From time to time I meet someone and think, “Now there’s a natural leader.” They have a certain something about them that makes them stand out. This is not about a flashy personality, but more so a conviction of soul that is unwavering. It’s more about a sharpness and quickness that puts them a step ahead of the pack. When this is combined with evidence of a track record of vision and accomplishment, the natural leader truly begins to rise above the norm.
But what makes them a natural leader? What does that mean and how does that matter? The curious thing about natural leaders is that some leverage their influence for significant and meaningful ministry and others flame out. Character matters.
The last edition of The Pastor’s Coach was Part 1 of this two part series, and it focused on Learned Leaders (click here to read Part 1). Allow me to repeat one paragraph to refresh the context.
Is all leadership innate and natural? Is leadership limited to a spiritual gift? Or is it possible that leadership can be learned? This is a controversial subject, but I am of the strong opinion that you can learn leadership. I have watched far too many people who don’t fit the typical leadership image emerge from the fray and assume substantial responsibility and carry it well. Not as a manager, but as a leader – someone who has true influence and leverages it toward a clear and compelling preferred future.
In this article, I will address the profile of a Natural Leader. I urge you to study these two articles side by side because the real insights do not show up in independent readings, but in comparison and contrast of the Learned Leader and the Natural leader.
The Natural Leader
Characteristics
• Natural leaders lead easily.
I won’t say it’s like riding a bicycle, but its close. Leading is so innate and instinctive that it’s almost automatic. If you are a natural leader, it’s just what you do. When you were young you may have been seen as a “problem kid”. You weren’t. You were a leader in the making. Or perhaps as a young adult you were the one who saw things a different way, often interpreted as “your way.” These are often signs of an emerging leader. Regardless of your age and stage as a leader, the key is what you do with these natural instincts. Do you leverage them to get what you want or to help others? Can you submit to other more seasoned leaders or are you prideful and insist on doing it all your way? Having followers and leading easily is only the beginning, its what you choose to do with that ability over the course of a lifetime that matters.
• Natural leaders possess undeniable vision.
Candidly, I’ve never found an exception to this characteristic. Sometimes the vision isn’t completely clear, sometimes there is no written plan to achieve the vision, but the vision is present and there is passion to achieve it.
I have talked with many pastors who are “between” visions… sort of. It’s typically more about the partial death of a vision and a transition to another church than truly the lack of a vision. But it may feel that way. This is especially true if the pastor was wounded in one way or another.
So, this is the great divide. This is the characteristic that separates, to a large degree, learned leaders from natural leaders. So, how about you? Do you have a vision? Is it known and embraced by others? Are you passionate about fulfilling that vision? If so, you’ve passed the first gate… keep reading.
• Natural leaders are idea factories.
The formation of ideas has a potential upside and downside. The upside is that you are creative, solution oriented and have lots of ideas. They are not all good, but you have so many you are bound to hit gold sooner or later! The downside is that because you have so many ideas, you may bounce around in direction and therefore none of the ideas get enough attention to develop and make a difference.
Tagging on to the previous characteristic, it’s kind of like the “vision of the week.” You get so excited about something you read, or that you heard at a conference, or that you thought up yourself that you just “gotta” do it. The idea generation is good, the enthusiasm is great, but the lack of ability to “pick it and stick it” will kill you in time.
• Natural leaders have a strong ego.
This refers to the healthy ego strength that is necessary to accomplish any worthwhile vision. This is not about a self-absorbed and narcissistic approach to life and leadership.
It’s important that you know yourself, love yourself, and enjoy being you. It’s important that you have a sense of your gifts being fruitful and productive. Yet at the same time, you fully grasp your utter dependence upon God in such a way that reminds you it was He that gave you all your gifts and abilities. On your own you can do nothing that lasts or matters. It’s important that you know that God is the One who granted you the vision that is within you.
• Natural leaders need to lead.
In contrast to the learned leader who doesn’t “need” to lead, you do. In part one I stated that if a learned leader walks into a room where there is a leader who is engaged, in charge, and things are working well, he or she will feel no real compulsion to take over. This is very different for the natural leader. Natural leaders just can’t help themselves. They walk in and always see how they could do it better. It’s not necessarily arrogance. It’s more about wiring. Natural leaders naturally assess. It can sound arrogant or critical, but at the heart of any leader is the desire to make things better. It’s about progress, its about improving things… thus vision. If you as a natural leader assess yourself as a better leader than the one in the room (for good or bad, this is often the case) it is difficult for you to remain in the room and do nothing. The irony is that the leader is often doing a good job. The issue is that you would do it differently. If this is you, take hope, it does get better with maturity. In time you begin to realize that God can actually run a few things well without you!
Strengths
• Confidence
Confidence comes with the territory for natural leaders. There are times when fear creeps in, but overall you are confident in yourself and your abilities. It is also common that when you make a mistake that you get over it quickly, rebound and move on. People not only notice your confidence but draw from it personally.
• Communication
This is not about “preaching” abilities, though you may be a gifted preacher. This is more about leading from the platform and interpersonal communication in one to one and in small groups settings. Natural leaders do not struggle with making their thoughts known and clear. Words are easy for you and people not only understand you but seem to enjoy listening to what you have to say.
• Natural intuition
Natural leaders have a natural sense of intuition. You may find it hard to explain to others but like a seasoned cop on the streets, you know stuff in your gut, just because you know. You can’t always give a reason, but you know. You sense it and you sense it first. You make a decision, take action and things go well because of your action. There are checks and balances here. You need to be right much more than wrong. Sorry, but intuition isn’t of value if you are wrong more times than you are right!
Challenges
• Distractions
You may be smart, creative and fast, but the inability to focus will cost you dearly as a leader. Natural leaders like new stuff. They migrate toward the latest trend, best practices, and coolest technology. That’s all good as long as you don’t try to mix it all up in one local church pot. That makes a mess.
More importantly is the temptation to succumb to internal distractions. By internal distractions I mean the need to continually conquer new territory, when you haven’t yet fully conquered the territory God has given you. Frankly, though the load of the church is heavy, it moves slowly. You may get bored and tempted to do other things to an extent that your first love and responsibility suffers. Speaking events, writing books, consulting, starting new ministry ventures, launching your own conference or being highly leveraged in your personal endeavors are good things in and of themselves. But they can also be huge distractions to what you are called to do. Sometimes even networking can become a distraction. Meeting people just to meet people. Yes, its fun, we love people. But stay on purpose.
• Cutting corners
This can get the best of natural leaders. Because you are often the smartest and fastest “been there done that” kid on the block, you may be tempted to show up unprepared – simply because you can. You may be tempted to do less that your best. You can get away with this for awhile, sometimes for a long while, but eventually it will catch up with you. Good leaders never quit digging in, learning, preparing and growing.
• Humility
Pride is often the unwanted companion that comes with confidence. I said that a healthy ego is a good thing, and it is. But left to its own path, it can get out of control. Jim Collins talks about how tough it is for strong leaders to “subjugate their egos” and allow true humility to shine through. But without that, you never realize the “level five” leadership he writes about in Good to Great. More importantly, pride breaks fellowship with God. Conquering a zealous ego is tough, but it’s a must for your natural leadership to find its highest and most long term effectiveness.
Key Concept
• Strategic
The summary of strengths and challenges leads to the concept of leading strategically as the essential path to your maximum effectiveness. Strategic is not about being boring, monotonous, predictable, and over-structured. Strategic is being on purpose and staying on purpose. Leading strategically involves knowing where you are going, why you are going there, and how you will get there. Strategy is feet to your dreams – it is a plan to your purpose. To nail this down is highly freeing. It makes decision-making so much easier too.
Application
• Don’t get sloppy or lazy.
So think about it, if you are fast, smart, creative, confident, a good communicator and in general – ahead of the pack, your temptation to get lazy or sloppy can be off the chart. Discipline is essential. I’ve been blown away at the amount of talent that amounted to nothing because discipline was not exercised. Dig in and stay tough. Know your disciplines and stick with them. I highly recommend a book by John Maxwell titled Today Matters. It will help you with 12 daily practices (disciplines) that will help you strengthen your leadership.
• Understand and appreciate others ideas and input.
Be careful of impatience, and be intentional about seeking the contribution of others. This can feel like it slows you down, but if you will give them a chance, your top leaders have more to offer than you might realize. Mining their potential requires you to invest in them, but its worth it. This is especially true for your staff. (If your staff are not sharp, why did you hire them and why do you keep them?!)
• Include implementers on the team.
I’ve listened to some of the best natural leaders in very large churches give this advice. We all need people on our teams who are happy to be top notch sharpies that get the job done. You give them the ball and they gain yardage – every time. They don’t need or desire to be the top dog. But they can keep up with the top dog on their assignments. And if you give them some leeway, they just might run past you! How cool is that!!! Point out the right direction and let them run!! They aren’t wired to dream dreams and have visions. They aspire to purpose and meaningful ministry. Give them a shot at it.
• Stay focused.
I’ve given more than a hint to this under the topic of distractions. Its strange how difficult this is for driven and passionate leaders, but its true. Find your focus and stick with it. I know its tough, but you don’t have a choice if you really want to achieve all God has in mind for you and your church. Listening for God to speak and seeking wise counsel from a small trusted group will help you land your guiding principles and overall direction. Get that clear and never deviate. You have more room to play on the strategic pathways to get there, but even those should not be changing every few months. Again, what may feel containing is actually freeing. Focus allows you to get where you really want to go.
So, what do you think? Are you a learned leader or a natural leader? What makes you think so? You may feel you are a sort of “blend and blur” of both. That is likely true, but you are undoubtedly more one that the other. Knowing which one you are most like is vital. This is a huge gateway to strengthening your leadership.
“This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland’s free monthly e-newsletter, “The Pastor’s Coach,” available at www.INJOY.com.”
Practical Guide to Christian Financial Freedom
One day as Jesus was walking along the shore beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—fishing with a net, for they were commercial fishermen. Jesus called out to them, “Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and went with him. – Matthew 4:18-20
