Leadership From the Inside Out May 10, 2009

 

A life long Salvationist, originally from Long Island Newfoundland, Roxanne has been a SA Officer for 21 years. She has been happily married for 20 yrs to Larry and together they have a son Greg, 18. She loves cooking and baking and learning - actually, she considers herself a lifetime student!

 

I’m pleased to welcome Guest Blogger Roxanne Jennings to Full Potential.

  One of the questions that is often asked today is – do you have a coach?  If so, who is your coach?  I have to admit that I love the Coaching model and have done some studies on it and look forward to doing more.  And I am aware that coaching is more than just another technique to study, it is who I am.  Easy to say, not always easy to remember!  I want to learn all the techniques and practice them, yet I have had cause to reflect and the questions for reflection is:

Is coaching something else we need to learn how to DO and DO well in order to get to where we want to BE?

There is a danger of falling into a trap of believing that what we do is who we are.  I am a wife; I am a mother; I am a Salvation Army Officer; I pay the bills, that is not who I am – just what I do.

It is very difficult for us to learn to just be.  In the book  Leadership From the Inside Out, Kevin Cashmen says, “Our training, development, and educational systems focus on learning about things. We learn what to think, not how to think.  We learn what to do, not how to be.  We learn what to achieve, not how to achieve.  We learn about things, not the nature of things. We tend to fill up the container of knowledge but rarely consider comprehending it, expanding it or using it more effectively.”

If we are going to learn how to DO coaching then we are going to learn how to DO something outside of ourselves and while I believe some of that is necessary in learning the concepts and tools; we need to know who we are and lead from the inside out – to coach from our being and personhood.

We have been trained to DO adn now it will take conscious awareness to BE.

Take time to BE holy, the world rushes on;

Spend much time in secreet with Jesus alone;

By looking to Jesus, like Him though shalt be;

They friends in thy conduct his likeness shall see.

 

Take time to BE holy, BE calm in thy soul;

Each thought and each motive beneath his control;

Thus led by his spirit to fountains of love,

Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.”

(William Dunn Longstaff 1822-1894)

 

Laying Down Those Fears February 26, 2009

Fear. 

It can grip us right in the gut and control us if we let it.  My son Evan has a fear.  He doesn’t like the dark.  Not only does he not like the dark, but his brother and his dad have exacerbated the situation by jumping out at him from behind corners.  Now, Evan won’t go down to the front door (our main living area is on the second floor) to answer it or get his back pack from the front hall or go into the family room downstairs.  Night or day, he won’t go there.

We become gripped with fears too.  Perhaps not as simply laid out like Evan’s.  However complex, our fears can result in holding us back from doing the things that God is calling us to do.

Like leading.

My fears are a mixed bag of leftovers from my younger years to newly developed concerns that come with aging. 

• What will people think of what I accomplish?
• Who do I think I am?
• Do I have the ability?
• Am I healthy enough to do this?
• Will it add to the demands on my life?
• I’m getting closer to retirement – do I have enough time?

Those are just some of the things that go through my mind when I’m considering a new project or task.  This blogazine was a leap of faith and I thought, “what if nobody cares what I think about leadership? ”

Fears are as unique as each one of us.  The day I learned to face my fears was the day I heard someone I admired for all they had accomplished share their fears with me.  I was stunned!  How could this very together woman who had accomplished so much in her life have any fears?  And especially fears that were very similar to mine?  This was a woman whom everyone loved and admired – and she felt inadequate.  She worried what people would think of her.

I think the devil has been having a hey day with us, using our fears to paralyze us and to stop us from accomplishing the very thing that God has for us to do.  If we’re ever going to get beyond our fears, we must confront them head on and also confront the one who is using them against us.

When I need to confront my fears I go to a mirror.  I look in the mirror and I pray.  Eyes open, I watch myself, my facial expressions, and gaze into the eyes that stare back at me as I take my concerns to the Lord.  My eyes.  Me.  I watch as my determination grows and I tell the enemy off and order him to cease and desist. I state my intention and affirm my security in Jesus Christ.  That’s when the fears begin to fade and I find the courage to move forward.  I’m not sure why it works for me, I just know that it does.  (My worst fear in the world is that someone will walk in and hear me!)

 Cyndy Salzman commented on last week’s post and shared that reading scripture and then journalling her prayers helps her to sort things out.  When we do that often our fears will come to light and we can see them for what they are in the light of day.

We all have different methods of recognizing and dealing with our fears.  What helps you recognize and then deal with the things that sometimes have you paralyzed?  What will it take to confront those fears? 

Would you share them with us?

grace… kathie