from the Bible about Jesus as a leader! Jesus was certainly a leader whose teachings can be learned and applied in today’s world. This information will change your life, if you let it!
Learn His ways and then apply His ways to your daily life and people will want to follow you!
PUT OTHERS FIRST:
Jesus came to this earth to serve and He gave His life up for us ALL! Really think about that for a minute…To serve us and then die for us. Gives me goosebumps!!! Thank you Jesus!
“…even as the Son of Man came NOT to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
JESUS is the Son of God! Our God is the God of the universe who created everything, knows everything and controls everything and Jesus humbly served God and us! To be honest – I am not sure I would have acted in such a humble and serving way knowing I was the son of God. #mypride
From my research, I believe Jesus is the best earthly leader EVER – hands down – PERIOD! Let us all learn by His example to be humble and serve others. Jesus put ALL of our needs before His wants. Are we putting our teams, employees, and coworkers needs before our wants?
Serve your teams, put others first and YOU last, they will be loyal and people will want to follow you!
RELATIONSHIPS:
Jesus was all about the people! He focused on building personal relationships. Jesus has a pure heart and unfailing character. When it comes to relationships we need to examine our character, we need to look at our integrity.
INTEGRITY: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, being unified and having moral uprightness.
Where I work our motto is “We do what we say we will do.” It could be as simple as showing up on time for work or as in depth as meeting a deadline for a project. As a leader, we must be truthful to our verbal commitments and then follow through. If you lack integrity, no one will follow you as a leader and if no one follows you, you are not a leader.
Jesus is followed by millions and millions of people even thousands of years after His death! His integrity is genuine and real. The church is still strong because of His character and leadership. He is the perfect leader!
Leadership is a quality that can be developed! To develop into a great leader, it starts on the inside with our hearts and minds! Do you have a pure heart and unfailing character like Jesus?
Ask God the following….
“Search me and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.”
Psalm 139:23
We can not see our own deceitful hearts, God must reveal them to us. Ask Him to transform you from the inside out and the be ready for Him to work! God will only give us what we can handle and then with the power of the Holy Spirit and our willing effort, we will start transforming.
When our heart and character start to transform and reflect our Lord’s heart and character, people will want to follow you!
STORIES:
A leader tells stories! Jesus was so great at storytelling. His parables are still told today and used as examples in sermons to help us relate with everyday life as Christians. As a leader at work, relate situations with your team to something that has happened to you in your past work life and tell your story.
STORIES: hold our attention, stir our emotions and help us remember what is being communicated.
Your team will look at you as relatable and it will build trust, credibility and rapport. My current boss, who I consider an incredible leader, is great at relating his past stories to current situations. It has helped build our relationship on many levels and I do relate with him, trust him and follow him.
When we relate on a personal level with our employees, teams & coworkers, people will want to follow you!
GOLDEN RULE:
Jesus held strong beliefs and values while still showing tremendous compassion to others who did not share these same beliefs. As a leader today, we need to have clear expectations and values communicated to our teams while also being sensitive to the person behind the employee. Jesus considered the people’s minds and hearts while leading,
To be compassionate: is feeling or showing empathy and concern for others.
In the secular world to be a compassionate leader we must engage the employee both intellectually and emotionally. Compassion goes a long way with building a relationship with your teams and coworkers. Our teams are built with people who have minds and hearts, treat them how you would like to be treated! #goldenrule
Think of it this way…God created them just like God created you. A work team can be made up of many different backgrounds – including race or religion. If we exclude or treat anyone different because of their background – this is not right, this is not the way of Jesus. Having compassion and acceptance of your teams, employees, and coworkers is the right way and it is how we flow the love of God.
Respect your teams, be compassionate, love them and watch how they will jump on board and people will want to follow you!
WAY OF LIFE:
Being a leader in the workplace can be a TITLE or a WAY OF LIFE! Jesus shows us how to lead by example in the secular world and we can start changing the world’s workplaces one company at a time!
Workplace Leadership is a quality that everyone can have if they choose to willingly set their life to serving God and others.
To transform into a great leader it starts on the inside first and then we must outwardly lead by example. Fill yourself daily with God’s Living Word by reading the Bible, this will fill you up and get you through the day!
Remember to be… humble, serve others, build trust, be a great listener, have integrity, learn compassion, share your stories, follow the Golden Rule and most importantly to LOVE…
Live this way and people will want to follow you!
Stay rooted,
Lisa
#rooted #leadership #jesus #wayoflife
