Psalm
23:4c Your rod and your staff, they
comfort me.
Leadership tools are to enable the
shepherd to guide, discipline and protect the sheep. We might say today that
the compass and picture frame are the best examples to explain shepherd
leadership.
The compass allows us to know the
direction we are headed. It tells us how far off course we may be. When lost,
it ensures us of the correct direction to be taken. It is a constant reminder
of the true position of the organization.
The other tool is called the frame.
A frame around a picture helps us focus on an area much larger than the camera
could record. The frame captures a specific part of a much larger scene. The
frame helps the shepherd build a context in which the subordinate leaders can
make decisions and direct the organization forward. It is the boundaries within
which the people and organization exist and grow. Similar to the protected
pasture within which the shepherd maintained his flock of sheep.
The goal is to enable the followers
to make their own decisions. The greatest obstacle to this is when the
followers are framing decisions for leaders, rather than making the decisions themselves.
They will investigate and bring recommendations to the leader rather than
report to the leader of their decisions made based on specific information.
Both important and unimportant decisions must be
made by the followers of the leader. If they are not allowed to make decisions
or are afraid to make them, then the ability to lead others will always be
dependent on the shepherd leader. They will never learn to lead if they do not
learn to make their own decisions. Their growth will be stunted.
Sometimes letting others get lost in their
leadership is a teaching moment. Let others make mistakes. Doing nothing may
enable others to reposition themselves within the framework of the mission
statement. Guiding, disciplining, and protecting require that others learn to
lead by their own understanding of the mission, their review of the facts and
their decisions.
