Welcome to Part 1 of Leading with Insight

Leading with Insight is the second module in the Growing the Servant Heart programme for Christian leaders. For convenience it has been split into two parts.

STUDENT NOTES

Traditional leadership relationships are based on power and authority. They’re aimed at achieving the leader’s goals. Not so with the Christ-centred servant leader.

In Exploring Leadership in the Kingdom we discovered how leadership in the Kingdom is modelled on Jesus. As such it is motivated by agape-love. Its servant focus is on enabling others to grow and mature in their service of God..

This Christ-like, servant focus means that the relationship between the leaders and those they lead is crucial. In this context the development of effective relationships becomes a foundational skill.

  • The first key to this is the possession of an accurate awareness of self; that is how we behave and respond to situations involving other people and how we react towards them in turn.

  • The second key is a deep awareness of others, their emotional situation and how and why they respond to situations as they do.

These two keys enable us to have control over our behaviour, choosing our how we react and respond, in order to develop the best relationships we can, for the benefit of the other person.

This skill is called emotional intelligence. In the past it was assumed that intellectual intelligence was the key to success and effective leadership. However, it becomes quite obvious that more often than not it is ‘people people’, the emotionally intelligent, that prove to be the best leaders.

The best servant leaders are very good at the skills involved in emotional intelligence. Therefore, as Christ-centred servant leaders we have much to learn in this area, which is entirely consistent with the character and model of Jesus and Biblical teaching on relationships and leadership. Jesus was the most emotionally intelligent person that ever lived.

About the Lesson

At the end of this lesson, as the student, you will have:

  • Considered your interactions with others in terms of Emotional Intelligence, in the context of Christ-centred Servant Leadership.

  • Begun the exploration of your own Emotional Intelligence.

  • Identified key Emotionally Intelligent strategies to enhance your ability to work with and lead others.

  • Had the opportunity to devise an action plan for applying these new insights.

Prerequisites

Completion of The Jesus Model module of the Growing the Servant Heart on-line leadership programme.

On-Line Delivery

For convenience and ease of use the material is delivered on-line in two parts and each part is divided into topics:

Part 1:   Introducing Emotional Intelligence and Self-awareness.

Part 1 includes 4 topics:

  • Introducing Emotional Intelligence – which starts with a Biblical perspective.

  • Understanding Emotional Hijacking.

  • Insights into thinking about and responding to situations.

  • Developing Self-awareness.

Part 2:   Developing Emotional Intelligence.

Part 2 includes 5 topics:

  • Developing Awareness of Others.

  • Enhancing our relationships.

  • Feedback.

  • Developing Self-Management.

  • Summary,  Conclusions and Action Plans

A Helpful Book

An inexpensive book that you may find helpful is Introducing Emotional Intelligence A practical Guide by Dr David Walton, published by Introducingbooks.com ISBN 978-184831422-1. It’s available from Amazon in both paperback and Kindle formats

This is an easy to read introduction to the essentials of Emotional Intelligence with tips on approaches for improvement. It also includes questionnaires to give you helpful insights into your own Emotional Intelligence.

Please enjoy the module, you can start by selecting a topic from the menu: