Leadership is One-to-One

To be a coach is to be a leader and to be a leader is to make sure you do just that, lead.  Leadership in not about setting yourself up over anybody it is about working one to one with other in order to help them see their potential and then to live out that potential. When Jesus soutght put leaders he did not seek out those that appeared on the surface to be the right choice but those who had the heart fore the job.

Right now as you are sitting down reading this you might not think of yourself as the type of person who is being called to lead anybody, but don’t worry about it most people who are called to lead are not prepared their first time either. 

In fact if you look at all the great leaders in the Bible I can’t think of one person that was called to lead who in our day and age would be called on to lead in the first place.   Think about it would you call a sheepherder (Moses) or a fisherman (the 12 disciples) to be leaders?  Through out history God never picked people to be leaders who could not lead, but He did not always pick the best choice from our perspective either.  But one thing that God does do is he picks leaders who are sensitive to His voice and who are willing to listen to His voice.

Coaching is About Leadership

Coaching is not about judging someone by who they are but is about seeing someone for who they can become.  If you think about what Jesus did with the 12 disciples he did not see them as fisherman, He saw them for who they could be with the right leadership and coaching.  Think about it in only 2 short years He took 12 guys, I know one betrayed Him but the point is that He was able to coach them as their leader to rise above adversity and to see who they were inside.

How did Jesus get the most out of who he picked to work with?  The answer is coaching Jesus style which is all about servant leadership. This type of leadership is all about using motivating and encouragement to help someone move upward to reach their potential. These types of leaders are the one who are down in the trenches helping doing what needs to be done to insure that each person insured they have an opportunity to succeed.

On the other side are what is often referred as the dictatorial leaders who are all about sitting at the top of the organization chart passing down order to others that they have to obey or else. Now which one of these leaders would you wan tot work with?

Coaching and Leadership are all about relationships

Leadership does not happen in a vacuum.  If you are leader you are a coach and as a coach it involves having a one to one relationship with someone.  It is as simple as that and as complex as that.  The simple part is just realizing that every action you make every order you give is going to be watched and analyzed by those you are leading.  With the information gained in watching you the other person is going make an assessment of your abilities to lead and motivate them. 

The complexity involves using leadership in the right way.  Coaching is all about understanding and assisting those that you are coaching.  The coach comes alongside the person being coached in order to provide knowledgeable guiding relationship.  As the other person watches and listens to the coach they learn and assimilate the information in such a way as to bring about a changed pattern of thinking and acting.  In the end the person learns what it is to be a coach and then passes that information onto the next person.  A coaching relationship is all about empowerment where the coached becomes a servant leader and in turn understands better all about relationships.

Coaching and Leadership is all about community

Christian coaching and leadership is all about teaching on an individual one to one basis, but it doesn’t end there.  Christian coaches realize that although a person will give their life to Christ as individuals they must learn and understand about being a part of a greater community.  

Christian coaches must through servant leadership show the person being coached the greater need that exists in the community.  This was one of the basic ideas that Jesus wanted to show His disciples and the way He did it was by going out into the community.  I am sure the disciples were shocked by what they saw and even more so by what Jesus did.  You see Jesus was not afraid to show love to the unloved and mercy to those who were under the oppression of people in authority and of sin.

The disciples through Jesus’ servant leadership saw the need to minister to both the physical as well as spiritual the hurts and pains of the community.  This compassion shown by Jesus and then His disciples, I think more than anything else led to the growth of the church mainly due the fact that in helping others to be healthy, growth in the church happens.  To think it all came about by Jesus’ coaching style and His ability through servant leadership to instill in His disciples the idea of community.

Coaching and Leadership are all about change

Change happens no matter whether you want it to or not.  How we react to that change that depends on our personality and our perspectives, but is also dependent on the situation.  As Christians we can react to change in five different ways depending on the situation:

We can ignore the change

If there is no acknowledgement of the change maybe it will not affect us and we do not have to react to the change

We can watch the change

If we stand off in the distance and watch what is going on maybe the change will not come close to us to affect us.

We can tolerate the change

If we feel the change is going to happen no matter what and must deal with the change we will tolerate the change out of necessity

We can embrace change

If the change is not harmful to us physically or does not seek to draw us away from the truth we can embrace the change as beneficial.

We can resist the change

If we do not like the change, feel the change is not warranted or is harmful to us in any way we can resist the change

Change is coming we must either be swept along by it, learn how to adapt to it or be the catalyst of change ourselves but no matter what you are going to have to react to it in some way.

As coaches and leaders we must be very aware that change is going to happen so we do not want to the one to be swept along by it.  Leaders and coaches are all about adapting to change and even being the catalyst of change in order to better prepare those they are coaching to deal with any given task or challenge.  Jesus prepared the disciples for what was coming so they knew what to expect and to better prepare for the change in their lives that was coming. 

Coaching is the way to work with change and to prepare and show others that change is not a bad thing it is necessary.  This is not to say that we coach others to change the Gospel message to fit the world’s standards, but that we teach others to show the world that the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus should be the standard by which they live.  This is Christian caching teach one to one in order to that each person has a vision for community