TIP: Do not let anybody steal your dream. Communicate your vision clearly to your team and inspire excellence in execution. Get the best players and expect the best results. Do not give up and do not let the team give up. You will win.

The Transformational Leader leads from a personal influence and not power of position. It’s more difficult and somewhat threatening for a leader to be vulnerable by being authentic, however, this style of leadership inspires others to model authenticity as well. Creating strong leaders makes the Transformational Leader more effective. The power is shared, even though the leader is utlimately the guide for the vision, it is with nurture and not force.

If you look at yourself in the mirror, do you see a person that you would allow to lead you?

As I interviewed Jim Hart for the May 10, 2010 edition of Monday Morning Email (http://dld.bz/cNKu) I really resonated with his perspective on leadership in the church. This newsletter is for those who plan and lead worship ministries. Jim served the church for many years and now is President of the Webber Institute for Worship Studies in Florida. One comment jumped out at me that supports a major principle of Transformational Leadership – Authenticity.

Here’s his quote:

Well, you know, I think leadership is an area that is, has not been given the proper kind of regard, particularly among music ministers and worship leaders. We say we are worship leaders and we talk mostly about worship and not so much about leading and all of us in some way are called to be leaders in the way that, again, the way that Jesus modeled for us being servant leaders. And serving those with whom you spend your life and your ministry. And so, I think reflections on leadership are, are vitally important for all of us who are involved with worship leading ministry or actually just any kind of kingdom advancing ministry. We need to be reflecting on how leadership plays into everything we’re doing.

The principle that resonated with me was that of look to the leadership of Jesus who demonstrated Servant Leadership. Jesus was the Servant Leader, indeed! He represented serving humanity in all that he did. His leadership was authentic. Authenticity inspires authenticity. We are professionals in many types of work. We are first and foremost the person that God created us to me. Trying to be something else is not authentic. It’s good to study leaders, however, learn from successful leaders and make the principles you like your own principles. Learn the principle behind what you see and do not just copy the action.

The successful leader internalizes the lessons learned. These new skills mature as the leader grows and matures in their own leadership style.

Be authentic. Be the leader you were created to be. Be the best you can be – all the time. You will inspire others to do the same.

Look in the mirror. Would you be inspired by you? It has been said that we are the result of the 5 people we hang around the most. Who do you want to influence you? How do you want to influence others?

When I have encouraged you to get the best players for your orchestra, I want you to achieve excellent results. Good players can make good music. In fact, excellent players can make excellent music. Don’t limit the effectiveness of your team by your attitude. Be affirming. Be encouraging. Be authentic. Be focused.

The worst thing you can do it to pretend that you do not have weaknesses yourself or to act like you never make any mistakes. Acknowledge your areas that need improvement and your intentions to create a pathway to achieve those improvements. Inversely, know that your team members will make mistakes and will need encouragement. Your attitude to keep from getting discouraged yourself will inspire your team you learn from their mistakes and move forward with more wisdom.

Surround your self with capable people. They will inspire you. Let go of your pride and realize that it is alright to be inspired by those whom you lead as well a those you follow.

TIP: Nobody want to ignore problems. Learn from them and do not let problems govern your life or limit your potential for success. Those who follow you will model what you do and how you act more than what you say.

Have you ever been in a conversation and realized that the person you are talking to is thinking about their response and is really not listening to you? Do not be guilty of this yourself. You don’t have to respond immediately once the other person stops talking. In fact, leaving a moment of silence lets the person talking know that you listened and are thinking about what was said. The moment of silence can be a validation that you have listened.

One of the important traits of Transformational Leadership is being authentic. If you are not aware of what others on your team are thinking, then how can you be an effective leader? Another Transformational Leadership trait is building leaders on teams. Building leadership skills is a key to delegation. If there are good communication standards, then there can be minimal conflict in the workplace due to misunderstanding or missing information.

A clear vision is followed by clear goals and a solid communication plan. Communication consists of two functions: 1) Delivery and 2) Reception. We must be aware of our words when speaking. There is power in the choice of words. The wrong choice of words will communicate a different message than intended, so choose the words for communicating very carefully. Along with the choice of words come the other factors in communication – the inflection in the voice, the physical stance and posture, and certainly the pace of the conversation. Do not be afraid of silence. Silence in a conversation can give clarity.

As an effective Transformational Leader be aware that there are important elements in every communication. Be active in listening. Be careful in your choice of words. Be present in the conversation – physically (look at the person), emotionally (focus on the intent of the conversation without emotional baggage), and mentally (give the other person your full attention without distraction).

Effective listening is a basic element effective leadership.

- Henry Ford

In reading a blog post by Jeffry Harlow in Unpacking Ideas, I was motivated by this comment, “In short, the heart of transformational leadership is that everyone involved in our organization has confidence that our leadership team believes in, clings to, and tenaciously implements our mission.”

We as leaders must be confident in the mission that God has called us to lead. Going from believing to knowing is a maturity in leadership that comes from clearly articulated goals to accomplish the mission. Trust comes from the authenticity manifests and creates trust within the team.

We strengthen relationships by building trust with those whom we lead through clarity of vision and authenticity of commitment.

Leadership skills you employ in this area are important to the transformation of staff or volunteers into workers, critics into advocates, and detractors into supporters.  Learn to define, recruit, delegate, support, nurture, and facilitate. The Transformational Leadership model enables leaders to get the right people, tell them what is needed, let people complete their tasks, and celebrate the results.  After all, professional leaders lead.  If we did everything, we would be called professional doers. Leaders lead. This means getting out of the way.

TIP: If you have lots of staff or volunteers, then learn to limit your time with those who are not as productive and give more to those who produce.  Here’s a chance to use the 80/20 rule.  Spend 80% of your volunteer support time with the 20% of the people who produce 80% of the results.  Gather the remaining 80% of the volunteers who produce 20% of the results into groups.  Support them as a group, not individually.  This will give you a major bounce on your results and free up enormous amounts of time.  (This is the “Pareto Principle” named after the nineteenth-century economist who developed the 80/20 rule for business.)

We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own.
 – Ben Sweetland

When a choral conductor spends months on rehearsing music with a choir, they don’t want to have a bad instrumental ensemble to accompany them. It is essential, therefore, to hire the best players possible.

It is the same when choosing team, board, or committee members. Choose the best people to work with here as well. Yes, I know that you don’t get to choose people for some of your committees, staff, or boards, but you can choose people for some occasions and especially for special project teams, etc. As you replace staff or team members in a rotation process, then you can develop a strategy for choosing the best.

Let’s create a typical scenario and see how it shapes up. Suppose for a minute that you want to plan a Christmas program for a non-profit organization. It will be the buzz of the community (yes, the whole community!) This example can be used for a non-profit organization, church, or corporate sponsor for a non-profit program. Choose 10 people to be on a project team to help you with the project. Choose people with competencies in the following areas:

• Networking
• Writing
• Financial
• Recruiting
• Scheduling
• Publicity
• Social arrangements
• Administrative

Choose the best people in each category and ask them to attend 10 meetings over a one-year period beginning in February and ending in January (begin the plan in February and evaluate the program in January and plan the next one). Give them a specific set of duties and plan each team meeting like a rehearsal: specific outcomes, healthy pace for the meeting, input from everyone, make sure everyone understands and knows their part. Allow each person to use the skill set requested and build relationships with the other team members as well as with you, the leader of the team. Building relationships is building community. The concept works well with volunteers and is especially helpful with paid staff. Motivation and encouragement stem from passion for the project and overall vision and not from a paycheck. Both volunteers and staff members respond first from a sense of obligation (to the organization or to a pay check). It’s the duty of the leader to inspire and motivate the passion within the participants.

I use this model for start-up companies, large corporations, corporate division offices, non-profit organizations, and, basically, in most situations where people come together making decisions.

The relationships are the starting point for the engagement, project, or team. Then the process takes the place of the relationship. This open and transparent process creates trust on a new level. The trust empowers a group relationship and builds a new sense of community. It’s the relationship with the team and the relationships within the team as well as the relationship from both of those perspectives with the leader that empower continual excellence of results.