Bloggers Bookstudy: Day 6
Monday, July 6, 2009 at 12:00AM 
In case you missed Chapter 6, go back and check out Miguel's post at http://thewayiseetheworld.com
Chapter 7: Discovering & Developing Your Own Leadership Style
Leadership has different faces. Certain leaders have had unusually high impact becasue their particular style of leadership meshed perfectly with a specific need.
I. The Visionary Leadership Style
-The visionary leader has a clear picture in mind of what the future could hold.
-They cast powerful visions.
-He shamelessly encourages anybody and everybody to get on board with the vision.
-She is not easily discouraged.
-They carry the vision, they cast the vision, they draw people into it, and they'll die trying to fulfill it.
II. The Directional Leadership Style
-They have been given the ability to choose the right path for an organization as it approaches a critical intersection.
-Able to see all the options before making a decision.
-They can access the values, the mission, the strengths, the weaknesses, the resources and the openness to change.
III. The Strategic Leadership Style
-Strategic leaders can take an exciting vision and break it down into a series of sequential, achievable steps.
-They help the organization move toward the actualization of the vision.
-These leaders form a game plan everybody can understand and can participate in; then they challenge the team to carry it out.
-They help the organization fulfill the mission one step at a time.
IV. The Managing Leadership Style
-Managing leaders have the ability to organize people, processes and resources to achieve a goal.
-They bring order out of chaos.
-They put the plan to action.
V. The Motivational Leadership Style
-Motivational leaders have the ability to keep their teams fired up.
-They can read people well and know when to recognize publicly and when to encourage someone privately.
-These leaders don't get bitter when morale sinks, but they view it as an opportunity to dream up new ways to inspire and encourage.
-People are willing to follow this type of leader due to their gift of connecting with people.
VI. The Shepherding Leadership Style
-The shepherding leader builds a team slowly, loves them deeply, nurtures them gently, supports them consistently, listens to them patiently and prays for them diligently.
-They pour into their team, in turn, the team feels energized and they pour into others.
-They welcome people that long to be accepted by a team.
-They understand that when people feel loved, they will better understand the vision.
VII. The Team-Building Leadership Style
-Team-builders understand the need to build a team to carry out the vision.
-They are able to find and develop the right kinds of people with the right ability, character and chemistry.
-They know how to put people in the right positions for the right reasons allowing them to produce the right results.
-They are driven by the clear understand of the vision as opposed to the desire to nurture.
-They understand that putting the right people in the right position will not require much managing -- passion will drive them to manage themselves.
VIII. The Entrepreneurial Leadership Style
-Entrepreneurial leaders work best in "start-up" mode.
-They lose energy when they're not producing anything new.
-They are pioneers, always looking over the fence.
-It's difficult for these leaders to stay in the same ministry for very long.
IX. The Reengineering Leadership Style
-Reengineering leaders are gifted at fixing problems.
-They love to patch up hurting ministries that have lost focus.
-These leaders are good at figuring out where the old went wrong and how the new needs to be.
X. The Bridge-Building Leadership Style
-Bridge-building leaders are diplomats with the ability to compromise and negotiate.
-They are able to bridge the gap between diverse groups of people.
-They are usually successful at being the middleman between ministries.
-Their ultimate goal is united and focusing the groups and being them back to the ultimate vision of the organization.
*Can you identify your leadership style? Your team members leadership style? How about your leader's leadership style?*
Chapter 8: A Leader's Sixth Sense
Hybel's described a leader's sixth sense as an intuitive ability to make decisions. People with the sixth sense are the people that make decision-making look easy. After conducting an experiment in which he wrote down every single ministry-related decision he made, he concluded that the rumored sixth sense was simply a myth. Hybels said "I believe that spiritually gifted leaders construct, over time, a value system and experience base that wisely informs each subsequent decision they make".
Hybel's has 4 "data sources" he refers to before making a decision...
Data Source #1: What I Believe
Hybel's What-I-Believe Convictions:
I. If I Honor God in Everything, He Will Honor Me.
II. People Matter.
III. The Local Church Is the Hope of the World.
*What convictions inform your decisions?*
Data Source #2: What I Know Other Leaders Would Do
-Consult a risk-accessment mentor. Are you a risk taker? Find someone who can balance your free-spirit and can bring you back to earth.
-Consult an excellence mentor. "Excellence honors God and inspires people." Find someone that holds excellence at a high standard.
-Consult a morale mentor. Do you know of someone that has the gift of inspiration and encouragement? What would they do?
Data Source #3: Pain
Experience comes with a "pain-file". Painful experiences play a big role in the decision-making process. "Pain is a powerful teacher and a fantastic informer of our decision-making process."
"Whoever walks with wise people will be wise." -Proverbs 13:20
Learn from the experiences AND pains of other leaders.
Data Source #4: The Holy Spirit
"There is a supernatural dimension to leadership that only comes our way when we listen carefully to the Spirit."
We must use wisdom and good judgement when leading, but we must always turn an ear to heaven.
Tomorrow check out Matt Miller's blog for Chapter 9: The Art of Self-Leadership
