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Spontaneous leadership is about responding to problems in quick time with a plan of action. There is no leadership problem, no matter how big or small, that does not have a response approach. When you understand the response approach, then you will tackle the problem headlong. Most times, when problems degenerate into something that is beyond control, the reason is because leadership have failed to respond swiftly. One of the many skills a leader is expected to have amongst other things, is the ability to act spontaneously or act swiftly. Leaders are expected to be able to think through a problem irrespective of how long or short the time they have at hand. In the story of Jesus and Peter in Matthew 17:24-27, the Bible says:
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When they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel [temple tax] went up to Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the half-shekel?” 25 Peter answered, “Yes.” And when he came home, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly rulers collect duties or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?” 26 When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are exempt [from taxation]. 27 However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take it and give it to them [to pay the temple tax] for you and Me.”
This story showed us what it means to think spontaneously as a leader. Judas was the treasurer of Jesus’ ministry, but the Bible didn’t show us where he was at this point in time, lest, he would have paid for their taxes. But Jesus still was not boxed by that. He knew how to get out of the mess without attracting any negative public attention to Himself and Peter. Leadership is about proffering real-time solutions to real-time problems. Our inability to provide these solutions simply means that we are losing touch with the reality of our leadership.
Exodus 2:1-10
“And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. 2 So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. 4 And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. 5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. 6 And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So, she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?” 8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So, the maiden went and called the child’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So, the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So, she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Miriam’s spontaneous response was what saved Moses from being maltreated. Eventually, Moses grew up in the palace of Pharaoh and became a mighty leader of the children of Israel. The reason why problems get compounded in leadership is because we allowed them to pile up. Instead of responding to them as they come, and treating them once and for all, we allow them enough time to fester and they become a clog in the wheel of progress of our leadership.
So, spontaneous leadership helps you to tackle the problem as they come and not pile them up. It also allows us to think through on the spot, the response approach require because every leadership problem is peculiar, and the solution require must be peculiar to the problem at hand. Learn spontaneous leadership as a leader, and you will see yourself scaling through every leadership challenge that you are face with.
Thank you.
