Lead With Your Strengths

Developed from

15 years of NCLS research

among 10,000 church leaders

over 22 denominations

in 4 countries

• A book presenting the conclusions of the research.

• A booklet to help leadership teams engage the main points.

• A workbook for leaders and leadership teams.

• A web based interactive process for those in leadership.

Lead With Your Strengths Kit

Think of a time when you have experienced leadership that has inspired or motivated you

Think of the people involved

Think of the circumstances

What were the key elements of that leadership?

Lead With Your Strengths

Think of a time when you have been part of a group that has energised you

Think of the group

Think of the people

What were the underpinning elements that made this group so exciting?

Lead With Your Strengths

What do you think are the main elements of good leadership?

Lead With Your Strengths

• Engage with them

• Develop shared directions

• Create a secure base

• Act with purpose

Lead With Your Strengths

Communities require their leadership to:

12 Leadership Strengths

Engage with

others

Develop shared

directions

Create a secure base

Act with purpose

• be fully present to people,

• check that you’ve heard others correctly,

• put yourself in the other’s shoes,

• be interested in what people have to say

• ask questions and engage with their issues/stories

Strength 1: Listen deeply

Engage with others

• make time to develop relationships,

• seek ways to work together with other groups and people,

• listen to dissident voices as well as supportive ones,

• ask who is missing from groups and networks and involve them.

Strength 2: Build connections

Engage with others

• lead the community to articulate the yearning of its heart

• emphasise the vision often

• remind people of the vision in difficult times

• encourage people to be keepers and proclaimers of the vision

Develop shared directions

Strength 3: Envision together

• develop questioning and reflection as part of the community’s life

• openly value diversity

• share in people’s questions rather than giving answers

• support the dreamers and link them with the pragmatists

Develop shared directions

Strength 4: Explore options creatively

• inspire commitment to the journey, not the leaders,

• point always to Christ,

• encourage one another and foster hope,

• promote playfulness and laughter along the way.

Develop shared directions

Strength 5: Inspire heart commitment

• encourage people to contribute,

• value people’s contribution and encourage them when they fail or fall short,

• create space for others to move in and contribute,

• trust in God and in the community

Develop shared directions

Strength 6: Empower people to contribute

• ensure everybody knows what is expected of them

• establish clear boundaries and transparent processes

• make systems simple, predictable and intuitive

• give honest and open answers

Create a secure base

Strength 7: Create clear positive structures

• provide information to people as early as possible

• create diverse means of information flow

• establish varying forums of dialogue

• check how others hear what is being communicated

Create a secure base

Strength 8: Develop reliable communication

• move beyond a ‘problem focus’ in planning to a ‘possibility focus’

• help everyone to acknowledge and develop their strengths

• create a safe place where people’s hopes can be aired and explored

• challenge attitudes of helplessness

• share stories of small victories

Create a secure base

Strength 9: Build a culture of optimism

• develop a solid basis of trust

• check who is ‘around the table’ and draw in those who are missing

• work with motivations and passions rather than needs and fears

• be ready when the moment of action arrives

Make things happen

Strength 10: Move to action

• accept the responsibility that comes with making decisions

• model clarity of purpose

• be prepared to adjust direction to the vision in the light of new realities

• embrace difficult issues rather than retreat from them

Make things happen

Strength 11: Maintain resolve

• model humility and a willingness to learn

• seek wisdom in every situation and every person

• be comfortable with complexity, ambiguity and diversity

• grow enthusiastic curiosity and foster it in others

Make things happen

Strength 12: Learn & Grow from experience

Personal Foundations

6 Personal Foundations underpin the 12 Leadership Strengths

Personal Foundations

Our Personal Foundations

Sustain us over the long haul

Protect us against burnout

Help us maintain our enthusiasm

Shape our values and our priorities

Personal Foundations

• Spiritual foundations

• Clarity of purpose

• Sense of self

• Integrity

• Supportive relationships

• Balance and boundaries

Personal Foundations

Healthy and sustainable leadership spends time developing all six of these Personal Foundations

Personal appraisal

Online appraisal

Peer appraisal

The Strengths Appraisal Process

The Strengths Appraisal Process

Lead With Your Strengths

Build up the Strengths we have rather than pouring our energy into Strengths that don’t come easily to us

Name our Strengths

• Monitor and refine

• Reflect and pray

• Re-read the chapters

• Choose one strength to act on

• Evaluate each day

• Discuss

Developing your leadership strengths

Leadership Teams

NCLS Research findings affirm the effectiveness of Leadership Teams.

Why do you think this is so?

• supportive

• empowering

• dynamic

• organic

• more than the sum of their parts

Leadership Teams

Leadership Teams gather diverse Strengths into one unit that is

Leadership Teams

Processes for Leadership Teams

• Team Appraisal Process

• Team Mapping Process

• Matching Strengths to Projects

• Using Team Strengths best

Where to from here?