What I found during my studies wasn’t surprising. All of the identifiable characteristics of great leaders could be found in scripture. Sure, they weren’t labeled as being scriptural, but they were. In my opinion, a Leader by any other name, is a Devoted Christian.
I agreed with all of those definitions. They were/are vital characteristics for any successful leader to possess. I strongly agreed that leaders must be people of integrity. They must “do what they say they will do”.
Trust and Integrity go hand in hand. Integrity is moral excellence and honesty. Integrity is the seed that brings forth a harvest of trust. When you are a person of integrity, you can be trusted.
Leaders can be Trusted to tell the truth; trusted to keep private matters private; and trusted to make decisions in the best interest of others, and not for themselves. Trusted to manage processes with diligence and to lead people with integrity.
Leading People and Managing Processes
Leaders inspire, encourage, and motivate. Managers organize, regulate, and control processes. One of the most tragic mistakes a person of authority can make is to confuse people with processes.
People are lead. Processes are managed. And if we confuse the two, the end result could be devastating.What do I mean by devastating? Here is just one of many stories to support my point.
I had a supervisor once who, on the surface, seemed to be very good at what she did. Her shift yielded the most products day after day. Upper management applauded her for her successful contributions to the bottom line-profit.
This “success” lasted for about a year. And then things started to change. Until the productivity dropped, staff started making mistakes; and few of them even quit.
Upper management was confused. What was happening? Things seemed to be going great. To those of us she supervised, the answer was simple.
While our supervisor had great management skills, her people skills were horrible. She.
