I think there are many books about God and leadership. Something like God is our CEO or Biblical Truths for Business. But sitting out in the sun this morning amidst God’s creation, that is my beautiful backyard, watching my dogs hunt for squirrels, I easily think of God. He created my silly dogs who are so short and blind they can barely see the squirrels, who are almost their size, race in front of them (my wiener dogs) taunting them with their speed and agility. God also created us. We are more special than wiener dogs, at least to God, because He created us in His image. God is a leader which must mean that we have some leadership skills in us too.
Top 5 Leadership Tips from the Creator of the World
Sitting here, because even in our new fenced yard I don’t trust that my dogs are safe alone, I think about how I could be a better leader if I tried to exercise the God given leadership traits I have and to follow His Word, which shares with us some of His best leadership tips. I will share a different one each day this week so that my post isn’t too long for you to have time to read! Here is the first leadership tip that comes to mind.
- As a good leader we should instill important rules to help those that we lead.
God has rules. He gave us the ten commandments because He knew these were really important rules that we needed to follow to lead a safer, healthier, and maybe happier life. Rules in business have been a challenge for me because so many were the whimsical need for control of a short-sighted leader. When the rule changed like a revolving door depending on the mood of the leader, or who the leader was at the moment, it didn’t create a sense of structure or support for me at all. However, I have learned that not all rules are bad and in fact, smart leaders are gifted at establishing foundational rules that support optimum performance rather than hindering independence, creativity, and progress.
In all organizations there are some rules that will help the employees to perform better, feel as part of the team, and keep themselves from hurting their reputation and/or the company’s credibility. I think the “Do Not Steal” one is pretty universal. However, for your company it may be that sales personnel can work from home as long as they provide timely reports and hit their numbers. Even with my rule phobia, when I ran restaurants, there were a few important ones. Like “if you work here you must wash your hands after using the bathroom” or ” your register must balance every day”. This last one helps control the “Do not steal” rule.
The point is that research shows that everyone (even creative people) will perform better and have more job satisfaction if there is structure aka rules. If we look at God’s rules they help us to live better. God doesn’t go overboard and remember that He also employs other tools like grace and mercy with his “children” aka “team”.
Do you have clearly established, important (not nit-picky), rules and guidelines to provide support structure for your team to succeed and prosper? What is one important guideline you can add to your organization to help create a firm foundation? Check back tomorrow for the second leadership tip from God!
Reader Interactions