Habits of Healthy Leaders
December 12, 2016 by Las Vegas Black Image Magazine
Filed under Conversation
BY DR. ROBERT E. FOWLER
DR. ROBERT E. FOWLER
1. FIND HEALTHY OUTLETS FOR STRESS
We are often slow to realize that we need a break, or are living at an unhealthy pace. As leaders, our greatest test is living what we believe and teach.
Exercise, vacation, true days off, processing pain in prayer, godly friends with whom we can process life, de-cluttering, simplifying life, eating healthy food, deep breathing, drinking enough water — all of these things contribute to healthy living and healthy outlets for those in leadership. We need to return to them often, and continually review where our soul and emotions are at.
2. ADMIT YOUR WEAKNESSES
Most people who follow you for a given period of time already know some of your flaws and weaknesses — but it pays big dividends for a leaders to admit where they fail, where they went wrong and where they are weak.
When leaders apologize or acknowledge weakness, they gain incredible amounts of credibility with their teams. Guard yourself, and grow in Christ to become a leader with true character worth emulating.
3. EMBODY WHAT YOU WANT PEOPLE TO DO
As a leader, you don’t coach people to go where you have not gone. You need to call people to where you are.
Our effectiveness as leaders is intrinsically linked to embodying what we want our people to do, and then sharing our successes and failures with them. We go together or we go nowhere at all.
4. TAKE PEOPLE WITH YOU
It should go without saying, but if you are a leader, your number-one priority is to take people with you — not go on a walk all by yourself.
Big vision is fine, but small steps are needed. You can see your effectiveness as a leader by whether or not people are actually tracking with you. If you sense a gap here, do your best to come back and meet people where they are and help them take the next step.
