The Skills of Effective Ministry Leaders
Daniel 1:17 As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.”
II. Key Skill: Communication
Is there one silver-bullet leadership skill that will make for a great leader? Probably not.
However, if there was one area that every leader would do well to develop to the best of their ability, it’s communication.
Dr. R. Albert Mohler argues that the ability to communicate is the most essential leadership skill.
He perceptively writes, “Leadership doesn’t happen until communication happens.” He continues, “The leader may have the most brilliant strategy in his mind, the most breathtaking vision in his sights, and an irrepressible passion in his heart, but if these are not communicated to others, real leadership just doesn’t occur.”40
Communication Advice for Ministry Leaders: Use the Right Method for the Message
What kinds of messages do ministry leaders need to communicate?
What are the methods by which we communicate?
What are the advantages of each of these methods?
What are the limitations of each of these methods?
Principle: Choose the best method for the message.
For example: What method of communication would be best for each of the following?
• Communicating a new sign-in policy to Sunday School teachers
• Communicating strategies for how to deal with a small group member who dominates the conversation
• Correcting a team member who is chronically late
• Other (participant suggestion) …
• Other (participant suggestion) …
• Other (participant suggestion) …
Question: What are some practical ways we can go about growing as
communicators? What have you done or seen done that could be helpful for the group?
40 R. Albert Mohler, The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2012), 91.
Remember: Communication Includes Listening!
Proverbs 15:22 “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”
Proverbs 18:13 “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.”
James 1:19 “…let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak …”
A Cautionary Tale: When Senior Managers WON’T Listen –
Researchers Dennis Tourish and Paul Robson conducted a review of the communication practices in a large healthcare corporation. Of particular interest was the functionality of communication between senior managers and their general managers and other staff. The results were alarming – not only was communication poor, but senior management was oblivious to the problem and even defiant in the face of critical evidence!
• From the top down there is a lack of clarity and adequate mechanisms for disseminating information. Comments from staff included, “We hear things through the grapevine rather than from supervisory staff,” “Communication is haphazard,” “There is no formal strategy for communication,” “I don’t see senior managers; they never come near you.”41
• Communication from the bottom up was equally frustrating: “I sent about X letters last year to senior managers and did not get a reply to any one of them,”
“Upward feedback is ad hoc,” “The CEO has a vision, but he thinks that only he
41 Dennis Tourish and Paul Robson, “Critical Upward Feedback in Organizations: Process, Problems and Implications for Communication Management,” Journal of Communication Management 8, no. 2 (2003): 158.
Illustration: “When Teams Work Best” – Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson conducted extensive research on teams in organizations. They identify 6 competencies that they discovered the best team leaders possess and practice. Effective team leaders:
1. Focus on the Goal – articulating clearly defined purpose for the team, 2. Ensure a collaborative climate – fostering open, candid discussion,
3. Build confidence – making sure important issues are understood and that issues being dealt with are clear; trusting team members with sufficient autonomy, 4. Demonstrate sufficient technical know-how – they don’t have to be the expert,
but the team leader needs to know enough about what the team is doing in order to be a genuine support,
5. Set priorities – in the face of competing demands, knowing what needs to happen next and directing the team accordingly,
6. Manage performance – clear expectations, providing helpful and honest feedback, resolving performance issues, rewarding success.1
What do you notice about this list? All (except perhaps #4) depend on the ability to communicate!
has a vision. His vision is not widely understood. He is so verbose. I don’t understand him.”42
• What is perhaps most striking was the attitude of the senior management team when the researchers shared with them the criticisms they had unearthed.
o There was a “universal refusal to accept that the data in any way
represented the actual mood of the people” in the organization (they were so certain that the researcher’s data was in error that they had called in a statistician to verify their findings – which he did – and the senior management teams rejected the statistician’s analysis too!)43 o Negative feedback was met with far greater scrutiny than positive
feedback
o The research team noted a “tendency to reinterpret negative feedback as positive.” For example, when they were told that some employees view them as “control freaks,” the response was, “I see that as a compliment.
All it means is that we have high performance standards, and that is being recognized.”44
• The reluctance among senior leaders to relinquish power and create an environment where constructive criticism is welcome and valued were
undermining the organization in far greater ways than the senior leadership team was willing to acknowledge. Employees lived
in fear of harsh reprisals for speaking up, and while the leaders of the organization spoke about being open there was a gap between what they said and what they did.45
• Even those within the senior leadership group were not willing to speak truth to each other:
“A new member of the (senior management team) who had earlier indicated that she viewed her new colleagues as ‘a bunch of control freaks’ approached the research team
to say she had disagreed with the tone and approach of these colleagues in the face of the report. During the meeting in which they were present, however, she was unwilling to do (anything) other than echo the dominant view being
expressed – sometimes as stridently as her colleagues…Thus, the (senior
42 Tourish and Robson, “Critical Upward Feedback in Organizations,” 158-59.
43 Tourish and Robson, “Critical Upward Feedback in Organizations,” 160.
44 Tourish and Robson, “Critical Upward Feedback in Organizations,” 161.
management team’s) flawed approach presented them with a misplaced collective view of a perfectly functioning communication system…The group’s eventual decision was to suppress the report and take no further action on its contents.”46