Jodi Glickman recognizes the difficulty young leaders face. “Being a leader is tough enough when you look and sound the part…and earned your way to the top. But leading without that authority…that is a real challenge.” She goes on to suggest three ways young managers can lead effectively.
First, there is a need to be confident. If a young leader prefaces every statement with, “I have not been here long, but I was thinking…” they will not earn respect or have any kind of real influence. Young leaders need to know what they think and where they are going in order to earn respect and be effective.
Secondly, they need to be open minded, and third, they need to solicit feedback regularly. Feedback should be sought in ways that invite their thoughts, but not in ways that ask for guidance. The leader should know what needs to happen in order to gain the respect of the team. “Start strong, keep an open mind and bring people on board to keep you moving in the right direction.”
Applying the contents of this article to leading in ministry can be helpful. As young leaders we need to have confidence in our calling and a vision of God for the people we lead and serve. We need to ask for feedback from those we lead and serve, helping to ensure our methods of fulfilling God’s vision are on track. We cannot be wishy-washy or afraid to follow God’s orders even if it causes conflict in the congregation.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the suggestions made in this article. I would also argue that these apply as much to old/experienced managers as they do to young managers. Early on in a position of leadership that I was in, I provided input and made suggestions much like the young leader with little confidence that you described, seeing little success. As time went on, though, I became more confident, and my colleagues were more receptive to what I had to say. While in this position, the employee-leader with whom we most directly worked was not open-minded. He was convinced that his ideas and strategies were the best, and did not pay much attention to others’ (especially mine). He would frequently tell me all the reasons that something would not work, without considering or trying it. Consequently, as one might expect, he rarely solicited input/or feedback from others. This was often met with resistance among those within the organization that disagreed with what was being done, and prevented the exploration and integration of alternative, perhaps better, ideas. I’m convinced that if constituents had been given the opportunity to provide these, the organization would have been healthier. For this, and many reasons, I thought of him more as a manager than as a leader.
ReplyDelete