I am my own kind of leader.
Leadership doesn’t look the same for everyone. I’ve learned that I lead in a way that is unique to me, and only I can do it. I can take bits and pieces from other leaders and incorporate them, but where I bring my team and how we get there won’t look identical to anyone else’s strategy.
I’ve learned that there’s no secret recipe to being a perfect leader, just as there’s no handbook on parenting or guide to navigating the awkward teenage years. No, in fact that’s the key- there’s no one right way to do it because God has uniquely created each of his children to experience different situations and chase after different goals. In the end, he’s got something fantastic waiting at the end, but your journey will never look the same as your neighbor’s.
I’ve also learned that even if there was a foolproof method to becoming the perfect leader, it would never actually work. You see, we will never be perfect. We can accomplish incredible things and lead others into greatness, but there will always come a time when we fail. In fact, as humans, we are guaranteed to mess up time and time again. It’s in our nature. If we were perfect, we wouldn’t need Jesus.
I’ve learned that it’s ok to mess up, that mistakes are what refine you as a leader and a person, and that you are bound to make them. But that’s the way we learn, and one way that Jesus chooses to slowly and carefully mold us to look more like him.
Admitting you make mistakes isn’t normal for us. We’re used to saving face where we can and trying really hard to do everything just right. And if we do slip up, we do the best to cover it up and make sure no one sees. We somehow think that allowing others to see that we were wrong makes us weak.
However I will tell you I’ve seen just the opposite. In the moments where I know I’ve made a poor decision or didn’t handle a situation in the best way, I’ve wanted to just keep it to myself- to not admit that I made a mistake, and that I’m obviously not perfect. My instinct is not to bring it up, apologize or ask for help, but instead to scold myself and vow that I will do better next time.
But around here we talk a lot about vulnerability and if I believe my team is a safe place why not trust them with my faults as a leader, just like any other problem I need help with? And in the moments where I ask the Lord for strength and entrust my team with my struggles as a leader, it’s incredible. In these moments, I don’t find judgment or condemnation. Nor do feel any less of a leader, or feel like they see me as weak and incapable- all of which are lies the enemy tries to tell me.
Instead I find encouragement. I find a group of people who love me and will fight for me in the midst of my struggles. I find people who want to use there own gifts and energies to see me succeed as their leader. I find people who want to come alongside me to continue to build this great thing the Lord has already begun in us all. In this, I find strength as a leader.
The Lord calls us to rise up as leaders in different times of our lives. He calls us to catch a vision and invite a team along into a place greatness and deeper connection with Him. However it’s not always certain that where we’re going is going to work out; there will probably be kinks along the way. As a leader we are called to be courageous and lead them anyway. We’re called to be brave and lead in a way that reveals our trust in Him is borderless.
However were also called to be part of that team. Jesus didn’t send out the disciples alone, and so it is the same with us. He gives us a team and expects us to take advantage of that. He wants to use each of their strengths to glorify Himself, but he also wants us as leaders to rely on our team. He calls us to carry one another’s burdens, but nowhere in the Bible does it say “…except leaders, who should shoulder their own struggles alone.”
This year I have the privilege of sharing my life with an exceptional group of Jesus-loving individuals. I’ve learned I can either choose to share most of my life, and leave out the boring leader stuff that the enemy tells me they don’t want to hear or won’t understand, or will make me look scattered and incapable… Or I can trust that taking the risk of appearing inferior or weak will actually turn out ok. That these people will actually love me MORE and trust me MORE and see me as MORE able to lead them on this journey. That speaking out the things the enemy has tricked me into believing are better left unsaid is actually incredibly beneficial not only for me, but for my team too.
It doesn’t seem normal, admitting weakness, I know. But for some reason it works. I can’t quite explain it except to say that Jesus desires us to be there for one another, and never called anyone to live this life alone. He also says that the last shall become first, and I think there’s something to that. When you realize yourself that you’re not perfect, and show that to others, He honors you. People begin to follow you because they see that you understand that in your weakness, it has to be the Father who makes you succeed.
I’m so thankful God showed me this because I’m not sure how the last two and half months would have been without the love and support of my team. I’ve learned that just because I’m given a title and a few more tasks to do than the rest, I can’t do it alone. Along with Jesus, I need my team. And they have blessed me so much more than I could have imagined, and probably more than they will ever know.
Love you, Team Teleo!
