Leaders, preventive leadership

Preventive leadership involves a style of leadership that prevents the occurrence of certain crises.

People involved with the preventive style of leadership often hold training conferences, shepherds’ camps, teaching seminars and workshops.  

Such leaders are more relaxed and more in control of the organisations they lead.

There are fewer crises under the preventive style of leadership. 

• With preventive leadership, you teach your people what you want them to know.

Knowledge, indeed, gives power to the one who has it. When you have a lower amount of knowledge, you are weak in that area.

The one with a lot of knowledge about anything has much more power than the one with a lower amount of knowledge.

The one with an MPhil degree or a doctorate in History qualifies to teach you when you enrol for an undergraduate degree in History.

And you are very comfortable with that because he has a far greater knowledge of History than you do.

It is possible to get whatever you desire from your subordinates by teaching them.

Every subject on Earth is taught by someone. Learn to teach to achieve your desired results.

As a leader, you need to seek to impart knowledge by teaching.

This will transform the people you lead into the type of people you would want them to be.

Teach them what you want them to know.

They will gain this knowledge and you will benefit greatly from having people who understand what you are doing and who maintain the aim you have.

Teaching your people what you want them to know saves you from having to run to deal with one emergency after another. His people gain the requisite knowledge.

They are available to solve problems and this eliminates the possibility of having all kinds of issues that demand your attention and create crises which could be prevented. 

• In preventive leadership, regular conferences, retreats and camps are held.

These are opportunities for teaching and discussion. Most serious workers are interested in learning about their jobs.

They aim to get better at their jobs, so they are glad to be trained in their areas of operation, as well as other areas.

Holding regular conferences and camps gives you many opportunities to take your team away and teach them off-site.

The great advantage of this is that there is no interruption in the retreat, camp or conference as the team goes away to concentrate on the affairs of the organisation. 

• In preventive leadership, the leader distinguishes between unimportant but urgent requests and important but non-urgent duties.

Jesus was summoned urgently to attend to Lazarus but it was more important for him to do other things first.

He did not rush around to unplanned activities unless it was absolutely necessary.

A leader needs to be able to distinguish between requests that require abandonment of scheduled activities and ones that do not.

A wise leader will not rush around to unplanned activities unless it is absolutely necessary.

Now, a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

(It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

Therefore, his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

When he had heard, therefore, that he was sick, he abode for two days still in the same place where he was. John 11:1-6

A pastor has many “important, non-urgent” duties.

A pastor must spend time in prayer, in the study of the Word and in sharing the Word of God.

Praying and studying the Word does not sound as urgent as writing cheques to sort out administrative issues.

Yet, a leader who attends to his “non-urgent but important” duties will achieve more.

• In preventive leadership, the leader delegates whenever he can.

Jesus ministered for three years and delegated the rest of the work to his disciples.

He had no delusions about what he could accomplish on His own.

He did not even attempt to go beyond the borders of Israel to minister.

He delegated that aspect of his ministry to his disciples.

His role was to minister to the Jews and to die on the cross.

He stayed with his assignment and delegated the rest to us.

But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matthew 15:24

Preventive leadership is a far more effective style of leadership.

The preventive style of leadership looks ahead and puts measures in place to prevent a crisis.

You are far better off using the preventive style of leadership! 

The writer is the founder of the Lighthouse Group of churches.

E-mail: theaol@ymail.com