GETTING HELP AND ENCOURGEMENT AS A LEADER

Author: Edward Maggard

June 14th, 2021

There was a time in my career when I thought the best leaders were loners. I tended to think that these amazing, larger-than-life leaders had it all and didn’t need anyone else. As I grew in my understanding of leadership and got to know some amazing leaders personally, the truth is Leaders get help where they need it.

In an age of rampant social media connection and instant communication, we all hear about everyone else’s wonderful life and really don’t see their struggles. This contributes to the leaders are loners mentality. The problem is, this is false and harmful. Leaders are real people and have strengths and weaknesses. In my previous blog, I talked about knowing your strengths and weaknesses and knowing which ones you want to grow in. So, how do you get the help you want?

Let’s break this down into the three categories we talk about a lot: Personal, Professional and Spiritual. In the personal area, if we want to grow in say, our marriage, there are several ways to tackle that. One is, talk to those whose marriage you admire. Ask them how they stay connected and work through issues. Another idea is to attend a marriage conference. LeaderImpact has a strong relationship with FamilyLife, a global family ministry and they have lots of helpful tools and conferences to help in this area. And of course, read books. Leaders tend to be readers, a good book on relationships or personal growth will have a positive impact on your whole life.

The second category in which we may need help is professional. The leader who is always challenging herself to grow more and stretch herself professionally is simply going to have greater impact. From seminars to books to finding professional mentors in an areas of needed growth, they key here is to be intentional. The world is simply changing too fast for us to rest in our current knowledge.

The third category is, of course, spiritual. Spiritual means many things to many people, but in LeaderImpact we talk about a personal relationship with God. Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, we believe you can know God in a personal way. Again, talk to others. LeaderImpact has some excellent small group material called Faith Accelerators that are geared to help leaders grow in this area.

We all need mentors in our lives. And we need them in the personal, professional and spiritual areas. Having the courage to ask for help is not a show of weakness. It actually shows self-awareness and humility and these are definite characteristics of a Leader of Impact.