Leadership has always been centered on the values that a leader possesses and ways in which he is able to utilize them appropriately for the greater good of the people he is expected to oversee. Christian based leadership ensures that a leader applies lessons learnt from the Bible and guidelines that are at par with God’s will. The main issues that leaders face are applying their Christian morals and principles at the work place without offending anybody. The actions of leaders usually have a greater impact on a number of people hence their failures and decisions carry more weight than those of ordinary employees. Higher ethical standards create a better understanding of the leader/follower relationship. The ensuing discussion delves deeper on the application of Christian and ethical strategies in various appropriate situations.
Motivation
Leaders are expected to be role models; people who motivate them to take that extra step and be more productive to the organization. Motivation is only understood from the perspective of behavior and how people act. Various strategies can be used to boost motivation around the workplace. Setting up realistic goals around the workplace can help in providing workers with the mentality that a certain goal is actually achievable. Unrealistic goals can leave employees overwhelmed due to the workloads they have to bear with. Improper ethics in the workplace lead to a dysfunctional workforce regulating in a negative output from employees. Professional leaders limit such issues by formulating clear business code of ethics. Paul taught on the importance of offering words of appreciation on those who worked along him. In the book of Corinthians Paul teaches the importance of motivating others to push them to do better. Leaders should emulate this behavior to develop skills that provide the right kind of motivation since too much praise on one employee can lead to human pride. The value in motivating employees is increasing their productivity. When a worker feels their hard work is appreciated and noticed, they feel that extra nudge to do even better when provided with another opportunity to showcase their abilities.
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Empathy
Empathy refers to one’s ability to recognize the emotions displayed by an individual through verbal or non-verbal means and to provide the emotional support required to people when needed. A leader has to identify with his workforce on an interpersonal level to understand their feelings and issues that may be affecting their productivity at work. Most leaders fail to show empathy since it may be considered as a sign of weakness and the notion that empathy is inappropriate in business settings. Empathy in business is a very crucial factor, for a leader who wants to avoid any manifestations of unethical and repressive behavior in their workplace in the future. Leaders can implement strategies such as holding personal talks with employees whom they note are struggling with particular issues. They can also set up a small counseling department where one can access advice and counseling services. Leaders should derive teachings from Jesus’ concern towards his disciples. He healed peter’s mother-in-law in concern that a family member of his colleague was ailing. It is only ethical that a human being remains considerate of others regardless of rank in the workplace. Leaders can realize the value in demonstrating empathy in that it allows them to build trust with their employees, building on relationships hence leading to better collaboration.
Mentoring
Mentoring is slowly fading away in the modern business set-up. New employees’ fresh from college will almost certainly lack maturity and interpersonal skills that can help them develop in the workplace. Social media has taken over the younger generation making it harder to effectively communicate. Mentoring requires higher ranking members in an organization to take employees under their wing and provide them with the necessary skills they require in the corporate world. Christianity requires that people should be generous and willing to help others in times of need. Jesus mentored his disciples so that they could continue with his gospel and make the word of God flourish. Leaders should learn from this. They should incorporate various strategies while trying to bring out the best in new interns. They include sharing of acquired experiences, introduction of mentoring programs that allow interns to interact with more experienced members of the workforce for a certain period after they are enrolled into the workforce.
Others’ Contributions
Leaders tend to spend more time with their coworkers than they spend with anyone else even their family and friends. Getting along with colleagues is advisable if one desires to maintain a healthy working relationship and a positive attitude towards work. Employees deserve to respect and show courtesy to one another. This should reflect in recognizing each other’s work and contributions. It doesn’t necessarily agreeing on the ideologies held by those individuals but evaluating and providing input on the work provided. Leaders should always ensure that everyone’s effort while working on a group project or a general workplace contribution is recognized and appreciated. From the Biblical perspective, the book of Proverbs 3:27 teaches Christians the following, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.” Leaders should always strive to recognize other’s efforts. Ethics at the workplace promote cooperation and teamwork among employees. Leaders behave ethically, when they appreciate each and every one of their employee’s work. It creates an atmosphere of openness where employees are intrinsically motivated to always present their ideas without the fear of being turned down. Effective strategies include ensuring each employee provides their input during meetings and project presentations.
Feedback
Efficient leaders establish effective communication paths with their employees through which they can provide feedback on various issues or queries that may have been raised. To be successful, a leader must communicate regularly with his employees to check on progress or areas that may need assistance. A number of strategies can be used when providing feedback to employees. The feedback should always be specific, clear and straight to the point making easier to understand and to make corrections. Feedback should also be done on a one on one basis where one requires to deliver critic based feedback. The bible also emphasizes on the importance of feedback. It indicates that “A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel.” Feedback should therefore be taken on a serious note. It should not be done publicly so as not to demoralize the employee. It should also be ended on a positive note so that the worker takes the input from a perspective that is meant to assist him. Feedback helps leaders in making better decisions in their business strategies, motivates employees to do better work and generally improves leadership qualities.
Empower
Empowerment involves devolving power to employees at a lower level to preside over certain tasks that the leader would normally have control over. Employees are granted the authority to capitalize on their expertise and judgment increasing their worth and commitment to the task ahead. Leaders might fight it valuable to empower their workers due to the amount of trust it generates between upper levels of management and lower ranked workers. God empowered most of his followers to carry on his will to the world. Leaders should learn a thing or two from this act of leadership derived from Christian teachings. A leader cannot work as one; he needs to have other small heads which can help in supplementing him. Empowerment strategies include delegating power to work on certain tasks to workers without supervision, believing n employees, and providing growth paths to guide employees.
Collaboration
A single mind can sometimes prove insufficient in completing tasks or coming up with a solution to a particular problem. Workers thrive in a conducive environment that promotes communication. They feel that they are a part of something bigger hence exert more effort into it. Better interpersonal communication channels can help in forming better relationships among employees. The first and foremost strategy is creating a cohesive workforce is creating a compelling cause that catches the attention of workers. In addition to that, leaders and workers should discuss the expectations and the aims the company has set. Thirdly, the organization should set realizable goals. Teams are generally the driving factor of organizations. Work is handled faster in groups. It brings together diverse and intellectual minds which can contribute towards a certain goal. Jesus himself never worked alone. He recruited 12 disciples to help in his ministry. Through thus collaboration they were able to carry on his mission for years to come. In addition to that, collaboration requires leaders to nurture, continually assess and have patience with their workforce.
Conclusion
In summary, ethical and Christian leadership is rooted in having the best values to guide a particular group of people towards one common goal. This requires an all rounded leader who can get flexible across different situations that call for a particular set of qualities. Leaders who apply Christian values, should be aware of the fact that God’s love doesn’t change even through failure, it grows even more due to the effort exerted to get to a particular goal. Every single aspect discussed from motivation to collaboration is important in ensuring that leaders actually materialize their desires for the organization.
