3 Tasks of a Leader

Certain people are recognized as leaders. The contexts could range from the church to the military to education to health services. But the principles of leadership don’t really change.

Some people learn leadership in school or in some sort of continuing education program. Other people learn leadership in the tranches, doing the hard work, and discovering what is successful. Some people are just naturally good leaders.

My context has primarily been in the context of being the pastor of a church and being a chaplain in the military. While I wouldn’t consider myself an expert in leadership and will not likely be writing a book on it anytime soon, I have learned a few things.

Here are the three tasks that I see as essential to being an effective leader.

Cast a Vision

A leader can be defined as someone who takes a group of people in a certain direction. But that direction has to have a specific destination, otherwise you are just going for a walk.

There has been a lot written on vision statements and mission statements. Some organizations have both and some have one but their vision is actually a mission or vice versa. It really doesn’t matter.

What matters is that the leader sees a destination that will benefit the organization. But it can’t end there. Too often leaders get frustrated because they can see the goal clearly but their people cannot. What is needed is vision casting.

The leader needs to paint a picture of why the organization should try to achieve a specific goal. It cannot be just out of loyalty or devotion to the leader. They need to buy into the vision and recognize that this is something that can benefit the organization.

Work Together Toward the Vision

One of the dangers for some leaders is that they have multiple gifts and are willing to work hard. That does not sound like a danger. But it actually is.

Too often, a leader has sold the organization on the vision but then goes on to try and accomplish it by themselves. This is not just about the grunt work either.

The organization is one spot and the vision tells them where they want to go. But how they get there is the key. Our vision might be to double our weekly attendance in a year, but how is that going to happen?

The leader needs to work with the people as to how to accomplish the vision. The leader does not have to come up with the strategy all by themselves. People in different roles will have different perspectives and together they can understand the big picture. There will always be people who know something that the leader does not.

The leader and the people need to figure out the strategy together and to determine what each part of the organization will do to accomplish the desired goal. When the organization has ownership of the strategy, it increases motivation.

Personal Commitment to the Vision

It is always possible for a leader to come up with a vision and expect the organization to do everything to get there. The leader might get all the glory but the people will do all the work.

As already mentioned, the answer is NOT for the leader to do all the work. But it is important for the people to see that the leader has a level of commitment in what they are working toward.

It maybe that the leader is truly committed but their efforts are all behind the scenes. That does happen. In those cases, the leader must be intentional in showing outwardly that they are just as invested in moving the organization in the right direction.

Of course there are all sorts of other things that leaders should be doing. But these three things are essential to effective leadership. Skipping one of these principles will likely lead to a major stumble for both leader and organization.