Everyone needs a coach!
Mentoring and coaching are two different avenues to the same end: growth and personal development. Both types of relationships are needed so we can fully develop. Often we look for mentors, people who have been where we want to be and we learn how to get there from them. We also need coaches in our life to help us get where we want to be.
Coaches are not necessarily experts in the realm that we are seeking to grow.
Tiger Woods is arguable the best golfer of all time. And he usually has had a coach.
Tiger turned pro on August 29, 1996 with the statement: "Hello World!" In the first sixteen months of his professional career, Tiger played 28 tournaments. He had 14 Top 10 finishes and six wins. The average PGA tour player doesn't win that many tournaments in his career.
David and Saul
There are many things about King David that that earned him the description: "a man after God's own heart." Remaining submissive to Saul is one of those things.
1. David was a better leader than Saul. 1 Samuel 18:7 says that the people were celebrating that David was a better leader than Saul. David had tremendous character to remain submissive to a leader who didn't have the same leadership capacity that David himself had. A reminder to all those in second-chair (or third, fourth or fifth-chair leaders) is that your leadership capacity isn't a reason to stop submitting to your leader.
2. God had removed his anointing from Saul. We read that God told Samuel that he had rejected Saul as king in 1 Samuel 16:1. Samuel went to anoint the next king. The fact that God had rejected Saul as king did not remove Saul from the position of king. It can be tempting to look at our leader and conclude that God has rejected him as leader. We can start questioning his leadership capacity and decision making ability. The fact is, God may have rejected the leader, but it is not our responsibility to replace the leader. That is still in God's hands. A friend of mine recently used a line that is appropriate: "The interaction between God and man is often mishandled."
3. Samuel had anointed David as the next king. 1 Samuel 16:13 records the time that Samuel anointed David to be king. This happened before David even entered Saul's service. One of the hardest places for an individual to be, especially when they realize they are the next leader, is the position of follower. David entered Saul's service knowing that God had rejected Saul as king and knowing that he was going to be the next king!
David was such a man of integrity. For David to remain submissive to a rejected king and to remain submissive to a king who was trying to kill him required that he was submitted to The King of kings.
Misdiagnosed
When I go to my doctor because I'm not feeling good he goes through a process to diagnose what it really wrong with me. He starts asking some basis questions that narrow the options of my illness. "Where does it hurt?" "My elbow." He has now narrowed down the potential diagnosis... I clearly don't have a broken ankle.
When dealing with situations in our organization, we need to start by asking the right questions. Asking the wrong question won't get you the right answer. In fact, asking the right question won't usually get us the right answer! Asking the right questions will get us to the right answer!
Triple-Threat Leadership : Book Review
I just finished a real quick read, Alan Danielson's ebook, "Triple-Threat Leadership" It truly is a one sitting read.
Alan takes the three critical skills needed in leaders and talks about how each leader has a predisposed leadership style based on the way they are wired. In a refreshing change from the 'play to your strengths, don't worry about your weaknesses' teaching that is common these days, Alan addresses the fact that leaders must have at least moderate competence in these three leadership skills to be a great leader.
The three realms he addresses are: Vision, Relationships and Strategy. While it is close to impossible to to have equal strength in all three areas, ignoring one or two of the realms to simply play to your strength is not going to cut it in today's leadership intensive culture. Alan calls challenges the reader to find the "appropriate imbalance" in these three skill sets. Leaders need to avoid neglecting their weak areas, but at the same time avoid overcompensating and spending too much time developing their weak areas.
This read is beneficial for every leader to read, I also believe that this would be a great tool for teams to digest and discuss. There will be a common language that can be used, and getting feedback from others on the team will help with each leader's self-awareness of their own strengths.
All in all, this is a great reminder that every leader has natural strengths and inherent weaknesses. When it comes to these three skill sets, we can play to our strengths, but to be a great leader we must spend some time developing our weaknesses.
Integrity
I came across the following in a periodical:
Most people make integrity synonymous with honesty, but integrity has a finer point. The root word for integrity is "integer," which implies singleness, unity, something not divided, consistency, and by extension, reliability and trustworthiness - in everything.
A person of integrity is an honest person. He does not lie, steal, cheat, or take unfair advantage of others. The true follower of Christ has little problem with these major issues. Even the best of us, however, are sometimes careless about our integrity in little things. It is important that we maintain our integrity at every level. It is the "little foxes that spoil the vines" (Song of Solomon 2:15).
The person of integrity presents the same face every time and in every situation. In contrast, a hypocrite presents a different face to different people. Even a little two-facedness violates scriptural principles and undermines our integrity. Those who observe this behavior lost the ability to trust our "face."
It would seem that consistency is as much a part of integrity as honesty is. Without honesty, integrity is impossible. Without consistency though, we can fool ourselves into thinking we are people of integrity because we are 'telling the truth' even when we tell the truth from different perspectives.
The person of integrity speaks the same message regardless of who they are speaking to.
What I'm Thinking...
- RT @bubbawatson You ever go to the driving range & think you will never play good golf again?? #golfishard / No. "Will I ever?" Yes. 1 day ago
- Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. http://t.co/c2d84vbS 4 days ago
- Put up or shut up. "What good is it... if u say u have faith but don't show it by ur actions?" http://t.co/Bvqv1qos 5 days ago
- Because 135+ baptisms in 4 services wasn't enough, @PastorRobFM throws in a wedding ceremony in the services! #obeyingGod 1 week ago
- "For some, change is life. For some, change is death. For all, change is difficult. And for all, change is mandatory." @lensweet 1 week ago
- More updates...
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