The Four Dimensions of Leadership

The Four Dimensions of Leadership

 

So what does it mean to lead like Jesus on a daily basis? Blanchard says there are four dimensions: Heart, Head, Hand and Habits.

After studying both the theory and practice of leadership for more than 35 years, I have found that Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time," says Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One-Minute Manager and co-founder of The Center for FaithWalk Leadership. A prominent, gregarious author, speaker and business consultant, Blanchard is characterized by friends, colleagues and clients as one of the most insightful, powerful and compassionate men in business today.

                   

The Heart dimension involves leadership intentions. “Every day,” says Blanchard, “I have to recalibrate my intention to serve rather than to be served. That’s very important, because there are things driving you every day to be focused on yourself, rather than on the mission and the people that you are working with.”

 

 

The Head means to think like a Jesus leader. “Leadership is about going somewhere. It’s really having a clear sense of purpose of what your business is, your picture of the future and your values, and what your goals are,” Blanchard explains. Once you are clear, he says, the second part of leadership is implementation –getting people to live according to the purpose and goals. When you are talking about vision and direction, the head of the department and the president – the traditional hierarchy – must make sure everyone knows where they are going. But when you get to implementation, says Blanchard, you have to turn the  traditional pyramid upside down so that the people who are on top of the organization now are on the bottom as cheerleaders, supporters and encouragers – and that’s where servant leadership behavior kicks in.

 

The next dimension involves the Hands – or behavior. “What it really means is that you help people win through performance planning, day-to-day coaching and then performance evaluation,” Blanchard says. “The problem with most organizations is that everybody emphasizes evaluation and they don’t spend any time on planning and coaching. Planning is giving people the final exam ahead of time. Then day-to-day coaching is teaching them the answers. You’re really there as the coach/supporter and helper of people accomplishing goals.”

 

Finally, in Habits, the way you are going to stay steady as a servant leader is to make sure you enter your day slowly with some solitude, with some prayer, with some study of Scripture – things to remind you about who you want to be in the world, says Blanchard. “Everyday, I try to make sure I get up an hour before I have to do anything so I can center myself in who I want to be. I want to remind myself I am there to serve, not to be served. I need to make sure the people I work with know where we are going so I can help them get there, so I can cheer them on.”