Saturday in the Word | Becoming an Extraordinary Leader

Let me recognize Your extraordinary work in my life for this season You have granted me.

I stumbled into this provocative quote reading a devotional included in a Bible reading plan titled In Pursuit of Excellence.

Excellence is a word that’s on my mind a lot lately. Not just the word but the concept of excellence.

We’ve all experienced excellence or witnessed it. We know what it is when we see it demonstrated.

What does it mean to lead with excellence? What does it take to be an extraordinary leader?

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Colossians 3:23 (NLT)

As a leader, I am challenged to bring out the best in people as our team ministers to those among us going through their worst times.

In my quest to be a better leader, I wonder what leading with excellence looks like and what it takes to be an extraordinary leader. It’s something I study and read about daily. Leading well is something I pray about and ask God to show me through His word and through the people He has put in my life. Leading with excellence is something that matters a great deal to me.

Good leaders nurture, guide, protect, and direct those under their care and authority. They seek to serve those that follow them well by helping them become better at what God has called them to do.

Doing things with excellence honors God.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

What does it take to be an extraordinary leader?

To be an extraordinary leader you need to be trustworthy and trust others. If you’re micromanaging the talent God provided you then I think you’re stifling people and abusing the Lord’s provision. You get less than, instead of above and beyond, from your people. Trust that the people God brought to you are capable of doing the work that they have been called to do. He equipped you, so He surely equipped them.

Do what only you can do and delegate the rest. Extraordinary leaders invite others to join them in the work they are doing. They identify what key things that only they can do and then provide opportunities for others to do work that is best suited for their talents, skills, and experiences.

Extraordinary leaders value people and strive to ignite their present capabilities while inspiring their future potential. They create environments that allow people to flourish and thrive today while empowering and encouraging them to grow toward the future.

I believe extraordinary leaders see the Big Picture while firmly grasping the details of the moment. They know in order to grow tomorrow they must take care of what’s in front of them today.

Extraordinary leaders are interested and invested in their people. They aren’t put out by interruptions, but seize the opportunity to shepherd the individual members of the team. In Scripture, we see Jesus do this all the time. He’s never too busy, too tired, or too stressed to take time to listen, care, or nourish those He leads because He sees himself serving those who follow His leadership.

Being an extraordinary leader takes time and practice. You have to be intentional and willing to help others be the best that they can be with the talents, skills, and experiences that the Lord has provided them.

My prayer for you is that if you desire to be an extraordinary leader that you would challenge yourself in ways that stretch you and help you understand that leadership isn’t authority to lord over others but rooted in serving others.

Let me recognize Your extraordinary work in my life for this season You have granted me.

As I cherish and celebrate the extraordinary work the Lord has done in my life, I can’t help but imagine how awesome it would be if those we serve as leaders would be able to experience that for themselves because of our influence in their lives.

Humbly,

The Devotional Guy™