What characterizes a leader people want to follow? And what is the connection between a leader’s credibility and their influence? These are questions I have worked with for many years – in congregations, organizations and teaching. Here I share some perspectives that have shaped my understanding of value-based leadership.
What is leadership?
Dwight D. Eisenhower put it precisely: “A leader gets people to do something they would not otherwise have done, and like it.” It is a definition that says something essential – leadership is not about coercion, but about creating voluntary commitment.
Jan Ketil Arnulf underlines the same from another angle: A crucial element in the concept of leadership involves voluntariness and autonomy. People can accept being managed, but they will only voluntarily commit to being led. This distinction is fundamental.
There is also an important difference between administration and leadership. Administration is about doing things right – it is work with hands and systems. Leadership is about pointing out the direction and getting others to want to go there. A good leader does both but is aware of the difference.
Credibility as the foundation
James Kouzes and Barry Posner have researched since the 1980s what people look for in their leaders. The question they asked was simple: What values and qualities do you admire in those you choose to follow?
The answer has been remarkably consistent over four decades and across cultures. People want leaders who are honest, forward-looking, inspiring and competent. Of these four, one is more important than all the others: honesty. Credibility is the foundation.
Leadership books of the 1970s and 80s focused on image over character, style over substance. But that does not hold over time. Kouzes and Posner are clear: credibility is personal. It is about the leader’s own principles and being true to them. Credibility is not a position – it is not something you receive when you get a title. It is rooted in your past, in your reputation, and it is earned over time.
It is meaningless to talk about leadership if you do not believe that individuals can make a difference in others’ lives. That is precisely why credibility is so decisive – it is what makes people choose to follow you.
Credibility gives influence
Leaders we admire do not place themselves, but others at the centre. They do not seek people’s attention to satisfy their own needs but are focused on how they can meet the needs of those they lead.
When people experience that their leader has high credibility, they are likely to be proud to tell others about their congregation or organization, feel strongly connected to the community, and find that their own values align with the organization’s values.
Influence is a person-to-person activity. It is earned in small portions – through physical presence, through sharing personal experiences and faith, through telling your own story and inviting dialogue. Leaders who do this are seen not merely as someone with a title, but as someone to be proud of and trusted.
When leaders resort to power and position, compliance and commands to get things done, they are not leading – they are dictating. Genuine leadership is built on shared values, not hierarchy.
The five disciplines
Kouzes and Posner describe five disciplines that characterise credible leaders. These five are closely connected and reinforce one another.
1. Discover yourself. A leader must become acquainted with their own inner territory. Who are you? What do you believe? As a leader you must clarify your own values and guiding principles for life. Develop your own credo. Three aspects are particularly important: your core values are the foundation on which you build your leadership, your competence concerns what you know and deliver, and your actions reveal whether word and life are consistent. There is no point in boasting about everything you can do if you are unable to live it out.
2. Value diversity. Good leaders build relationships on mutual understanding. It is about dialogue, not monologue. Those most interested in their own agenda will always leave empty-handed. Create an environment characterized by cooperation, not competition. Let everyone learn – and encourage one another. The best way a leader can show that they value and respect others is to listen. Skilled leaders have an open mind for what others can contribute. No great idea has ever entered a head through a closed mouth.
3. Shared ownership. Good leaders appreciate the diversity of those they lead, but also find the common ground where everyone can gather. They build a strong sense of community and belonging. Shared ownership is the glue that holds colleagues together. When people are in sync and experience that they are pulling in the same direction, enormous energy is released.
4. Develop capacity. Good leaders continually help their colleagues do a better job. It is about education and training, but above all about releasing the potential in everyone. They are not afraid to let others grow – quite the contrary. The question is simple but demanding: How can an organization grow if its members do not grow?5. Serve a purpose. Good leaders set an example through service. They use their time – and time is the most important indicator of what we actually prioritise – on core values. And they hold themselves accountable to the same values as everyone else. Leadership is first and foremost about service.
Leadership is a mutual relationship
Leadership is a mutual relationship between the one who leads and those who follow. Where there is no need for voluntary commitment to a shared goal, there is no need for leadership either. Rather than thinking of an organization as a hierarchy, we should think of it as a community.
It is in this perspective that spirituality and leadership meet. To lead in a congregation is to serve. To serve requires credibility. And credibility is built day by day, meeting by meeting, through consistency between what we say and what we do.
Recommended reading
James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner: Credibility – How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2003)
Jan Spurkeland: Relational Leadership (Universitetsforlaget, 5th edition, 2017)