In many ways we are in a drought of effective leaders. No, I’m not saying that good leaders don’t exist anymore. I’m just saying they are hard to find. Leadership to many people today is a position of honor and really nothing more. They enjoy the respect that comes with being a leader but they do not care for the responsibilities that come with it. They welcome the notoriety, just not the work. And because of that worthy efforts suffer. They have no direction, no discernable purpose. Without effective leadership we just exist.
Several weeks ago in my Wednesday night Bible class we were discussing some passages from Proverbs that deal with leadership, what it should be doing and how we should respond to it. At some point our discussion steered toward some factors that make leaders the least effective and something stood out to me. Most often, today, leaders on all levels (civil, charitable, church, etc.) do all that they can to avoid a couple of things that they fear could undermine their power, but in reality what they fear is what they should crave. Those two things are responsibility and accountability.
First, true leaders are not going to reject responsibility; they are going to assume it. We probably all know men or women who are in leadership positions who are really nothing more than figureheads. For one reason or another they were promoted to some position of authority even though they have no inherent leadership skills. They may suffer from inexperience or incompetence, but for whatever reason they just don’t get the job done and so the burden of leadership ultimately falls on someone else. The problem with this is that leaders have to lead, not follow. Now that may sound simplistic, and it is. But it is true nonetheless. There are too many “leaders” who assume their positions of leadership but when it comes to actually leading they fall to the back of the pack. They follow the reactionary cares, concerns, and opinions of others. More often they yield to emotion rather than reason causing their actions to lean more immature rather than effective. As a result how many businesses, nations, families, and particularly churches have suffered under the oversight of leaders who have refused to make the difficult decisions based on the wisdom that was supposed to have elevated them to that position in the first place. True leaders want responsibility because they are responsible people. That is the thrust behind Paul’s statement regarding men who would be appointed to serve as elders. Of them he said they must “desire the office” (1 Timothy 3:1). In other words, they will not pass the buck. They know that the buck stops with them. They don’t reject responsibility they assume it.
Second, true leaders are not going to waive accountability, they are going to welcome it. It is so common today for those in leadership positions do everything they can to insulate themselves from criticism. They make sure there is always someone else around them that they can cast the blame and not open themselves up to the complaints of those around them. The reality of accountability is what keeps leaders responsible. It helps them to make sober-minded decisions, knowing that what they do does not only affect them. The decisions they make and the things they do have larger implications on constituents, employees, family, or Christians. As it pertains to spiritual leadership the decision we make have eternal implications and that takes accountability to a whole different level. If a mistake is made true leaders own it and fix it. And that is what strengthens them to become better leaders as time goes by. True leaders don’t waive accountability they welcome it.
As I’ve mentioned, these two facts can apply to any area of leadership. But my greatest concern is obviously spiritual leadership. Elders, deacons, preachers, Bible class teachers, parents, etc. We all are in positions of leadership. Differing? Yes, but positions of leadership nonetheless. And because we should want to be the most effective leaders that we possibly can be we, too, should be concerned with responsibility and accountability, two things every leader should want.
-Andy Brewer