Thoughts for an Intentional Leader

by John Keyser

We all have seasons of intense focus. Perhaps we are doing our annual or strategic planning, hyper focused on specific goals. We are looking ahead towards desired outcomes and what will help us achieve them.

The season of Lent began last week, and I was reminded that we should live with an intensity of purpose. This definitely is relevant to those of us who are striving to be highly effective leaders.

As leaders, let’s have an intensity to help others learn and grow, to mentor and coach them, and genuinely care about and want them to succeed.

That is what a strong leader does. She has the humility and inner confidence to want others to succeed. She is comfortable in who she is and is free from her own need to look good and her material rewards. Rather, her success comes from the success of others, her team members.

It generally takes about 40 days of dedicated practice and being intentional about what you want to achieve for that new behavior to become ingrained within us. Whether spiritual or not, let’s make this Lent, (which is 40 days), be a season of renewed intensity. Let’s be intentional about helping and encouraging our team members and other colleagues, and let’s be earnest in being present and fully focused during our conversations, listening with interest to understand and learn.

My invitation this week is to spend more time in conversations with our people, establishing and maintaining productive working relationships. If we have a not so productive working relationship, sit down with that person and repair it through sincere discussion between the two of you. Again, that is what a leader does.

Let’s stand with our people, not try to stand above them. This is servant leadership and, as I described recently, shepherd leadership.

We have been given a gift – leadership. Let’s intensify our purpose of sharing our gift of leadership by helping others and, when we can, empowering them so they may feel good about themselves, enjoy our trust, and they may learn, grow and succeed.