The Zone Gathering

This is Part 2 of the Laying the Foundation series on Thursday Leadership Lesson. As we build our groups and ministries, we must ensure that we are building on a solid foundation. This series will explore characteristics of leaders who lay and build on firm foundations. Today, we will talk about character.

Why do people follow you? Is it because you have a title or position? Is it because you wield some level of power? Is it because you have a magnetic personality or reputation? There are many reasons why someone might decide to follow you, but there is only one reason that will be sustainable over the long-haul: character.

We talk a lot around here about character and integrity because we believe the best leaders are those who lead themselves well. At the leadership retreat, we focused on the importance of personal integrity as related to being Living Stones that God can use. We talked about how to set goals and establish habits that would help us become people of character. Today, I want to take a step back to remind us of what character is.

In A Fish Out of Water, George Barna explains, “The word character is derived from a Greek term that refers to engraving, implying that character is the sum of the indelible marks imprinted on you which shape your thoughts and behavior. Character is your inner substance—the content of your heart that is manifested through your behavior and values.”

That means everything we do plays a role in creating our character. Every time we think something, say something, make a decision, do something or leave something undone, we are forming our character.

People follow leaders of character, and they follow because the leader displays a character that they can trust. Let’s look at three trust-builders: honesty, consistency of character, and fulfillment of promises.

Honesty
In Proverbs 16:30, we learn how far honesty can take us: “Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value a man who speaks truth.” As a child, I was taught that “honesty is the best policy,” and I still believe that is correct. There were times on Capitol Hill when I struggled to know how to “play” or “communicate” a situation, and I am ashamed to say that I was often surprised to find that honesty is the best choice. Plain, clear-cut honesty.

A lie is a lie, and lies chip away at your integrity regardless of how white they are. But honesty goes further than truth vs. false. Honesty is also about telling the whole truth. We need to say what we mean and mean what we say. Over time, honesty will sustain us and build trust between us and those we lead. Like Jacob in Genesis 30:33, we must be people who can say, “My honesty will testify for me in the future.”

Consistency of Behavior
Trust is also built when we display consistency of character. Nineteenth-century clergyman Phillip Brooks said, “Character is made in the small moments of our lives.” Thinking back to my Capitol Hill days, I once worked with a person that was completely unpredictable. I never knew from one minute to the next what mood they might be in, how they might react to my proposals, and how willing they would be to work with me. It changed hourly. That type of working environment is very difficult. It’s so much easier to work with people who are consistent despite their mood or circumstances. Consistency of behavior means that we are the same person in public as we are in private and that we treat people the same regardless of what they can do for us. It means that we make hard decisions and that our actions match our words.

Sometimes, we are more concerned with our reputations than with our character. Dale Carnegie: “Be more concerned about your character than your reputation, Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

Consistency of character build a safety net for the people who follow you.

Fulfillment of Promises
Trust is built as you fulfill your promises. How often have I told someone I would pray for them when I had absolutely no intention of putting that person on my weekly prayer list? I’ve discovered it’s much better for me to pray right there and then for the person rather than giving the appropriate Christian promise with no intention of fulfilling it. As leaders, we must be very careful in what promises we state and in what promises we imply. What commitments are we making to God, ourselves, our church, and our groups? And are we fulfilling them?

Test Yourself
We need to regularly and intentionally check our character. The following questions have been very helpful for me when I need to give myself a character self-check. They are from John Maxwell’s Becoming a Person of Influence.

1. How well do I treat people from whom I can gain nothing?
2. Am I transparent with others?
3. Do I role-play based on the person(s) I am with?
4. Am I the same person when I’m in the spotlight as I am when I’m alone?
5. Do I quickly admit wrongdoing without being pressed to do so?
6. Do I put other people ahead of my personal agenda?
7. Do I have an unchanging standard for moral decisions, or do circumstances determine my choices?
8. Do I make difficult decisions, even when they have a personal cost attached to them?
9. When I have something to say about people, do I talk to them or about them?
10. Am I accountable to at least one other person for what I think, say, and do?

As we seek to lay a solid foundation, we must ensure that our character is solid. Any crack in our integrity will render our ministry structures unstable. I’m the first to admit that I’m not there. None of us will ever arrive. It takes ongoing effort and intentionalityand remaining rooted in the Scriptures. Maybe that’s why I talk about it so much– it’s accountability for myself to be continuously growing into a person of character.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 15th, 2007 at 11:38 am and is filed under Foundations, Leadership Lessons, News and Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.