Servant Leadership: Leading Leaders
Any organization that wants to retain the best of tomorrow’s leaders must establish (or access) an effective team leadership development program. “If you meet the leader’s circle of individual needs, which include personal growth, he or she will have much more to give to the task and to the team.”1. Leading leaders involves maintaining productive relationships with everyone in the organization. “Positive relationships breed trust, and trust in a leader is vital to ensuring desired action from followers.” Paul gives Timothy insight into how to deal with each type of leader: male, female, young, old, experienced, and inexperienced. Paul’s instructions for dealing with experienced leaders were very explicit: “Don’t rebuke the elder, but treat him like a father.” (1 Timothy 5:1). Timothy was not to rebuke an elder in public, but he was to plead with him in private. Leaders must be very tactful in their dealings with other leaders. The African proverb ‘Don’t teach an old gorilla the ways of the forest’ is actually saying that leaders should not take the know-it-all position. Especially when it comes to someone who may be more capable of instructing you. However, there are times when new bouncers are required – this is where succession planning and recruiting play a strategic role in leadership development.
Succession planning helps ensure stability in staff tenure. It is any effort designed to continue the effective performance of an organization by making provisions for the development, replacement, and application of key people over time. “Succession planning occurs when an organization tailors specific procedures to ensure the identification, development, and long-term retention of talented people.” The most important element of a successful succession planning program is a concentrated effort on the part of top management. First, the involvement and support of top management must be very evident. Your personal involvement should motivate the participants and ensure that other members of the leadership team dedicate time and effort to the succession planning program. “Be careful of yourself and of the doctrine; persists in them; for by doing this, you will save yourself and those who hear you.” (1 Timothy 4:16). Only God saves, but Paul reminds leaders that Christians can be God’s instruments in bringing about the salvation of others.
Second, leaders must not allow succession planning to happen on its own. It should be focused on the leadership development of people with verified advancement potential. “Do not suddenly lay hands on anyone…” (1 Timothy 5:22a). Paul is referring to the ordination of an elder, which should not take place until the candidate has had time to prove himself. Paul continues “…neither be a partaker of other men’s sins: keep yourself pure.” (1 Timothy 5:22b). Here he urges Timothy not to ordain an unworthy person and to keep himself pure by refusing to ordain an unworthy person. From an organizational context, recognizing key people is more than just identifying leadership positions. It involves all those who make a definite and necessary contribution to the organization.
Identifying those who make definitive contributions to the organization is the beginning of a good talent retention program. If an organization intends to maintain leadership continuity, it must first retain the most talented people. “…some will apostatize from the faith, listening to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons…” (1 Timothy 4:1). Paul is warning that there will be heretical teachers who will mislead a large crowd of people. There will be a departure from faith. A departure suggests that you not only have a point you are moving away from, but also a point you have come from. Before you can leave, you must first have arrived. Paul is stating that people have come to accept Christ as their savior and, either through seductive spirits or false doctrines, have been led astray. When people stray from the faith, who is responsible for it? What makes people turn away from organizational values? I would suggest a lack of effective leadership communication!
Retaining talented leadership is about communicating with people, not strategies. The main reason to focus on people and not strategies is that people provide feedback. People can communicate what works and what doesn’t. “How well leaders connect with the people in their organizations has huge consequences for the contributions these people make and the likelihood that they choose to stay with the organization.” Leadership communication requires “nurturing and maintaining a work environment in which communication flows freely and quickly in all directions.”4.
1 John Adair, How to Grow Leaders, (London: Kogan Page, Limited, 2005), 75.
2 Jeswald Salacuse, Leading Leaders: How to Manage Smart, Talented, Rich, and Powerful People, (Saranac Lake: AMACOM, 2005), 13.
3 William J. Rothwell, Effective Succession Planning: Ensuring Leadership Continuity and Developing Talent from Within. 3rd Edition, (New York: AMACOM Books, 2005), 10.
4 Robert Mai, Leader as Communicator: Strategies and Tactics for Building Loyalty, Focusing Effort, and Sparking Creativity, (Saranac Lake: AMACOM. 2003), 1-3.
