Queen's Road Cell

Edmund Chan says here that "leadership is a process, not an event". Failure to understand due process is a reason for ineffective leadership - leadership without traction (= pulling ability). He gives 7 processes in visionary leadership: 1. Leadership by rhetoric - communicating the vision. 2. Leadership by equipping - telling followers not only what to do, but why and how it can be done. 3. Leadership by example - followers need to see vision being modeled by their leaders. The latter must lead by example, not by exhortation. 4. Leadership by mobilization. We must lead people to change - refusing to settle for agreement, but moving on to involvement and resonance. 5. Leadership by infrastructuring. This is the difficult task of decentralizing authority into smaller groups and assigning responsibility to their leaders to get everyone involved. 6. Leadership by encouragement. We point people to God, who is great, and who acts on our behalf. 7. Leadership by empo...

Edmund Chan's first comment in this chapter is that "Many churches and organizations are over-managed and under-led" So I ask: what is the difference between management and leadership? I think management refers more to a process, whereas leadership has to do with how the process is led by an individual. Blindly following or executing a process is not leadership. There are personal qualities of a leader that make successful accomplishments and change possible. Managers try to maintain the status quo, whereas leaders aim to make things go better. Leaders have a personal concern for people. He mentions 5 core skills of leadership: Having a vision to work forward to for the future, in capturing (grasping), casting (communicating), concretizing (taking practical steps) and commissioning (helping followers own the vision for themselves. Ability to communicate with and mentor different people in a team in a way that makes the leader accessible. Allowing team members crea...