People hold you to high moral, ethical, and social standards as a Christian. But unfortunately, the bar is raised even higher as a Christian leader. Why? Christian and non-Christian social environments expect Christians to measure up to their self-proclaimed moral and ethical standards. So what can you do to be sure you stand up to the test in Christian leadership?
1) Probably the most important thing you can do as a Christian leader is to clean up your act—
If there is anything in your life, moral or ethical, which would not stand up to scrutiny if the entire world found out, you must eliminate it immediately. Do not give anyone an occasion to think that you are a hypocrite.
2) Be sure that every decision you make is honest and ethical.
As a Christian or not, you cannot effectively lead when your decisions and actions are not above-board, fair, and honest.
3) As a Christian leader, commit to telling the truth no matter what.
As a Christian leader, when you lie or tell half-truths, people feel that your entire faith is a sham. If you habitually lie and tell half-truths, your faith may be a sham.
4) Learn everything you can about the tasks at hand
Even if it means working in the trenches for a while, no one likes to be led by someone who has never done what they do. It doesn’t mean you have to become an expert and participate in the menial work long enough to understand the work’s frustrating aspects. Another benefit to this is that you can more effectively brainstorm solutions to challenges when they arise when you have done the work.
5) Lead by example.
Do you expect your employees or secretaries to arrive on time for work and dress well? Then you should thrive to do the same. Sometimes, it is easy to think that you have earned the right to come in whenever you feel like it or return from lunch whenever you wish. You may have earned the right, but you gain far more by setting the example for performance. Do you expect others to work overtime when a project is behind projections? Then you must be willing to do the same.
6) Be Involved in Productive Tasks
Although you may feel you have earned the right to delegate away all the work, continue to be involved in productive tasks. By doing some of the work, you gain your employees’ respect and keep in touch with the flow of things. As a leader, it is easy to become disengaged from your business’s actual productive segment and resultantly make decisions that look good on paper and sound good around the boardroom table but are worthless when the rubber hits the road.
7) Constantly reevaluate your performance.
Often, you may spend so much time correcting others’ actions and solving crises you didn’t create that you develop a sense that others aren’t as capable as you. Consequently, you may not recognize when you fall into bad habits that need to be corrected. Be the first to identify and correct your short-fallings.
8) Avoid pride.
Once in a leadership position, especially if you are good at what you do, it is easy to begin to feel that you are invincible. Unfortunately, once that occurs, you become vulnerable to pride and may make decisions you would frown on if your subordinates made the same decisions. Therefore, maintain total responsibility for your actions, and keep them above board at all times.
9) Learn to manage your time.
When you are in a leadership position and find yourself delegating away the most time-consuming tasks, it is easy to lose control of your time. But, again, when your employees see you wasting your time, they will tend to do the same.
