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What to Avoid in Your Leadership to Keep Your Team Motivated

Leadership is a multifaceted concept with various styles, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. In ministry leadership, it's crucial to remember that the leader is responsible for guiding a church's spiritual growth but also plays an essential role in keeping the leaders and volunteers on your team motivated to achieve the church's vision.

Just as there are productive leadership styles that promote a thriving ministry, there are also styles that can create more harm than good. In this article, we will explore five leadership styles that prove detrimental to ministry leadership: Overbearing Leaders, Abdicating Leaders, Bottleneck Leaders, Ivory Tower Leaders, and the Friend-Leader.

The Overbearing Leader

The first style on our list is the Overbearing Leader, often characterized by their domineering and controlling nature. They are convinced their way is the only right way and rarely consider feedback or alternative solutions. They don't accept failure, mistakes, and rarely the opinions of others. They tell more than they ask or listen.

As leadership expert John C. Maxwell once said, "Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another." Unfortunately, overbearing leaders forget that leadership is a service, not a platform to wield power. They suppress the growth of others and diminish the overall team spirit within the ministry.

The Abdicating Leader

Abdicating Leaders may give the illusion of delegating, but they are, in reality, shirking their responsibilities onto others. Proper delegation involves modeling, explanation, clarification, and follow-up. It is not simply giving someone something to do. This is the polar opposite of Overbearing Leaders. Rather than being too involved, they are seldom engaged. This can lead to a lack of clear direction and authority, causing confusion and disarray in the ministry.

Renowned pastor and author Rick Warren says, "The best way to spell love is 'T-I-M-E.'" This quote also rings true for leadership because leaders must be willing to invest time in their team, guiding, teaching, and supporting them. Abdicating Leaders, who avoid this responsibility, create an environment where team members feel neglected and directionless.

The Bottleneck Leader

Bottleneck Leaders believe that every decision and activity must pass through them. They may not be as controlling and unfriendly as an overbearing leader, but they stifle their team's creativity and slow down progress with their need to touch every detail. This style often leads to frustration and low morale, as team members feel they are not trusted to make decisions on their own and will not act until a directive comes from above.

As Jossy Chacko, founder of Empart, points out, "Leaders who do not trust their team to make decisions create followers, not leaders." By inhibiting their team's ability to make decisions, Bottleneck Leaders prevent the growth of future leaders within their ministry by creating a loyal group of task managers but not a dedicated team of leaders.

The Ivory Tower Leader

Ivory Tower Leaders lead from above, often refusing to show vulnerability or connect personally with their team members. They maintain an aloof position, which can lead to a disconnection between them and the rest of the ministry. While leaders need to maintain a certain level of professionalism, being too detached can make them appear unapproachable and uncaring.

As Brene Brown puts it, "Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it's having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome." Leadership requires vulnerability. By distancing themselves, Ivory Tower Leaders miss the opportunity to genuinely connect with their team and, consequently, foster a culture of distrust that lacks openness.

The Overly Friendly Leader

Finally, we have the Overly Friend-Leader, the leader who strives to be liked by everyone, often at the cost of making tough decisions. There is nothing wrong with being friendly at relational, but leaders should not allow a desire to be liked to compromise the vision and demotivated the team. This kind of leader shy's away from conflict and may struggle to provide constructive criticism, hindering the ministry's overall growth.

As leadership speaker Robin S. Sharma states, "Leadership is not a popularity contest; it's about leaving your ego at the door." Leaders are called to make decisions for the greater good of the ministry, even when those decisions are unpopular. The Friend-Leader's aversion to discomfort can cause stagnation and prevent the ministry from reaching its full potential because it lacks needed direction and accountability. As we have learned from Boundaries in Leadership, what you allow as a leader becomes the new standard for your team.

There is another option for leadership, though. It is the Jesus-style leader.

Jesus Style Leadership

Jesus' example provides a leadership model radically different from the five problematic styles discussed. He demonstrated what is now known as "servant leadership," which emphasizes serving others over asserting authority.

An example of this is seen in the Gospel of John 13:4-5, 12-15 (NIV):

"So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him... When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. 'Do you understand what I have done for you?' he asked them. 'You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.'"

Here, Jesus shows his disciples - and by extension, all future leaders - that true leadership is not about asserting dominance (Overbearing Leadership), avoiding involvement (Abdicating Leadership), controlling all decision-making (Bottleneck Leadership), maintaining distance (Ivory Tower Leadership), or seeking popularity (Friend-Leadership). Instead, it's about serving those you lead. His leadership was humble, inclusive, empowering, approachable, and courageous.

The example of Jesus washing his disciples' feet is an invitation for all leaders, especially those in ministry, to model their leadership after His - to lead by serving, by being involved, by empowering others, by showing vulnerability, and by making necessary decisions, regardless of their popularity.

Conclusion

While every leader may have moments of overbearing control, abdication, bottlenecking, aloofness, or friendliness, it's crucial to remember that consistent patterns of these behaviors can be detrimental. Emphasizing influence over power, engagement over disconnection, empowerment over control, vulnerability over detachment, and courage over popularity can lead to a healthier, more effective ministry leadership style. Remember, in the wise words of John C. Maxwell, "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way."

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