What Kind of Leader are You?


What makes an organization great? What separates two companies that sell the same product to the same people where one is incredibly successful and the other is a dismal failure? Several books, including Jim Collins classic, Good to Great, explores these questions and attempts to answer them.

John Maxwell says that everything rises and falls on leadership. Show me a strong organization, ministry or business, I can show you a strong leader at the helm. Collins says a level 5 leader is what takes an organization from being just good to great.  While few of us will every reach level 5, we can all endeavor to be better leaders, and in turn, make the ministries and businesses we serve in better.
So here are the 5 levels of leadership as outlined by Collins.
  1. Highly Capable Individual: This is the most basic level, where we start out and people start to give us more responsibility and tasks to complete. These people don’t really lead others, but they are beginning to lead themselves.
  2. Contributing Team Member: The second level begins to look beyond themselves and starts to help others. These leaders realize that they can’t make the organization better without being a part of the team and thus, begins to help the team with little regard for personal gain.
  3. Competent Manager: The third level leader has moved past the team stage and has begun to lead the team. They see problems and solve them with the power of the team. They are able to rally a group of people around a single task and can accomplish it with proficiency.
  4. Effective Leader: Most leaders stop their growth here. Many great leaders with a lot of notoriety achieve this level. This leader is a catalyst for teams and brings multiple skills, talents, and abilities together to accomplish great things. Many of these leaders, especially the most famous, are out to make a name for themselves first and the ministry or business second.
  5. Level 5 Executive: This final level of leadership is the pinnacle. They have put their egos aside and dedicated themselves to the success of their business regardless of their role in it. They are meek and humble, but have an incredible force of will to accomplish the mission. Some examples of level 5 leaders are George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Jesus teaches that we are to be a servant to all. A level 5 leader is the epitome of a servant leader. We should all strive to serve others and thereby expand the Kingdom of God.

While there are many tools out there to assess your level of leadership this one from mindtools.com can begin to give yourself an idea and what you can work on in the future.

So what level do you find yourself on?

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