Top 10 pitfalls in Christian Leadership

Ten warning signs to watch out for:   

• Being busy jumping from one activity to another. You have been busy through out the day with lot of activities, meetings and events and at the end of the day feeling drained and asking yourself "what have I accomplished through out the day"

• Lack of inner spiritual life feeling drained and empty. You might be having your regular quite time and Bible study but that feels like routine drudgery, no joy in doing those things and most of the times you feel like skipping it. 

• Less and less time spent with the family. You know that family is important and needs to be cherished but you would rather watch TV or read newspaper than talking to your wife or playing with your kids, you find that boring and most times get irritated with kids pranks or jokes. At home you are on a short fuse all the time. 

• Not addressing character issues but  more focused on results. You know that you are struggling with some deep character issues that needs to be dealt with urgently but you brush it aside thinking that people will never see it and will always appreciate results and productivity so focus on that. 

• Having a sense of entitlement or "I need those perks and privileges mentality". thinking that you have reached where you are because of your ability and talents and you are entitled for this position and all the privileges that comes along with it. 

• Sudden outbursts of anger and outrageous behaviour. You sometimes wonder where did that come from, it is not you, but you just burst out in anger and lashed at people leaving you wondering why?

• Not keen on listening to others but more intent on speaking. you cut people short and speak- in and even while you are not speaking you are thinking of what you should say, paying no attention to what others are saying. 

• Becomes defensive and angry with feedback especially from subordinates. when some one walks up to you and gives a negative feedback about you, you tend to flare up and be defensive instead of introspecting and acknowledging.

• Inordinate desire for power and to be in control. "I need to make all those decisions" mentality. Humility is a great virtue and acknowledging that there are others better than me is wisdom. 

• Actions not matching the words in fact doing the opposite of what you preach. When our life is not congruent with what we speak people see that easily and we loose credibility to lead them.

Beware of these red flags in your life, if you see any of these warning signals in your leadership take a pit-stop  and do the following:

• Take time to Evaluate your life and leadership - ask for feed back, be open and honest.
• Identify the problem and look for patterns. 
• Take ownership of the pattern and identify the consequences of not dealing with it.
• Take corrective steps to deal with the issue
• Share it with a close friend and ask him to hold you accountable.
• Pray and ask God for His wisdom to deal with it.