Leadership

Thoughts on Leadership and Organizational Culture

“Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something that you want done because he wants to do it, not because your
position or authority can compel him to do it.”
-Dwight D. Eisenhower

“The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.”
-Jesus Christ, Luke 22:25-26, ESV

My leadership philosophy is based primarily on Scripture but is also heavily influenced by the concepts of servant leadership as well as the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. In my experience, I have come to the conclusion that good leaders:

surround themselves with better and smarter people,
give those people solid and consistent long-term vision and direction while giving them freedom to determine the best method of accomplishing that vision,
serve them by coordinating their efforts and constantly instilling the greater meaning behind their work,
take good care of them including removing barriers preventing them from doing their jobs to the best of their ability, and…
help them do a better job with less effort and ever-greater pride of workmanship.

In this, integrity, humility, dependability, courage, and creativity are paramount, as is Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge.

Leadership According to Scripture

In the course of my study, I found many resources on leadership from a secular perspective but very few from a biblical perspective. Those that were from a biblical perspective were primarily geared toward the church and home, meaning they were not as applicable to leadership in the workplace. Thus, I endeavored to study Scripture and summarize what the Bible teaches about leadership in the workplace. Though this work is not copyrighted, it represents numerous hours of effort, so please cite it properly when using it. Example citation below:

Hult, Dan, “A Biblical View of Leadership in the Workplace”, https://danhult.com/leadership/, 27 March 2023.

Latest Version: 27 March 2023

hult-biblical-view-of-leadership-in-the-workplace Download

Keys to Lasting Success

This list is a summation of many of the concepts I consider foundational for leadership, especially in cultural transformation. Though this is my list, it is certainly based on people much better and smarter than I am, such as W. Edwards Deming, E.M. Goldratt, Simon Sinek, and many others. It is by no means exhaustive.

Start with leadership committed to transformation.
Focus on long-term health and success over short-term goals.
Communicate that vision openly and frequently up and down.
Gain and practice an understanding of: Systems, Knowledge, Variation, Psychology*, and how these interact with each other.
Focus on culture rather than tools, empowering everyone to do their jobs and make decisions to further the mission.
Identify your role within your context by answering:
- Who are your customers and what value do you provide them?
- What creates that value and what does not?
- What does each team do that adds value and what does not?
- Who outside of your organization contributes necessary inputs to your processes and what do they contribute?
Align your processes to the answers to those questions, maximizing what creates value while minimizing what does not.
- People who do not directly create value for the customers are enablers, and must focus on helping those who do.
Take care of your people as people (with lives outside of work), investing in them and caring for them in body, mind, and spirit.
Identify both the short-term and long-term limits of your people, equipment, and resources.
- Do not exceed the long-term limits unless absolutely necessary, and then only for a very short time, then give time for recovery.
- Do not exceed the short-term limits.
Learn all you can from whoever you can to constantly add new tools to create the specific toolbox that best fits your needs.
Continuously improve your processes so people can do a better job with less effort, involving everyone in that improvement.
Document your culture and processes so you can teach it to others and ensure that the transformation remains even when personnel change.
Understand that this list is not exhaustive, so LEAD!

* Psychology here is the term used in Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge and refers generally to how people think, interact, and are motivated rather than the discipline of psychology. As a biblical counselor, I have significant disagreement with many of the teachings and methods of psychology. For more information, see my Biblical Counseling page.

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