Are You an Empowering Leader?
Another great worship service at the church I attend!
It touched my heart to see so many young musicians and singers on the platform praising God and leading the congregation in worship!
And behind it all…well, literally behind me… at the back of the sanctuary was Kathleen, the worship leader.
An amazing worship leader… in the back… and not on stage.
It is a modest size church, with probably 300 or so in the sanctuary on any given Sunday. Yet there must be 15 to 20 talented musicians, singers, and most apparently, worshippers of God rotating through the praise team.
I have a front-row seat to watch many of them develop, not just in playing and singing, but in their ability to lead the congregation into adoration and praise for our Heavenly Father.
Over the years, I have observed worship leaders developing other talented people for their teams. However, those worship leaders continued to lead from the platform in practically every service.
This strikes me as different, extraordinary, and empowering!
The word empower literally means to ‘share power’. Kathleen shares her power, and her position as worship leader with other leaders. She allows them to excel and shine, not just in her presence but also in her absence.
Empowering leadership simply means a style of leadership that encourages followers, team-members, or employees to develop autonomy and act on their own. It stimulates their motivation to learn new things, develop new skills, and fully express their gifts.
Beyond that, empowering leadership produces greater involvement and initiative.
Here are a few specific leadership behaviors that demonstrate empowering leadership.
Pointing out areas of excellence and gifting
Giving constructive feedback – ways for improvement
Creating opportunities for practice and development
Allowing others to do things differently than you would
Providing information needed for decision making
Removing bureaucratic hassles
Encouraging teams to set their own goals
And there are a couple of don’ts:
Don’t micromanage
Don’t demand perfection
Jesus empowered 12 disciples to take his place and do even greater works than He did. (Actually, everyone he ministered to was empowered in some way: to receive salvation, tell others and evangelize, heal and encourage others, to develop their gifts.)
Remember! Some of the people with whom Jesus shared opportunity or power were not exactly polished. But he saw their heart. In fact, he saw your heart and mine, too.
My challenge:
Who can you empower this coming week? Who could you encourage? Whose gifting can you point out and strengthen?
Or maybe you could go for the domino effect and encourage a leader under you to develop someone under their leadership.
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