This course has been a very formative experience for me, it was challenging to balance everything I had going on in my personal life and ministry, as there were some unexpected things that came up. I am thankful for how my participation in this course, while leading out in a ministry, forced me prioritize my time and helped sharpen me. I have noticed that I lead better when I have enough time to think strategically about the ministry; this course gave me space, opportunity and time to think and analyze. My “Thought” score on my Birkman is very high and I can see how I am more effective, when I carve out space in my schedule to process, strategize and plan. Two course learnings that impacted my practice were: “Unit 4” and “Unit 7”, which I will discuss below.
Unit 4-Transformative and Servant Leadership
In having to synthesize transformational and servant leadership, I have been deeply impacted in my practice of leadership in the context of Christian ministry (Northouse, 2018, pp. 163-164; 227-228). I realized how drawn I am to transformational leadership, as this leadership model is more my natural style. However, it is a bit different from the style of leadership I observe in my context. In the past, my organization has had more “authoritarian” and/or “hierarchical” in its style of leadership, and some of that is style is still present today–this may be due to some cultural reasons, but also just organizational culture. However, the leadership in my organization has been making changes away from these styles, which I think is positive. I recognized some of my coworkers have been used to a more “authoritarian” and/or “hierarchical” style of leadership, where the leader tells them what to do, rather than invites them to participate and/or empowers them. I tend to lead in an empowering way, that is inspirational, influential, supportive, but towards a shared vision and personal potential (Smith, Montagno, Kuzmenko, 2004, p. 80 & Northouse, 2018, pp.169-172) Learning this leadership model was very freeing for me, because at times I would question my leadership style and wonder if I was doing something wrong. However, I have been encouraged that this is how God made me and this is a legitimate way of leading. Additionally, I have learned that I need to be comfortable in my own skin, but also help others see the purpose behind why I am leading in certain ways. I recognize and now understand why some of my staff have had minor frustrations and/or misunderstandings with my leadership style at times.
In regards to servant leadership this style of leadership has challenged me to realize two things: 1) I still carry hurt from some past working relationships, so I struggle to serve others in this way 2) that this leadership style only works if there is “follower receptivity” (Northouse, 2018 p. 234). I personally struggle with the extent of this leadership model in regards to how far it goes to serve the needs of followers. In the past this has been my bent in leadership, but unfortunately I felt like some followers took advantage of that and as a result I have felt “walked over” and even burnt out at times. Reading through the leadership theory description it was really helpful to see that this theory only works when there is “follower receptivity”, which in looking back on the situations I realized it was not the case (Northouse, 2018 p. 234). Another thought I have had when studying this leadership model is wondering if it only works on “healthy people?” When I say “healthy”, I mean people who are in a relatively healthy place emotionally, relationally, spiritually and physically.
In the end, I think it is imperative for servant leadership to be combined with transformational leadership, being a “Transformational Servant Leader” (TSL). This leadership model combination has the empowerment, vision and big goals and the healing and individual care needed (Northouse, 2018, pp. 192; 235-236). In certain situations or contexts I think servant leadership alone, could lead to organizations being “stuck” and meeting the needs of their employees, but their influence in society being hindered. Also transformational leadership alone could lead to an “elitist” form of leadership, that does not accept or develop people who are perhaps “less charismatic”, but still are gifted and/or could grow as leaders (Northouse, 2018, pp. 181-182).
Unit 7-Leadership Ethics
Unit 7 really impacted me to think through my character and motivations behind my actions and decisions as a leader. In doing the readings for this unit, there were two current situations, where I was analyzing what the “right” thing to do was. Through going through this unit and praying, God made it clear to me the way forward. This unit really pushed me to consider doing the right thing, even though it was not the easy way and required a lot of extra work. Additionally, I was challenged to realize the responsibility of ethical leadership through an analogy of “ripple effects”; in how a leader’s character through thoughts and actions will influence others, sometimes more than they realize. It was sobering, but necessary to think through the responsibility leaders carry to lead by example and “set the tone” of the organization (Van Buren, 2013).
“Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bear bad fruit…and man is his own gardener”
-James Lane Allen (Watson, 1951, pp. 170-172)
References
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Smith, B.N., Montagno, R.V. and Kuzmenko, T.N. (2004). Transformational and servant leadership: Content and contextual comparisons. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies 10(4), 80-92.
Van Buren, J. A. [Building Capacity]. (2013, March 29). What is Ethical Leadership? [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks2QGoIq5nA
Watson, L.E. (1951). Light from Many Lamps. New York: Simon and Schuster.
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