Mission
Developing a Sustainable Global Workforce through talent management.
Vision
Driving Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Growth through the nurturing, training and development of 500,000 young people by the year 2030.
Introduction
Cultivating leadership is essential in developing an individual’s mindset and attention to detail to fulfill purpose driven goals. Cultivating leadership involves paying attention to oneself and the people around you. Sadly, many people are unable to realize God’s Purpose for their lives because they lack the discipline to cultivate the leadership drive to fuel God’s plan to reality. This problem is curable, and that’s the good news.
Leadership and Respect
How do you cultivate respect as a leader? Cultivating respect for yourself is not rocket science but requires patience and discipline. People shouldn’t follow you simply because they are “supposed to”,but they should follow you because they “want to”. If people follow you because they are supposed to, you won’t see them perform at the levels that will bring you great results until they go beyond “supposed to” to “want to” or “need to”. You must know how your followers perceive you. To cultivate respect, do the following:
- Clarity – clarity brings focus and utilizes the energy of your workforce because they know exactly what is expected of them. Leaders must clarify everyday. You must clarify what the job is, what it entails, and what the roles and responsibilities of fulfilling the tasks are.
- Warmth (People Connection) – leaders must show warmth. Leaders must make it easier for people to connect with them. Do you make it easier for people to be comfortable around you? Do you make them appreciate how easy it is to talk to you? Or understand you? Don’t be too formal.
- Influence (Affect Lives) – be an actual leader by leading instead of giving orders. That is how you can influence and affect lives and the behaviours of the people in your organization. We are all designed by God to be a part of something higher than ourselves. We must work to fulfill the mission and vision of our organizations. Lead by example, study, and train and develop. Cultivate trust through motivation, being truthful and specific.
- Be real (Authentic) – authenticity helps your followers to be able to identify you with something. Be human. Show your strengths, fears, flaws and weaknesses to your followers so they can believe in you and relate with your human nature. Otherwise, they will feel you’re a superman or wonderwoman who doesn’t have flaws and they won’t be able to relate. Let them believe in you and cultivate trust in you. However, try as much as possible not to always be flawed or they’ll lose confidence in you. Let them identify with your struggles and don’t hide from them. This will make them understand you. Jesus Christ identified with our faults, fears, strengths and weaknesses because He also lived a human life. He was as real a human as we are and went through all the struggles and temptations and tests we go through yet was found without sin. He gave His life so we’ll die with our weaknesses in Him and live a new life of success, glory and victory. Being real brings loyalty, competence and opposes doubt in your followers.
Exercise: ask yourself, what is my role? What can I do to help my organization achieve its mission and vision? How does your role impact the mission of the organization? What is not your role? In other words, what are the things that will hinder your organization’s growth if your role is not exercised? Why are we here? (Remember we are training to become mentors and develop people)
Evaluate your leader (the leader of your organization). What do you think are his/her strengths and weaknesses?
Advice: cultivate respect, don’t force it. Do these four (4) things to become a better leader.
Leadership and Compassion
Compassion means showing Sympathy, exhibiting Grace (goodness) and practicing Mercy (forgiveness and second chances) towards your fellow individual (Richmond Engel Bennah, 2017). You can’t demonstrate what you don’t have. These three (3) traits are innate in a man’s spirit because God puts them there. When you meet the needs of people, they are more willing to listen and follow you. Compassion means “a common passion” towards people. (Something you can give to someone and the person can relate to and feel grateful for). You must start by loving those God brings your way/into your life. We can’t accomplish great things together if we don’t respect each other. Respect is not only about doing what a leader tells you or doing your duty. Respect also means having love for one another.
Exercise: how am I showing compassion to those I lead and others around me? You must pray for your team, and identify what God’s plans for their lives are. A prayerful leader always knows where God is leading his/her team, because God shows it to the leader. The follower must be willing and ready to work and learn to get there.
Am I acting and exhibiting integrity towards my team (integrity means being true to your word. Let your yes be yes and your no be no).
Leadership and Influence
Invest in your team emotionally and with knowledge. To do this, you must:
- Pray for your team members and peers
- Set examples for them to follow
- Help them in their time of need
Exercise: what am I doing each day to help the people in my life and on my team? Intentionally find ways to add value to your team members. It is your responsibility to affect the character, influence the mindset and develop the people around you through training.
Influence means helping them become better versions of themselves. You must update them like an android app. You must help them grow to their potential else they won’t be able to grow to overcome challenges. People are living things and living things grow. Growth is inevitable. They will grow alright but you must ensure they are eating the right food as they grow because that is what will shape their characters and mindset. The process of influence and growth may be frustrating to the members because they may think you are worrying them, they may not believe in their abilities to do what you’re helping them to grow into, or they may not understand it at the time.
As a leader, it is your responsibility to help them understand. Leadership is not always about making people feel comfortable. You must sometimes inconvenience your team to get the best out of them.
“Good leaders will frustrate you.”
- Ron Edmondson
How do you respond to leadership as a team member? Are you willing to learn? Or you’re a “know-it-all?”
“If you cannot trust that your leader is challenging and pushing you for the right reasons, then you have an issue that needs to be resolved. Either you quit or learn to trust him/her.”
- Ron Edmondson
A leader must develop, train, challenge and care for his/her people. You must care more about helping them grow than getting them to like you.
Exercise: Am I ready to be a leader? Am I ready to lead myself and other people? Am I helping my team grow or am I hindering them from growth?
Leadership and Mentorship
Mentorship transforms both the leader and the led, the mentor and the mentee. To be an effective mentor, you must:
- Be selfless – be people-oriented and a helper
- Be purposeful – focus on the reason why you do what you do
- Be practical – teach them how to do it by doing it yourself
- PRAY.
Richmond Engel Bennah
