Welcome to the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast. If you're a podcast subscriber, you can find the videos and notes in a few places like YouTube, craiggroeschelbooks.com, and here on Open, the home of free Life.Church resources.
For this first podcast, I’ll discuss five kinds of leaders and a sixth one that may surprise you. You can find part 2 here. Watch the video here or subscribe on iTunes for the audio podcast; below you'll find notes, helpful links, and a summary.
"When a leader gets better, the whole organization gets better."
In today’s podcast, I’d like to analyze the six types of leaders I’ve encountered.
1. Unpredictable leaders produce hesitant followers. If you ever have the misfortune of working for an unpredictable leader, you never know what they’re going to do next. Since you don’t know what to expect, you inevitably become hesitant, fearful, and tentative. It’s impossible for the team to find consistency. If you think you might be an unpredictable leader, work on consistency. Successful people do consistently what normal people do occasionally.
"Successful people do consistently what normal people do occasionally."
2. Domineering leaders produce compliant followers. These types of leaders will intimidate or threaten people into following them. This might produce short-term results, but long term, they can be devastating. Domineering leaders foster a culture of ‘yes’ people. They might get compliance, but not commitment. Be intentional about not bullying your team or organization. Ask questions and really listen. A good rule of thumb is to ask ten times more questions than you give directions.
3. Secretive leaders produce guarded followers. If your people are guarded, they’re not going to give you feedback. And if they don’t give you feedback, your days as an effective leader are numbered. That’s why transparency, vulnerability, and honesty are so important for leaders. Simon Sinek said it this way: “A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other.”
Here's an exercise you can do to grow as a leader—ask your team these questions:
- • How am I unpredictable as a leader?
- • What are one or two things I can do to build trust?
- • Am I domineering?
- • What can I do to make sure everyone has a chance to offer their opinions?
- • What are three things I could share that would help you feel valued and help you care about our mission?
Find Part 2 of The Six Types of Leaders here.
Learn more about Life.Church at www.life.church and about the Bible App at www.bible.com and www.youversion.com.
If you'd like to ask a question or send feedback, email me at leadership@life.church.
What we've learned:
Don’t just assume you’re a great leader. Analyze your tendencies and work on cutting out the negative attributes. Once you shed the layers of being unpredictable, domineering, or secretive, you’ll be a much healthier leader who can empower others to do more together than you ever thought possible.
