Leadership Factory 10 – Relationships: Your Most Valuable Asset

Listen to this inspiring episode of Leadership Factory: Building Leaders with Purpose where you’ll discover how to grow your relationships with others:

I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. (John 13:15)

If you think you are leading, but no one is following, you’re only taking a walk.

4 Truths about Leadership and People
  1. People are a church’s most appreciable ASSET.
  2. A leader’s most important asset is PEOPLE SKILLS.
  3. A good leader can lead various groups because leadership 
is about PEOPLE.
  4. You can have people skills and not be a good LEADER, but 
you cannot be a good leader without people skills.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37)
The Way You See Yourself Is the Way You Serve People
  1. The Robbers
  • They used people
  • They manipulated others.
  • They saw the man as a VICTIM TO EXPLOIT
  1. The Priests
  • 
They were law keepers
  • 
They were “pure and holy”
  • They saw the man as a PROBLEM TO AVOID
  1. The Samaritan

  • He was despised
  • He knew how it felt to be ignored
  • He saw the man as a PERSON TO BE LOVED
Leadership Is Relationships

“love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind . . .” (a vertical relationship), and “to love your neighbor as yourself” (a horizontal relationship). Matthew 22:38–39

Think of the people in your life who are the hardest to love. Why are they difficult to love? How do you view them?

People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.

A Definition of a Spiritual Leader:

One who takes responsibility for the health and development of their relationships.

4 Relational Word Pictures
  1. The HOST
  2. The DOCTOR
  3. The COUNSELOR
  4. The TOUR GUIDE

Who do you have a great relationship with? How has that relationship benefited your life?

What Every Leader Should Know about People . . .
  1. People are insecure. Give them confidence.

Key Principle: Hurting people hurt people. Secure people offer security to people.

Let us encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25 NIV)

  1. People like to feel special. Honor them.

Key Principle: To deal with yourself, use your head. To deal with others, use your heart.

When You Affirm and Honor Someone with Your Words…

  1. Make them sincere.
  2. Make them specific.
  3. Make them public.
  4. Make them personal.

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. (Romans 12:10)

  1. People look for a better tomorrow. Give them hope.

Key Principle: The key to today is a belief in tomorrow.

Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The unfailing love of the Lord never ends!… Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. (Lamentations 3:21–23 NLT)

  1. People need to be understood. Listen to them.

Key Principle: To connect with others, understand the “keys” to their heart.

How to find the key to people’s hearts:

  • What do they talk about?
  • What do they cry about?
  • 
What do they dream about?
  • What do they laugh about?
  • What do they plan about?

Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. (Romans 12:15)

  1. People lack direction. Show them the way to go.

Key Principle: Most people can steer the ship; a leader helps chart the course.

Leaders know the way, go the way, and show the way.

And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world. As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. (1 Peter 5:1–2)

  1. People are needy. Speak to their needs.

Key Principle: People must be ministered to before they can minister.

Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. (Philippians 2:4)

  1. People get emotionally low. Encourage them.

Key Principle: What gets rewarded, gets repeated.

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.

Clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, (Colossians 3:12b–13a)

  1. People want to succeed. Help them win.

Key Principle: Reach out and help others achieve their goals.

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10a)

  1. People desire relationships. Provide community.

Key Principle: Practice the 101% Principle – Find the 1% you have in common with someone, and give it 100% of your attention.

If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. (1 Corinthians 12:26)

  1. People want models to follow. Be an example.

Key Principle: People do what people see.

“Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.” St. Francis of Assisi

And you should follow my example, just as I follow the example of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1 NLT)

What do you struggle with most in relationships? Who is God challenging you to host and lead more effectively?
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