Leadership and the Ziklag factor – 4

Effective leadership is never about what suits the leader but about what is best for everyone in the collective even when the leader feels offended. If a leader is wont to react to situations as dictated by the misdeameanour of his followers and the perceived injury to his ego, he does not qualify to be called a leader. One of the qualities of good leadership is the ability to be proactive. When a leader throws tantrums in reaction to every misdeamenour, his followers soon learn not to take him serious because of his patent, albeit pathetic predictability. To be effective in leadership, always learn to stand outside the problem and take an analytical peep into the situation from that vantage point. Then ask yourself some critical questions.

“What will flying off the handle accomplish? Will it make the other person better? Will it remedy the already bad situation? Will it develop greater cohesion in the team?” Unless you can assure yourself that the answer to all these questions is in the affirmative, it is advisable to “cool temper” while you think through a line of action that solves the problem in a way that helps the offending party to see the error of his ways. David’s men must have expected him to get angry at them for holding him entirely responsible for the collective misfortune that befell them and for plotting to stone him! He simply nursed his wounds and demonstrated leadership that charted a way out.

In his classic The 7 Habits Of Highly Successful People, Steven Covey identifies two critical skills of effective leadership. One of it is being proactive and the other is being responsible. Proactive leadership always has an upbeat, hands-on approach to solving problems. It was therefore important for David to first find encouragement within himself before he could extend it to his followers. The responsible leader is defined by Covey as the one who has mastered the ability to respond effectively (response-ability) in a way that that demonstrates why he qualifies to be called a leader! Not for him the common knee-jerk reactions of the average person to crisis but a strategic move that is independent of the offence or the source of infraction. To effectively do this, a leader’s ego must be subordinated to the common cause or expected outcome as well as the process that leads there.

Under the leadership of David, the soldiers went after the Amalekite invaders, determined to rout them and recover everything they (the Amalekites) had taken. However, two hundred of the 600-strong army felt that they did not have the stamina to proceed. Whether their decision was because of emotional defeat or fatigue from previous battles, it is difficult to tell. But what does a leader do when for whatever reason, a third of his followers refuse to proceed with him on a line of action? Afterall, doesn’t the Bible say that it is a stately thing for a king to know that his troops are with him? David did not fret. He only requested that those staying behind watch over the camp and the remaining possessions. He demonstrated proactive responsibility when he went ahead into the battle with the remaining four hundred with the confidence that they would recover all that they had lost. Definitely, it was not going to be a walk in the park but the four hundred men that went into battle, though no less tired, must have been inspired by the confident leadership demonstrated by David. Which was probably why they put aside their angst in the realization that no matter how much they threw tantrums, it would not lead to the recovery of what they had lost.

David led the four hundred willing soldiers to battle. They were victorious. They not only routed their adversaries, they recovered everything that the adversaries had stolen, their wives and children inclusive! To crown it all, they came away with spoils. On arrival at the camp, as part of the victory celebrations, it was time to divide the spoils. Naturally, those who went to battle expected that as the ones who faced the heat of war and the enemy’s rage, they would receive more than those who stayed back in the camp. But the Commander-in-Chief thought differently. He insisted that everyone – those who went to war and those who did not – would share equally from the largesse! He did not even stop at that. He sent some of the spoils to the elders of Israel who did not even know that he went to war!

Two lessons are inherent in this. The first is that every leader needs to know that the strongest chain would break at its weakest link. None of us is as strong as all of us. The one who is weak today can still be strong. Condemning or undermining any member of our team exposes all of us to great risk. David must have remembered how it was the maltreatment of one of the servants of the Amalekite’s Commander that exposed the Amalekites’ flank to David and facilitated his victory.

Secondly, the leader must learn how to be magnanimous in his treatment of team members especially the vulnerable. Progress in a society is assessed by how it treats its most vulnerable population, namely children, women, the aged and the poor. If a man is already down, making him afraid of falling is an exercise in futility. Obviously, many of those who remained behind must have expected some form of recrimination from their leader. It must therefore have been a pleasant surprise that David did what he did.

Magnanimity is about being gracious even towards those who hardly deserve it. A leader who stands in the defence of the vulnerable members of his team in the time of crisis earns their loyalty in a way that he could otherwise never have. Nothing births a sense of fidelity and commitment from a follower like knowing that he is being given a favour that he himself knows that he does not deserve while no mention is made of his misdemeanour by the leader who should have punished him! Followers become stronger when they know that their leader has their back even when others may have written them off.

In extending benevolence to the elders of Israel, David was underscoring the fact that a leader’s victory is never about him alone. Generosity is one of the hallmarks of true leadership. According to the Bible, the liberal soul shall be made fat. Success that cannot be shared is not sustainable.

A mastery of these lessons will not only enhance leadership capacity, it is guaranteed to earn a leader the respect and loyalty of those he is called to lead.

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!