SUMMARY ATTEMPT | WHO'S HOLDING YOUR LADDER | SAMUEL R. CHAND | CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 6

CAN WE TURN LADDER HOLDERS INTO LADDER CLIMBERS?

Every effective business leader and every senior pastor started somewhere. They may have already had the gifts that eventually pushed them up the ladder, but most of them didn't start there. God's plan was already in place but it started in a lowly position.

The only time you start at the top is when you are digging a hole.

Where did Elijah start? He held the ladder of the great prophet of Israel and faithfully followed until his turn came.

We are here today because Jesus saved us, of course. But we are also here today because his disciples started as supporters for Jesus until their times came to move upward. They are the ones who continued the work after Jesus was ascended.

At one time, I was the janitor, breakfast cook, and dishwasher at Beulah Heights. I held the ladder so that others could succeed and minister.

STEPS FOR TURNING LADDER HOLDERS INTO LADDER CLIMBERS

Spiritual Formation: focus on spiritual discipline and developing individuals. We want to help people develop who they are. We want them to be able to answer these questions:

What am I passionate about?

What are my gifts and talents?

To what kind of work is God calling me?

What frustrates me?

What makes me cry?

What brings me joy?

Skill formation: this is where we change and begin to focus on others. We are trained to do ministry through our local church.

Strategic formation: Here we focus on extending God's kingdom on earth and on leadership development.

In most churches we train but we don't develop.

UNLEARNING AND LEARNING

In developing leadership skills, I've learned that is more difficult to unlearn than it is to learn.

The best use of power is to give it away. We give it away by investing in others.

Most of the leaders of my generation - the boomer generation - are accidental leaders. We stumbled into leadership.

We need to get the right people on the bus and get the wrong people off. Then we need to get the right people in the right seats on the bus.

The person who does an excellent job of holding a twenty-foot ladder may not be the same person we need if you want to go higher. It cost me intense pain to realise that good people - committed, hardworking individuals and people of integrity - may not be the ones we need to help us move to the next level.

We need different ladder holders for different levels in the organisation. Old leaders are rarely new leaders because people continue to view the organisation at the level they came to it, whereas new leaders see it as it is now.

Source: Who's Holding Your Ladder by Samuel R. Chand

Summary Attempt: Who's Holding Your Ladder; Chapter 5

Summary Attempt: Who's Holding Your Ladder; Chapter 7

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