Leadership task can sometimes be daunting. When it appears that this is the case in your own leadership assignment, there are a number of factors that are usually the cause of it and I want us to go straight into the word of God to see some of these factors and how we can overcome them as leaders. 1 Samuel 17. This is an account about King Saul, David and Goliath, the champion of the Philistine army at the time.
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“Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim. 2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 8 Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” 10 And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”
1 Samuel 17:1-4, 8-11
The very first factor that is responsible for making leadership task daunting is FEAR. The Bible made it clear in verse 11: “when Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” They were not just afraid, they became “greatly afraid” to show us the intensity of the fear that came upon all of them. Fear weakens a leader and his leadership. Fear weakens a leader’s ability to think straight and take proper initiative. A leader that is always afraid to launch out because he or she does not want to be perceived a failure would never achieve so much in leadership. Great leaders conquer their fears.
Because of constant threats from Goliath to the army of Israel, Saul, who was their leader and the entire army became afraid simply because the leader in the person of Saul does not have the courage to step out and lead. When a leader is afraid in the face of opposition, automatically, there is nothing the followers can do. To be effective in leadership, you need to overcome your fear. For David to have had the courage to step out against Goliath implies that he was not afraid.
Another key factor that makes leadership task daunting is when a leader doesn’t have a superior perception about himself or herself or about the situation at hand. It is very important that leaders perceive themselves correctly and the situation correctly. King Saul perceived himself as the one that leads and commands the armies of Israel. But David didn’t see them as the armies of Saul or Israel, but the armies of the living God. 1 Samuel 17:26 says: “Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
If leadership assignment will not become daunting for you as a leader, then you must operate from superior knowledge. Whether we like it or not, the two expressions do not connote the same thing: the armies of Israel and the armies of the living God. They don’t mean the same. That superior knowledge was what gave David the courage the face Goliath. This is very vital in leadership. As a leader, always operate from the standpoint of superior knowledge. You cannot afford to be on the same level with the situation and challenges that you are trying to proffer solution to. You need to always operate from a knowledge higher than that knowledge.
Another factor that makes leadership task daunting is when a leader has not yet recognized or find the cause of his or leadership. The cause of your leadership talks about the reason for your leadership. You must discover the cause or why you have been made a leader at such a time as this. This is very important. If you jump to verse 29 of the same chapter of 1 Samuel 17, it says: “And David said, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?” 30 Then he turned from him toward another and said the same thing; and these people answered him as the first ones did.” David knew that there was a cause behind him coming to the battle ground at that time. Leadership is about a cause. If you are ever going to succeed in leadership, you must be able to find or recognize your own leadership cause.
Why are you a leader? What have you been chosen to accomplish? What exactly is the cause of the assignment before you? Great leaders begin by providing answers to the following questions and the answers they provided becomes the compass that guides them throughout their leadership assignment.
Another factor that makes leadership task daunting for many leaders is because they lack reference points. Reference points in this context talks about those moments in your journey of leadership that you have excelled and succeeded in the past. For example, it could be a moment when a particular daunting task was finally resolved or it could be how a leader has managed to take his or her organization or nation out of obscurity or recession into prosperity. Anything that has been a landmark achievement in the life of a leader or in his leadership assignment could be his or her reference point towards conquering greater and more daunting task ahead or in the future.
David said to Saul in verse 34-36: “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.” Those were David’s reference point so far in his leadership journey. He so much believed that if he could kill a bear and a lion in the past, killing Goliath would be a work-over. When it feels like the task ahead of you as a leader is getting more daunting and they are already weighing you down, simply take break and think about your successes in the past. Thinking about them would trigger some level of confidence in you to forge ahead and face the task before you. If you have ever gotten to the zenith of Mt. Kilimanjaro once, that can give you enough confidence to attempt climbing to the top of Mt. Everest. So, as you journey in leadership, don’t despise the little days of progress and successes that you have recorded, they would end up becoming a booster to excelling in other difficult tasks that are ahead of you. Even the Bible says we should not despise the days of little beginnings.
To be continued…
I believe you have learnt something!
This is where we will call it a day on today’s episode of Leaderview. Please don’t forget to share this podcast/blog post with your friends, drop your comments in the comments section and let me know your thoughts on what we have shared with ourselves today. Till next time on Leaderview, stay blessed and God bless you.
[Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
