Running head: SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIP 1
SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIP 5
Successful Leadership
Jacqueline Grant
Successful Leadership
It is safe to say that a leader that good leadership skills will always be in high demand. High demand as a result of good leadership skills will then eventually provide a return of success. Being successful at leadership is not necessarily synonymous with either educational or experiential knowledge. One can be an expert in a particular field or department with many years of experience and still be unsuccessful as a leader. Thus successful leadership is greatly dependent on one’s people skills and their ability to build genuine cooperative relationships with others and less to do with how much information and knowledge they have. This is applicable to small and large organizations as well as global relationships. According to Dr. Brink “Successful leaders embody emotional intelligence: the ability to leverage an understanding of human emotions to inform and guide decision making. Leaders with emotional intelligence have empathy and respect for their constituents, and they lead in a selfless manner”.
Humility in Leadership
The level of humility that a leader possesses will determine what kind of leader he or she will be. Humility is sometimes often confused with weakness but the real meaning of humility as found in Collins dictionary is defined this way “someone who has humility is not proud and does not believe they are better than other people”. A leader who makes those he works with or associates with, feel important especially when he or she occupies a senior position is displaying humility. That kind of leader will be admired and respected and those that work with him or her will want to excel just to make that superior looks good.
I once worked in an organization with a very proud head of department. The only important person on that team was her. Everything was done just the way she wanted it and the opinion of others were inferior. The work got done because there was an organizational goal to support but it was not a great environment to work in. After she was transferred to another location we got a humble department leader and the department environment drastically changed to a more collaborative and harmonious working environment. As a result the entire team was determined to excel and go above and beyond just to ensure that he did well. According to Suzanne Hazelton (2014), “There is compelling evidence that positive emotions are not just the result of well-being, but can also drive success and well-being. Understanding and encouraging positive emotions is now recognized as important in business. These emotions have been shown to drive positive business results and individual well-being”.
Serve Others First
The way an individual feels will no doubt affect his or her performance. If we serve others above ourselves, it will no doubt trigger positive emotions in them and in turn they will perform better in whatever task they have to do. When a leader is surrounded by individuals with positive and healthy emotions the results will no doubt be better than the results of those with negative and unhealthy emotions. The Bible tells us in Philippians 2:3-4 that we should “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others”.
According to Suzanne Hazelton (2014) “Generally speaking, bad events have more impact than good ones. That is why we need to have considerably more positive emotions for each negative emotion we experience”. When we serve others first we are building them up and they will no doubt be better performers not just on the job but life in general.
Jesus’ Will and Ways
There is indeed no greater teacher than Jesus when it comes to leadership. Jesus’ leadership was based on love and concern on how he could help rather than how he could be helped. Even when he knew that some people was just coming to criticize or just to get the food, he still gave to them anyway. Sometimes leaders are afraid to lead with humility because of fear and insecurity that they carry within. To be effective and successful leaders we must follow the example that Jesus has set for us and not be too concerned about ourselves. When one is concerned about protecting or shielding themselves it will be difficult to lead as Jesus taught and did. We are reminded of this in Romans 12:3 “3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you”. Successful leadership is Christlike leadership and this cannot be accomplished without the Savior’s grace.
References
Brink, J. A. (2016) Life Lessons for Successful Leadership. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 2016-08-01, Volume 13, Issue 8, Pages 887-888,
Hazelton, S. 2014) “Positive emotions boost employee engagement: Making
work fun brings individual and organizational success”, Human Resource
Management International Digest, Vol. 22 Issue: 1, pp.34-37, https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1108/HRMID-01-2014-0012
