Fundamentals - Empowerment Beats Entitlement!

Colossians 3:23-24 NASB
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people, 24 knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

Empowering Leaders:
●See empowerment as more than a management style. It’s a LIFESTYLE!
●.Luke 15: Elder Brother:
■Was critical and faultfinding
■Focused on behavior more than heart connection
■Created a superior attitude
■Determined the other brother was a failure/labels and lids
■Meditated on the phrase ‘It’s not fair.”
○An elder brother mindset would see people through the lens of Jeremiah 17:9 and ‘a heart that is desperately wicked,’ instead of a higher truth in 2 Corinthians 5:16 where we ‘know no man according to the flesh.”
○The Father:
■Went after heart connection before conduct reversal
■Believed in the son more than the son believed in himself
●Loves, Likes, and Believes in People! THEY ARE INTENTIONAL ENCOURAGERS AND EMPOWERING LEADERS!
○We release life-affirming words into the environment.
●Empower BY:
○ WORKING OURSELVES OUT OF A JOB
■Pass on what you know!
■We can do this by traveling with them, doing life together, etc…sit in on meetings, etc..
○ ALLOWS FOR MESSES
■Messes will come
■Our response to the messes that come is more important than the actual mess that comes!
○ ALLOWING THE PEOPLE WE LEAD TO INFLUENCE US!
■We create intentional FEEDBACK loops.
○OPENS DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY FOR OTHERS!
○SEEKS WAYS TO SET PEOPLE UP FOR SUCCESS
■Small wins in small opportunities lead to bigger opportunities and bigger wins!
○MODELING INTEGRITY!
○MODELING LOYALTY!
■This does NOT mean that personnel or team changes can’t be made.
■It does mean that you resist double-mindedness that might come ONCE THE RING
IS ON!

WE ARE NOT SAYING:
●To keep chronically poor performers on your team
●To sacrifice the vision and goals of your sphere of influence for the emotional well-
being of your team
●If someone calls us un-empowering, that we are as they say.
●There are perfect leaders. There’s only ONE who is! The key is to maintain high-
beliefs in those we do life with!

QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
Are you an empowering leader? Do you cultivate a culture of empowerment or entitlement?