Creativity Gift

The Strategic Leader

Highlights

· Strategic planners who construct the design or architecture of any significant ministry venture

· Once the strategic plan is completed, they may become less involved in the project, other than to provide general oversight

· Very task-oriented individuals who value reasonable, logical ministry systems and structures

· Bring to the team a plan for organization, role definitions and project time lines

· Bring order and structure that transforms a dream into a vision, and a vision into manageable, practical steps

Report

Leaders who can break down visions and large aims into manageable chunks are vital for the church. Strategic Leaders have the insight and focus to work out ways of achieving the vision and are able to persuade the rest of the church to accept this plan. When Nehemiah led the Jews in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, he demonstrated great strategic leadership in delegating the work. The result was that the walls were rebuilt in 52 days.

Strategic Leaders can bring common sense to difficult tasks. They are able to help people see how the seemingly impossible can be achieved. Strategic leaders are at their strongest in the early stages of a vision or project when the “dream” needs to be delineated into a plan. The Strategic Leader is a systems architect. The Strategic Leader will design the road map for accomplishing a vision, but like an architect who designs buildings, may have a limited role once the strategy has been defined. Strategic Leaders can capture the vision of the Pioneering Leader and convey a strategy for accomplishing the vision within a detailed written plan. Similarly, they can capture the detail needs of an Administrative Leader and produce a detailed plan for systems refinement. The Strategic Leader is equally comfortable working with entrepreneurial projects as well as refining established programs, systems or organizations. While the Strategic Leader may also have some level of skill as an entrepreneur, administrator or team leader, it is the planning and design aspects of any project that the Strategic Leader will most value. The Strategic Leader will likely receive the greatest personal satisfaction when he or she is able to observe how their strategies have enabled other people to serve Christ more efficiently and effectively.

Strategic Leaders are very task-oriented. Strategic Leaders typically claim that they care deeply about people…and will likely cite their passion to help ministry systems to function more effectively as justification. However, because they are naturally task oriented, they may unfortunately be perceived by others as being controlling and lacking in sensitivity. The Strategic Leader is typically unaware of how other people may be feeling in this regard. After all, to them, their plan is a work of art. They are convinced that if their plans are implemented properly, that everyone will benefit in the end. When people do not affirm their plans, the Strategic Leader may respond with confusion, assuming that they must have missed some valuable information, they will typically conduct more research and re-work their plan in an effort to gain wider acceptance. Ultimately, if the plan is rejected, the Strategic Leader will either receive the rejection personally…feeling that the decision makers have rejected the Strategic Leader as a person…or they may respond with self-righteousness and indignation, perceiving the decision makers to be foolish. In reality, it is common that such rejection occurs when the Strategic Leader has devised such a detailed and intricate plan, that it simply appears overwhelming to the average person. The Strategic Leader will benefit greatly by conveying their plans in a manner which considers the needs of differing personality types and the unique ways in which each person processes information. Strategic Leaders should share information on a “Need-to-know” basis…in other words, share only those aspects of the plan that a particular individual needs to know, that will benefit their ability to minister more effectively. Such restraint is difficult for many Strategic Leaders because they can easily become enamored by the complexity of detail associated with their strategies. In their passion, they want others to appreciate all that they have created. Unfortunately, the pool of people who will truly be able to grasp the entirety of any strategic plan is generally quite limited.

In a team context, the Strategic Leader will bring to the team a plan for organization, role definitions, and project time lines. The Strategic Leader should be given responsibility for designing the architecture for project implementation. Once the road map to success has been defined, and each team member understands their roles and responsibilities, the Strategic Leader may be more comfortable allowing others on the team to lead the project to its conclusion. In an entrepreneurial venture, the Strategic Leader may acquiesce to the Pioneering Leader. In a project requiring refinement, the Strategic Leader may acquiesce to the Administrative Leader or Team Leader.

Because of the relational challenges typically experienced within with in a team environment, Strategic Leaders should have responsibility over the task-elements of a project, while the human elements of the project should be addressed by a Team Leader. Similarly, the Strategic Leader typically prefers to stay in the planning stages of a project and may become frustrated when having to deal with implementation of the many practical tasks. Implementation details should be addressed by an Administrative Leader. The Strategic Leader is generally ill-equipped to pastor and encourage the team for any extended period of time.

It is important that the Strategic Leader realizes that they cannot accomplish their plan alone…they need their team members and the team members need the Strategic Leader. 1 Corinthians 12 affirms that the Body of Christ is comprised of many different members who all need one another. It also affirms that God positions the members of the body, just as he has determined. God created the Strategic Leader and positioned him or her strategically in this world, at this particular time, and within specific churches because God intends for them to design ministry systems that will propel the Kingdom of Christ forward within a world that desperately needs to know the power and love of the God who himself designed this world.

Close Window