Leaders and Love
In March 2003 I had the opportunity to interview Lorne Sanny regarding the topic of Leaders and Love. The following are my notes from that insightful conversation.
Love means we freely accept others just as they are
o Acceptance is a matter of the heart
o People know whether you love / accept them or not
Love means we always seek their highest good
o This does not mean we tolerate sin
o It does mean we speak the truth to them – Jn. 8 (woman caught in adultery)
Love means we think of others before we think of ourselves
o When returning from a trip, take a walk around the office; not to tell them about your experiences, but to find out how they are doing
Love means we always seek to affirm and encourage others
o Public affirmation goes a long way
o “Praise in public, correct in private”
o “God never gives a hard message to a hard heart to deliver.”
o Affirmation is like making deposits into a bank account, for we know that we will have to make withdrawals (corrections, rebuke) in the future
Love means we give people feedback on how they are doing
o Progress reviews, not performance reviews
o Performance means the work is already finished
o Progress implies work is in progress and we can still affect the outcome
o With my own team sought to do progress review every 3 months
o With international leaders it was once a year
o Based upon agreed upon goals, outcomes, or “focus items”
• Some personalities don’t like goals – use “focus items”
o Have them evaluate themselves by asking questions
• Many are harder on themselves than we would be, so we can affirm them and bring true perspective to them
• “The imagination is often worse than the realization”
o “Is there anything I can do to help you accomplish your goals?”
• “What do you need to accomplish this?”
o End the reviews by asking, “Is there anything you want to say to me?”
o On difficult issues, help them think by asking questions
o Don’t use progress reviews to correct problems! Do that on day-to-day basis.
o Evaluation – Romans 14:17-18 – outline for progress reviews
Developing Kingdom Leaders - Tom Yeakley 