Many leaders across the world today are looking for fulfilment in leadership, but they are not getting it. There are some who have even sought for this fulfilment in wrong places and in wrong practices, yet, the fulfillment still eludes them. But the truth of the matter is this: Every genuine fulfillment in leadership begins from the place of burden.
Listen to Podcast: Finding Fulfillment in Leadership
In the book of Luke 12:49-50, Jesus made this profound statement: “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!” Every genuine leader has one form of burden or the other. A leader without a burden is one that has no business in leadership. Somebody once said: “If you want to feel happy all the time, don’t get into leadership.” The reason is because leadership is burdensome, it is full of tasks and responsibilities that could drain one mentally, physically, and emotionally. And until these tasks and responsibilities are fulfilled, a leader cannot be said to be fulfilled.
The question then is: At what point can a leader find fulfillment in leadership? There are a number of parameters through which fulfilment can be measured in leadership and we are going to examine a few of those parameters here in this podcast.
PURPOSE
If a person does not have a specific purpose, they will never know if they are fulfilled in life or not. Also, if a person has no mission or any sense of vision, there is no way they can know where they are heading to per time. Fulfilling purpose is the mother of all fulfillment anywhere in the world. One of the fundamental questions every leader must ask is this: Am I finding purpose or fulfilling my purpose in this leadership endeavor? Once a leader cannot link his or her purpose with his leadership assignment, finding fulfillment in such a leadership would be far-fetched. In the book of Luke 4:18-21, the Bible says:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
In that Scripture, we saw that Jesus’ purpose was in alignment with His leadership assignment. There was nowhere in the gospels where it was documented that Jesus deviated from His purpose. So, to be fulfilled in leadership, a leader’s purpose and his or her leadership assignment must align.
PROVEN RESULT
A leader is fulfilled when there is a proven result in his leadership assignment. At every step of the way, the leader must be able to measure and analyze his or her progress on the job. When there is progress, there is fulfillment. A lack of progress cannot bring about any form of fulfillment. When Jesus was done with His assignment, He said “it is finished” because He knew He was fulfilled. There was nothing else to do anymore, His results were there to show it. For any leader to get to this point in his or her leadership, there must also be some level of results to show for it.
BUILDING SYSTEMS THAT WORK
Leaders are fulfilled in leadership when they know that they have systems in place that can work effectively even in times and periods when the leader is incapacitated to work. There is no fulfillment that is greater than this, that your organization can function effectively while you are away, that growth will not be hindered or hampered why you are away. This is the highest form of fulfillment. Building systems require that the leader leverage on people, and information and technology in order to achieve this. Jesus for example, leveraged on people to build His own system. Most leaders today leverage on both people and technology to enjoy this fulfilment.
In summary; once a leader is able to realize these four things: ensuring there is an alignment between his purpose and leadership assignment, have proven results, and build systems that work, especially through leveraging on people and technology, then such a leader is going so have fulfilment in his or leadership. My prayer for us as leaders is that we will all find that fulfilment we have bee yearning for in our leadership in Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is where we will draw the curtains for today, I believe you have learnt a few things that you would apply in your leadership going forward. Please, remember to share this podcast, like it, and drop your comments in the comments section so that we can get to interact with ourselves. Till next time, I remain Abiola Obayomi, God bless you.
