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Leaders or Drivers - New Forms of Leadership

By Bill Allen.

In recent years there have been many calls for a new form of inspirational leadership from within the fields of business, commerce, education and industry. Evidence of this is reflected in the vast array of books that have been published that attempt to describe this new millennium leadership. A single quotation from the book, 21st Century Leadership, serves to illustrate the passionate nature of this call:

In recent years, major shifts have put great pressures on leaders in every sector. These enormous changes - brought about by increased global competition, and economic, political and social upheaval - demand leadership that is so completely revolutionary that it challenges all our old paradigms, our models for thinking and acting.1

The Demand For New Leadership

The demand for New Leadership is indicative of the way in which thinking about leadership is changing within the fields mentioned above. It may seem inappropriate to begin a discussion about Christian leadership by first considering what is happening in leadership in the world. The reason for doing so, however, is because if we are to understand leadership in the Christian domain, particularly leadership within the field of the local church, then some appreciation of what is happening in the thinking about leadership models and studies in the academic field is necessary. The way in which leadership is exercised within the church is often greatly influenced by the importation of leadership principles and practice from other disciplines. The influence of the functional theory of leadership, developed by John Adair, visiting professor at the Centre for Leadership Studies based at Exeter University, upon the exercise of leadership in the local church is a case in point.

As with many things, this call for New Leadership has come about because of basic dissatisfaction with the way leadership has been understood and practised in business, commerce and industry. To appreciate what is being demanded we need to be aware of the present dissatisfactions. There are three which are pertinent to leadership in the church:

1. The culture of traditional leadership. Most of the traditional approaches to leadership were developed for very different times and different tasks than our own. They linked leadership chiefly to males and often excluded certain ethnic and social groups from leadership roles. The present climate, it is suggested, demands a transformation of the culture of leadership for a future that will open up the possibility of leadership for a wider range of people, including those from ethnic minorities and women.
2. The changing environment of leadership. The diversity of pressures such as financial crises, changing legislation, globalisation and the progressive march of new technology, have led to a crisis of leadership in the world of business, commerce and industry. Tom Peters, in his book, Liberation Management, quotes William Shakespeare - "when the sea was calm, all ships alike showed mastership in floating."2 The sea of the world of business and commerce is no longer calm! The environment is stormy because of the pace and scope of change, and the cry is for leaders who can chart a course and steer the ship through the unknown and stormy waters.
3. The treatment of those who are followers. It is suggested, again, that traditional theories of understanding leadership have kept people locked into relationships and roles that stifle their personal abilities and leave them with their potential undeveloped. Alison Piasecka expresses this dissatisfaction most forcibly in her article, Developing Upside Down Leaders. She points to what, she believes, the traditional models of leadership actually do to followers:

One of the central difficulties is that many of our models of leadership actually require us to be sheep for the shepherd - in other words, the leader must exist precisely because we are not capable ourselves and will not become capable until the leader energises and organises us. This has meant that our prevailing models of leaders have been moulded around the incapability of people. 3

The dissatisfactions with traditional models and understandings of leadership that are being registered, include a culture of leadership out of touch with the times, styles of leadership unable to respond to the rapidly changing environment and models of leadership which stifle the creative potential of men and women. What then is the nature of the New Leadership that is being called for?

1. The Character Of The Leader

The exponents of New Leadership seek to focus attention, first, upon the character of the leader in a way that is different from the past. It could be argued that traditional leadership theories emphasise the importance of the leader's character, but they have focused largely upon qualities of character, such as honesty and enthusiasm. The best expression of the traditional view is in John Adair's statement that "the leader should exemplify or personify the qualities expected from within the group". 4

In the call for New Leadership, however, the difference is that the emphasis is being focused not upon the qualities of the leader, important though these still are, but upon the leader's beliefs and values and how these influence and shape the life and mission of the organisation. It is the beliefs and values of the leader, which are recognised to be powerful in shaping the ethos of the organisation. Rather than continuing to be viewed as the heroic leader who stands apart from everyone else, because of some rare or outstanding qualities, the new leader is perceived as a "leader of leaders, who is recognisable in the qualities and in the development of the followers".5

The call for New Leadership is one that is looking for a strong co-relation between the beliefs and values of the leader and the way leadership is exercised. Followers are increasingly demanding credibility from their leaders, where action and behaviour of the leader reflect the beliefs and values being promoted within the organisation.

2. The Identity Of The Followers

The New Leadership being called for is founded upon a basic principle that people contribute most enthusiastically, "when they are valued first and foremost as people and when their thinking and ideas are encouraged and become an integral part of the process of managing and running the organisation." 6

There is a growing call for a change in attitude from leaders towards followers. Leaders are being urged to accept that it is inappropriate now, if it ever was appropriate, to continue the use of the metaphor of sheep to describe people. The emphasis is placed upon the fact that followers possess intelligence, creativity and initiative. Leaders are being called to recognise that "with every pair of hands comes a free brain".

Followers can no longer be treated as 'sheep'. The call is for a form of leadership which will empower followers and replace the dependency mode created by the leadership models of the past. The demand, then, is for New Leadership that "will create the conditions and structures which will enable everyone to use their full intelligence, work together to develop shared goals, and form effective relationships with one another". 7

3. The Nature Of Leadership

The third change called for takes us to a consideration of the new tasks of leadership. This has been described as being the work of creating the environment in which people will give of their best to the cause. Writing in his book, The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge calls for "leaders (who) are responsible for building organisations where people continually expand their capabilities to understand complexity, clarify vision, and improve shared mental models - that is they are responsible for learning".8

Supporters of the traditional theories of leadership will, no doubt, see aspects of their preferred theory in the content of the New Leadership and, perhaps, claim that there is little that is really new here at all. It could be argued that what is being called for is a renewed emphasis of some of the neglected features of the traditional theories which have been forgotten in the fast moving changes that have taken place in the world.

However the case is argued, one thing is evident and that is that the call for New Leadership is an attempt to re-focus upon the leader's beliefs and values, the importance of the followers in the leadership process and the nature of leadership as an empowering role.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CHURCH

The call for 'New Leadership' from the fields indicated should not be ignored because the same call is being echoed by Christian writers on the subject of leadership for the local church. Leighton Ford, for example, in his book, Jesus The Transforming Leader, states ".... there is today a widespread call not just for leadership but for a new kind of leadership, a transformational leadership, if you will".9 The call for New Leadership has implications for leadership in the church which need to be examined.

The Character Of The Leader

The first component of the call for New Leadership brings us to the most personal dimension, the character of the leader. There is a thread which runs through some of the letters of the New Testament where the role of those with the oversight of the emerging Christian groups is discussed. It is clear that the leader in the local church is to model the way of life expected from those who become followers of Christ.

The New Leadership emphasis upon the importance of the character of the leader is a reminder that, along with qualities of character, the beliefs and values of the Christian leader are crucial in ministry. There is an old joke that 'churches believe whatever their present minister believes'! Experience suggests that is not entirely wide of the mark. It is, however, much more serious than the standing joke when it is realised that the minister, as leader, is expected to be the person who does exemplify and personify the qualities expected from within the Christian group.

In the church, the beliefs and values that leaders hold are crucial to the integrity and the sustainability of ministry. Ministers will not earn credibility as leaders unless they demonstrate integrity in the field of beliefs and values which connect to appropriate attitudes and behaviours.

This raises an issue linked to the education and training for leadership that needs to be an integral part of ministerial formation. How might opportunities be provided for potential leaders training for the ministry to integrate their personal beliefs and values with the knowledge and skills being learned? How might those already in the ministry be helped to appreciate how powerfully their personal beliefs and values provide the model for life and relationships within the church?

Generally, it is the minister who sets the pattern for the relationships and interactions carried out within the church. This is one of the key roles of the minister as leader. How can training be given for those preparing for leadership in the church to appreciate the impact that the character of the minister has upon the church and how might this be sustained beyond college in the ministry?

It does not seem possible to offer classes or modules in the curricula of theological colleges that will teach people how to develop and express qualities of Christian leadership. This is not so much about what the leader knows or does but what he or she is!

The provision of a base of appraisal and mentoring for leaders in training and in the on-going ministerial life is crucial. These two 'developmental' activities, appraisal and mentoring, can provide a forum in which leaders may reflect upon the character dimension of life and ministry. Through them they can engage in a continuous process of reflection upon their beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviour.

With effective feedback from appraisers and mentors personal development in this crucial area can take place through each ongoing phase of ministry. If the character dimension of leadership in ministry is to be taken seriously at all, then appraisal and mentoring must become an accepted part of the life-long ministerial calling.

For the sake of credibility and integrity there must be consistency between the beliefs and values espoused by the minister and attitudes and action engaged in inter-personal relationships. Integrity must be the hallmark of the leadership given in the church since, like it or not, the credibility of the Christian faith, in the minds of those outside the church, will rest finally on the ways in which the leaders and followers alike reflect the spirit of Jesus Christ in their lives.

The Nature of Leadership

Leadership in the church presents its own particular problems, whether the structures are hierarchical or congregational. For the latter groups, such as the Baptists, leadership presents special problems in that they belong to a tradition that broke away from overly hierarchical church structures and from leadership located in individual clergy of varying rank.

In different ways, these were replaced with a focus on the independence and authority of each local congregation and a strong resistance to any individual who sought to wield power or claim personal authority over that congregation.

The ramifications of this still reverberate today in what are sometimes fierce debates over the nature of leadership and whether leadership is possible, within the congregationally governed church, where the autonomy of the members is fiercely defended. There is still, in some quarters, strong resistance to any one individual being recognised as leader or claiming leadership for him/herself and powerful theological arguments for ministers to be recognised as pastors and not leaders. To use a Baptist cliché, "the church meeting rules OK!" But not without difficulty. In the church meeting, where ministers and members sought the mind of Christ together, it has always been possible for strong-minded or strong-willed individuals to take or be given leadership in what is intended to be a corporate decision-making group. The difficulty is that from time to time, churches have not been averse to looking for or accepting strong individuals who will give inspiration, vision and direction on a local, regional and national scale. The subtle difference between decision-making and leadership sometimes remains unrecognised.

The struggle is with the tension of a belief in a non-hierarchical, congregational form of church polity, and the place of strong-willed, strong-minded, and, occasionally prophetic, individuals who would be given or take leadership and influence the church, for good or ill.

If the task of leadership, in New Leadership thinking, is to create the environment where people give of their best then there is a need to develop leaders who can provide the inspiration and the trust to create the vision, build the team (the church), and support the individuals within the body of Christ, thus facilitating the process where each person believes that the church is the place which allows them to rise to their full potential in Christ.

The Identity of the Followers

The call for New Leadership has implications for how ministers, as leaders, understand the people to whom they minister. In the vocabulary of the church, the dominant metaphor used to describe the relationship between the minister and members of the congregation is that of 'pastor and flock', 'shepherd and sheep'. The church seems more comfortable with a minister who is a 'pastor' rather than a 'leader' for a number of reasons, theological and otherwise. This is in spite of the fact that the minister is often implicitly expected to lead.

One criticism of the metaphor of the minister as 'pastor' is that it can place people in the church in the same position as those in other leadership situations, that is, of being treated as dependent followers because of the persistent reliance upon the analogy that people equal sheep. The care which the pastor gives to the people under his/her charge can degenerate into a high-dependency relationship in which the follower comes to expect that the pastor will take on the role of the unseen God and become a seen problem-solver for the difficulties of life.

It is possible that over-use or misuse of the pastor and sheep analogy can lead to a devaluing of the dignity and potential of each person, made in the image of God. Defenders of the traditional pastoral imagery and role will suggest that it is only the bad pastor who will create such dependency in the flock, but it is quite possible that the good pastor can, unintentionally, cause such a reaction over a lengthy period of time with sustained teaching on the shepherd/sheep analogy.

There is a more helpful metaphor which the apostle Paul uses to think about relationships between individuals in the church when he considers the similarity to the human body. It is interesting to note that in his letters Paul appears to discard the human/animal metaphors of the gospels for alternatives based upon human/human relationships. The metaphor of the church as a human body with its interdependence and connectedness seems much more conducive to the task of ministry i.e. leading men and women to maturity in Christ, as expressed in Ephesians 4, for example.

There does not seem to be any reason why this maturity should be thought of only in terms of spiritual growth. Paul seems to have in mind a more fully integrated picture of people "growing up in every way into Christ" which must include, along with spiritual development, taking responsibility for one's choices and decisions in life and playing a meaningful and satisfying part in the life of the church. This seems to echo the call and the demand of New Leadership for a proper regard and respect for the potential of the people God has called us to work with.

In conclusion then, there is a call for a new kind of leadership in the world today which has implications for leadership in the church. The call in the world for credible leaders is echoed in the church in a call for ministers whose beliefs and values are matched by congruent attitudes and actions, who exemplify and personify the qualities expected within the church.

It is a call for credible leaders who work to create environments where people give of their best to the cause of Jesus Christ in the church and in the world. It is a call for credible leaders who enable women, men and young people to fulfil their God-given potential.

To address this call for New Leadership within the local church demands a re-examination of the traditional syllabus of theological colleges and other institutions that train men and women for the ministry. There is a need to include leadership studies of an appropriate academic level and equivalent leadership skills training. Only thus will the leadership dimensions of the office and function of the minister be properly dealt with during the period of training and only then will people equipped for the leadership role expected, if not demanded of them.

The Revd Dr Bill Allen is Regional Minister for the Yorkshire Baptist Association. Prior to this ministry, he was Director of Pastoral Studies at Spurgeon's College in London where he developed leadership modules in the BD and Masters in Applied Theology courses. He was recently awarded his doctorate for his PhD thesis on the provision of education and training for leadership in the ordained ministry.