You don’t have to be up in front to lead. You don’t have to be the team manager, meeting facilitator, or workshop presenter. You can lead without being up in front. This is good news for those who would like to lead but prefer not to be up in front. And this is good news for those who enjoy leading from the front and are looking for more opportunities to lead.
 
But don’t leaders by definition need to be up in front so their followers can follow them? Not necessarily. Without being up in front, leaders can still lead in a variety of ways, including providing staff support, building confidence, provoking reflection, encouraging partnerships, and helping others grow.
 
Let me explain. If you want to lead when you’re not up in front, you can . . .
 
(1) Support others by praying. Ask God to help your ministry team live for him, pursue their callings, and use their gifts. Ask God to help those in your mission and church have good life balance, have healthy relationships, and regularly read the Bible.
 
(2) Build confidence by believing in others. When people are confident, they serve more effectively. How can you demonstrate that you believe in others? By acting like they can do it, instead of micromanaging. By asking, “What progress did you make?” instead of asking, “Did you make any progress?” By saying, “You have good ideas,” instead of saying, “Here are my ideas.”
 
(3) Provoke reflection by asking open-ended questions. Reflection helps people to focus, solve problems, and achieve their goals. If a ministry team is having trouble focusing, ask, “What’s your team purpose? What’s it take to achieve that purpose?” If a Sunday school teacher is struggling with how to cover all the material in 45 minutes, ask, “What do you really want the kids to learn? How can you help them learn that?” If a fellow missionary is proposing new activities, ask, “What’s causing you to propose new activities? To what extent will these activities help you achieve your goals?”
 
(4) Encourage partnerships by connecting people. I’m grateful that friends have connected me with key people. For example, Valerie connected me with Dan, a school consultant. As a result, we’ve refined our odels for Christian education and developed better training materials. I’ve connected house church leaders, providing them with a venue to talk on a regular basis. As a result, they clarified the pros and cons of house churches and identified ways to empower house church members.
 
(5) Provide resources to help others grow. I’m glad that colleagues recommended books like Crucial Conversations and An Essential Guide to Public Speaking. These books helped me work more effectively with others and focus on serving. I’ve helped others grow by sharing books like Leadership Coaching, blogs like missionalchallenge.com, and online training from leaderbreakthru.com.
 
Other ways you can lead without being up in front include modeling servanthood, modeling zeal for God, showing you care, spending time with others, and listening.
 
What about you?

1. What is one way you lead when you’re not up in front?
2. What excites/concerns you about leading when you’re not up in front?
3. How could you lead more effectively?
4. What will you do?

Remember: You don’t have to be up in front to lead.

You and I both want to grow. We want to grow so we can pursue God’s calling even more. So, we target growth areas like leadership, spiritual disciplines, conflict management, life balance, and Japanese language proficiency.

You and I both know that people who believe in us empower us to grow. I’ve experienced it in my own life. You have, too. When people believe in me, I can do more. I remember talking with my regional director about a workshop. He invited me to lead workshop sessions about focusing on the mission’s purpose and on asking open-ended questions. I felt hesitant. So, I asked some questions. He responded, “Do what you want. I trust you. You’ll know what to do.” I was energized to develop and deliver quality workshops.

I’ve also experienced that believing in others empowers them to grow. For example, I was working with a missionary who was serving in a new ministry, one that really stretched him. I was listening as he reflected on the past 9 months. And then he said, “One of the biggest things you did for me was believe in me. You thought I could do it. That gave me confidence to accomplish new things.”

As a result of these and other experiences, I’ve become increasingly convinced that believing in others helps them grow. I now work to interact with others in ways that show I believe in them. For example, I target helping others become better problem solvers (instead of targeting solving their problems). I also strive to listen (instead of talking), ask questions (instead of advising), focus on drawing out (instead of on putting in), and encourage (instead of critiquing)—remember, Barnabas encouraged Paul.

Empower God’s people to pursue their calling. Believe in someone. Today.
 
Reflect on believing in others:

1. Who is someone who believed in you? What was the impact of being believed in?
2. Who is someone who didn’t believe in you? How did he/she communicate this?
3. What excites/concerns you about believing in others?
4. How does believing in others empower them to pursue God’s calling?
5. How could you show that you believe in others?
6. How will you show that you believe in others?

Christian coaching flows from the heart, from beliefs about empowering others. 

To get an idea of how you can more effectively lead by asking questions, complete the following self-assessment (or download it here). Rate each item, using the following scale:

4: Consistently • 3: Usually • 2: Sort of • 1: Rarely


Lead from your heart
___ I trust that the Holy Spirit is working in the heart of every believer.
___ I believe others can define and achieve their goals.
___ I target motivation, not information.
___ I empower others to take responsibility.
___ I believe that reflection is powerful.
___ I want to help staff be better problem solvers (not to solve their problems).
 
Inquiry skills
___ I ask open-ended questions.
___ I don’t ask “why” questions.
___ I don’t give advice.
___ I easily think of good questions to ask.

Lead by asking questions
___ I ask questions to help others.
 
___ I ask questions to help others reflect.
___ I ask questions to help others get clear.
___ I ask questions to help others prioritize.
___ I ask questions to help others get organized.
 
___ I ask questions to help others focus.
___ I ask questions to help others target their strengths.
___ I ask questions to help others pay attention to their goals.
___ I ask questions to help others reduce their frustrations.
 
___ I lead by asking questions.


Now, ask yourself 5 questions about the data:

1. How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s do I have?
2. What’s encouraging/discouraging about the data?
3. What helps me lead by asking questions?
4. What hinders me from leading by asking questions?
5. What will I do?

Empower others. Lead by asking questions. Today.

Pursuing my calling is both exciting and frustrating. My calling simultaneously feels like a significant way to help others and a massive, unsolvable problem. How about you? How do you feel about your calling?

I want to pursue my calling, and I find that when someone believes in me, I feel encouraged, energized, and blessed.

People who believe in me do 4 things:

1. They listen, instead of talking.
   
2. They inquire, instead of advising.
   
3. They focus on drawing out, instead of putting in.
   
4. They encourage, instead of critiquing.

Encourage God’s people to pursue their calling. Believe in someone. Today.

Coaches are not counselors or mentors. Consequently, coaches operate on different beliefs than counselors and mentors.

What are my coaching beliefs? I have 4:

1. God is growing his people, and the Holy Spirit is at work in each believer. God is already at work in the lives of each of his people. While God may use me to help a person grow, it’s God who is actually growing each of his people. So as a coach, I encourage each person to listen to God.
   
2. People want to grow and are empowered to grow by those who believe in them. You and I both want to grow. And people who believe in us empower us to grow—I know this. I’ve experienced it my own life. You have, too. When people believe in me, I can do more. As a coach, I believe in people. So, I listen (instead of talking), ask questions (instead of advising), encourage (instead of criticizing), and empower people to define their goals (instead of giving them goals).
   
3. Growing is more about motivation than information. We all know good things that would help us grow. We know we should do these good things—but we don’t. Simply put, knowing doesn’t equal doing. As a coach, I empower people to focus on good things they want to work on.
   
4. People grow as they take responsibility by defining, committing to, and achieving goals. So as a coach, I don’t take the responsibility for defining goals; instead, I empower people to define their goals. I don’t take the responsibility for committing to goals; instead, I empower people to commit to their goals. I don’t take the responsibility for achieving the goals; instead, I empower people to achieve their goals. Make sense?

Now that you know what I believe about coaching, what are you going to do? Here are 2 suggestions:

1. If you are interested in getting a coach, ask your potential coach what s/he believes about coaching.
   
2. If you are interested in coaching someone, define 4-6 coaching beliefs and be prepared to share them.

Get a coach, be a coach, or both. Today.