| Braveheart — or Servant Heart? |
|
by David Dougherty, OMF For a number of years we began the LeaderLink program by showing a film clip from the movie “Braveheart” which portrays the heroic Scotsman William Wallace in war paint on his horse leading his troops into battle against the English invaders. After showing the film clip, the facilitator then asked, “How does this image present a common cultural understanding of leadership?” And the answers came pouring forth as LeaderLink participants easily identified the leader as one up in front, on a horse, and giving directions. Our purpose was to contrast that cultural image with the more Biblical perspective represented by words like servant, serve, lay down, humble, give and die. Why do we talk about leader development in LeaderLink while our culture at large is talking about leadership development? There are only 29,000 Google hits for “leader development” as contrasted with over 25 million hits for “leadership development.” Our culture emphasizes technique rather than the character of the leader. But LeaderLink emphasizes godly character, ministry skills and strategic formation as its core. At LeaderLink, we talk about the distinction between transactional leadership and transformational leadership. These terms have been popular in leader development circles for about 30 years and focus on the difference between leadership that appeals to “lower” motivational factors (what’s in it for me?) or “higher” motivational factors (that which inspires others to higher levels of morality and motivation). In other words, the transactional leader implicitly says, “I’ll do this for you if you’ll do that for me” (a transaction), while the transformational leader operates from a paradigm that says, “As I seek to raise the level and tone of the situation (to transform it), you will be motivated to contribute to inspiring goals and ends.” It’s easy to see that the nature and tone of missions leadership has undergone major shifts along these same lines over the past fifteen to twenty years. While I served in the Army in the Vietnam era, I was also on a ministry team. We heard much emphasis on submission to the authority of our leaders and very little emphasis on vision and values for our teams. At the same time that the change from transactional to transformational leadership was taking place, another major shift was occurring. Emphasis shifted from what I would call entrepreneurial ministry to more organizationally-oriented ministry. The ministry of previous eras was largely carried out by individuals or couples serving as solo practitioners. Even in institutions, the focus seemed to be more on individuals rather than what we recognize today as teams. For this reason, this year, the Advanced Track (only for those who have come to LeaderLink before) will focus on “Building High Impact Teams.” The course will uniquely focus on team organization, performance and effectiveness. This emphasis comes at a very critical time when so many agencies in one form or another are emphasizing teams, or at least are stressing teamwork. We will study and understand what kind of a team we are a part of, and then explore the unique intercultural dynamics of a mission team. Each LeaderLink day begins with a session studying spiritual formation and the development of godly character. In 2007, Dr. Marv Newell, the IFMA executive director a/o January 1, 2007, joins the LeaderLink team and will open each day’s program with a spiritual formation session from the Scriptures. Marv’s 28 years of mission experience as field missionary, in field leadership and its development, and in academics provide a rich background. The EFMA president, Steve Moore will also join the LeaderLink team. Steve brings a strong background and commitment to leader development and we look forward to his contribution to LeaderLink. While spiritual formation has provided the foundation for our program each year, leadership skills and strategic formation provide the bulk of our session content. I’m delighted that M.L. Hillard, of Bright China Management Institute and formerly of ServiceMaster, and David Rathbun of Avant Ministries. Steve Hoke, of Church Resource Ministries, will again facilitate sessions in both the Foundations and Advanced tracks for 2007. The Foundations track for 2007 remains largely unchanged from previous years. This year’s focus in the Advanced track, “Leading High Impact Teams,” meets a need for many mission leaders. Each year LeaderLink has the privilege of serving a growing number of mission leaders. We invite you to be among the now over 1,000 who have taken advantage of this opportunity. This year we will be in Orlando and Nairobi. David Dougherty is a member of OMF International, serving on their leader development team. He also serves as program chair for LeaderLink. This article can be found at: http://www.ifmamissions.org/news.htm |