Assignment Sample On Life Of Leader Analysis

Question:- Explain conclusions on the relationship between priorities and balance in the life of a leader. Also conduct a SWOT analysis as a leader in this aspect of your life?

Answer:- 

Part 1: Priorities and Balance of Leadership and Calling

Relationship between priorities and balance in the life of a leader

The key to a healthy work and a balanced life begins by having a clear conception on the priorities. These priorities can be arranges in a hierarchical structure where the list is topped by God and followed by the elements of Self, Family, Work, Church and lastly everything else (Aitken 1968).

Being a Christian, there is no doubt regarding the fact that God obviously has to come first. God is the ultimate priority and till the time He is first, everything else on this universe will feel like out of kilter. As a true leader unless the kingdom of God is sought, none of the material things will get attached to a human being. Reading the Bible is the first thing that must be done so that a divine perspective can be arranged in things. Praying to Jesus should be an ordinary course (Cocksworth 2014).

It may sound surprising but after God, the priority comes on own self. This has nothing to do with being ego-centric. This is necessary because unless one looks after own self and takes care of own requirements, s/he shall not be capable of managing other affairs and hence taking care of others shall be beyond question. One needs to attend to own self so that other can be lead and guided properly towards achieving the goals (Grieb 2005). Thus, nutritional food and good health is necessary else there will be no one who will prefer being around their leaders if they are unhealthy.

The third priority is the family. It has been said that if the family life is not balanced, the human nature goes down. Hence, prioritizing the family is essential. Taking care of the family needs, the children, the household chores, dinner time etc are very essential for the all round development of an individual. Thus, it s necessary that family should get priority above work because of the family is neglected, the work is sure to be neglected. On the other hand, since a happy family makes a man happy, hence, the work performance and finally the leadership qualities will be displayed in a better way (Cocksworth 2014).

The fourth priority should be given to the work. Generally, where individuals go wrong is that they give preference to work rather than concentrating on the other factors. But seldom do they understand that if the other factors suffer, the work will also suffer. On the other hand, if the other factors are kept balanced, the work will definitely prosper (Jinadu 1998).

Fifth priority is taken by the Church. Activities like Sunday teaching to adults, serving like a deacon etc can prove very helpful in self perseveration (Jinadu 1998). Thus, the leadership quality shall also rise if the Church is served for specified hours every week.

Lastly, everything else shall come. The truth is that post these five things; hardly will an individual or a leader get time for anything else. The above mentioned things are capable of making a life in a pretty simple way. One needs to do the things that he supposed to do and leave the rest on God. God takes care of all (Grieb 2005).

My spiritual calling

It is believed after a lot of self introspection that I have the qualities of being a leader in my family. Being a leader does not mean that I have to be harsh on my family members and make them follow my orders. Rather scriptures say that a true family leader should command his children so that grow up to become disciplined individuals. Spiritual wisdom and understanding about Him should be taught to the family members (MacIariello 2003). Scriptures also state that regarding leadership and spirituality, one should remain focused towards establishing a testimony in Jacob and pass on the previous teachings to teachings to the future generations.

Christian theology on Leadership

God has called upon each and every Christian with a unique talent to serve the kingdom which ultimately belongs to Him (Woolfe 2002). The appointment of these leaders is also made by God so that the skills can be utilized by organizing the ministry opportunities and creating job descriptions to which a spiritual connection can be established by a gifted believer of all qualities. The Body of Christ is invited by the leader so that he can participate in the Great Commission and work according to the path shown by Jesus. A true leader will be able to equip the saints and will enable them so that their ministry can be fulfilled.

PART 2: SWOT ANALYSIS

The spiritual aspect of leadership is considered in this part. In order to understand what the spirituality in leadership, it is important to understand the terms spirit and leaders. The spirit is defined as the deeper sense and significance about a particular subject. The leader is defined as the one who paves the path in advance and allow others to follow in the course of action (Nullens and Barentsen 2014). The spiritual leadership is an important aspect of my life. It is the application of spiritual values and principle in life. Here I am going to make a SWOT analysis depicting the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the spiritual aspects of the leadership.

Strengths

Spiritual Wisdom- The spiritual aspect of the leaders includes the spiritual wisdom which is one of the major strengths of the spiritual leadership. The spiritual wisdom helps me to awaken the hearts of the people around me. This kind of leaders plays an important role in establishing a relationship between the human beings and God. The characteristic will help to render spiritual values and teachings to the people who have disbelief towards the spirituality of life (Bird, Ji and Boyatt 2004).

Self-Assessment- The self-assessment is an important aspect of the spiritual leadership which helps me to evaluate and gauge the spiritual practices in leadership.

Moral Development and ethics- One of the key characteristics of the spiritual leaders is the development of moral and ethics. The spiritual leaders instill spiritual aptitude and beliefs in the minds of the followers so that they are able to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. The concept of moral and ethics is the strength of the spiritual leaders.

The spirituality in leaders develops a spirit of humility. Humility and spiritual leadership are interconnected. Thus, the spiritual leaders give more importance to others than him. Humility enables the leaders to serve others without any personal benefit (Langer 2004).

Weaknesses

The spiritual leaders can form the path for the followers with the spiritual beliefs and attitudes but do not have the power to direct people. Thus, the spiritual leaders do not have the power to influence the bad behavior and attitudes of the people and direct them to the right path.

Some of the spiritual leaders possess traditional leadership style. This traditional view can be regarded as a weakness of the leaders who have limited knowledge about the mainstream spiritual aspects of leadership.

One of the major weaknesses is that some of the spiritual leaders do not function according to the biblical leadership principles. In this respect the spiritual leaders generally use traditional practices and use scriptures to support the spiritual notions.

Opportunities

The spiritual leaders have the opportunity to change the culture of the leadership. The church is equipped with Gospel which is the strongest organization that enables transformation within the individuals and the world.

The spiritual leaders have the opportunities to change the abusive cultural practices that are aimed at the women, children and vulnerable people of the society. The spirituality in leadership enables to call for equality when the women, children and other weaker sections of the society are ill treated.

The spirituality in the leaders is vested with the opportunity to heal the world from adversities and to maintain quality within the society (Johnson 2007).

The spiritual leaders are humble and so they accept and entertain criticisms. The acceptance of criticisms enhances the qualities of the leaders which mean that the spiritual leaders have ample opportunities for personal development and improvement regarding spiritual values and beliefs (Okundaye, Smith and Lawrence-Webb 2001).

Threats

The spiritual leaders gradually become greedy and build domain for themselves overlooking the benefits of the others. Thus, the spiritual leaders lose respect and faith of the followers.

The old and the new testament stated that the revolutionary changes in the society are the intentions of the God. The spirituality in the leaders help to raise revolutionary behavior which when is applied with a destructive motive can harm the life of the people. Thus revolutionary behavior paves the path for rebellion which can be destructive.

An extremist spiritual leader can be threat to the society. Extremism is defined as the extreme doctrines and practices of an individual in the context of spirituality which can give rise to several religious and spiritual atrocities within the world (Hugo 2010).

Part 3: Leadership Plan

Future Leadership

In the upcoming calendar year, I will try to remain more focused towards my goals and will try to inculcate more good in me by going though the scriptures and understanding the essence of the Bible. Certain disciplines shall be inculcated in my life in the next year and I will try to grow more mature in Christ (Praag 2004). Six steps shall be taken in this direction.

Firstly, I will try to become more motivated towards better attaining the goals and will also try to motivate my team members towards trying to attain greater heights. Jacob states that motivation is the key to success from a thrived failure (Woolfe 2002).

Encouragement shall be the second step. Even God’s word came out of encouragement and there will be no looking back in leadership if proper encouragement is extended (Woolfe 2002).

The disciplines of the Church should never be forsaken. Faith comes with the Hearing of God and that is the ultimate goal of spiritual Christianity (Woolfe 2002).

Fourthly, I shall try to tell what God wants from me. The voice from within towards life shall be the voice of God and those shall be the best words of God (Woolfe 2002).

I will also look towards one-on-ones as they are vital for all. Not only my family but also my workplace will perform well if individual needs are addressed (Woolfe 2002).

Finally, I will try to open room for personal release. This will ensure that congregation connects to me and also reaches to the community for the sake of the betterment of the community. The exponential dimension of the dreams shall rise in this way (Minear 1983).

The books that can be read in this regard are “Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God’s Agenda” written by Henry Blackaby, Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby, “Spiritual Leadership: A Commitment to Excellence for Every Believer” written by J. Oswald Sanders, “Spiritual Leadership: Wisdom for Work, Wisdom for Life” written by Erik Van Praag. These books will enlighten me on the spiritual pathways and will also guide me towards understanding leadership in a more concise and coherent way.

Cultivation of strengths

The leadership strengths can be cultivated by remaining focused towards productivity, trying to attain better results before the deadlines, focusing on the strengths of the followers and motivating them towards team working and also empowering the leadership area so that integrity can be maintained and talent can be developed at a steady pace (Blackaby and Blackaby 2011).

Limiting weaknesses and making use of opportunities

The common weaknesses as pointed by Adams are anger, depression, self-pity, blame shifting, fear, rebellion, envy and guilt. These can be managed by a spiritual session and better connectivity with God. Ptolemy had said that managing the weakness is one thing and sharpening the strength is another thing. Simply sharpening the strength will not control the weakness but man aging the weakness will definitely brush up the strengths.

Guarding the threats

Nehemiah teaches us that all leaders can guide the people to overcome their threats by God’s Grace (Birnbaum and Friedman 2014). Praying with people, putting God first and above all, accomplishing duties given to man and maintaining transparency of leadership will ensure protection from the threats and thus help in better leadership.

References

Aitken, Robert. 1968. The Holy Bible. New York: Arno Press.

Bird, Jamie V., Chang-Ho C. Ji, and Ed Boyatt. 2004. 'Christian Leadership And Religiosity Reexamined: The Evidence From College Student Leaders'. Journal Of Research On Christian Education 13 (2): 225-250. doi:10.1080/10656210409484970.

Birnbaum, Toby H., and Hershey H. Friedman. 2014. 'Ezra And Nehemiah: Lessons In Moral And Spiritual Leadership'. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2390230.

Blackaby, Richard, and Henry Blackaby. 2011. Spiritual Leadership. Nashville: B & H Pub. Group.

Cocksworth, A. 2014. 'Anthony Towey, An Introduction To Christian Theology: Biblical, Classical, Contemporary Theology'. Theology 117 (6): 448-449. doi:10.1177/0040571x14547470p.

Grieb, A. K. 2005. '"The One Who Called You ...": Vocation And Leadership In The Pauline Literature'. Interpretation: A Journal Of Bible And Theology 59 (2): 154-165. doi:10.1177/002096430505900205.

Hugo, C.J. 2010. 'Dialogical Inquiry As An Instrument Of The Reconciliation Of Conflict In The Hands Of Christian Leaders'. Koers 75 (3). doi:10.4102/koers.v75i3.99.

Jinadu, Paul. 1998. Spiritual Leadership. Ibadan: Covenant Pub. House.

Johnson, Abigail. 2007. Shaping Spiritual Leaders. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute.

Langer, Nieli. 2004. 'RESILIENCY AND SPIRITUALITY: FOUNDATIONS OF STRENGTHS PERSPECTIVE COUNSELING WITH THE ELDERLY'.Educational Gerontology 30 (7): 611-617. doi:10.1080/03601270490467038.

MacIariello, J. 2003. 'Lessons In Leadership And Management From Nehemiah'. Theology Today 60 (3): 397-407. doi:10.1177/004057360306000309.

Minear, P. S. 1983. 'Holy People, Holy Land, Holy City: The Genesis And Genius Of Christian Attitudes'. Interpretation: A Journal Of Bible And Theology 37 (1): 18-31. doi:10.1177/002096438303700103.

Nullens, Patrick, and Jack Barentsen. 2014. Leadership, Innovation, And Spirituality. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters.

Okundaye, Joshua Nosa, Pamela Smith, and Claudia Lawrence-Webb. 2001. 'Incorporating Spirituality And The Strengths Perspective Into Social Work Practice With Addicted Individuals'. Journal Of Social Work Practice In The Addictions 1 (1): 65-82. doi:10.1300/j160v01n01_06.

Praag, Erik van. 2004. Spiritual Leadership. New York: Paraview Special Editions.

Woolfe, Lorin. 2002. The Bible On Leadership. New York: American Management Association.