This June, The Gallup Organization will publish Living Your Strengths, by Albert L. Winseman, D.Min., Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D., and Curt Liesveld, M.Div., M.A. Written especially for religious leaders and other church members, Living Your Strengths discusses the process of helping congregation members investigate their innate talents, and then put them to use in deepening their spiritual growth and finding the right fit in their service to others. This is the fourth in a series of adaptations from the book.
How can congregational leaders help people do what they naturally do best rather than trying to "fix" them? How can they position people in their congregations to develop strengths while furthering the mission of the organization? The answers are in the following four proven management tactics.
Whenever possible, avoid using your areas of "lesser talent." A lesser talent becomes a weakness only when you try to use it. Lisa grew up in a small town and attended a very traditional church. "Sometimes in church, I felt a lot of pressure to do things that were just very foreign to me," she says. In the church, there was an unspoken expectation that women were the ones who were supposed to volunteer to work in the nursery. "After all, it's taking care of kids, and women are supposed to be more nurturing, right? Well, that just wasn't me," Lisa remembers. "But now, at this church, there's no pressure to be something you're not, and so I decided to get involved in the music ministry. I discovered that I love to sing, and I'm not half bad, even though I've never sung in public before. It's refreshing not to feel like I have to do something I'm not good at."
Use support systems. Many adults in this country have one shortcoming in common – less-than-perfect eyesight. We use a support system to manage this imperfection. Every morning, millions of us wake up and immediately use this support system -- our glasses or contact lenses -- without giving it a second thought. If you are a pastor, when you get up to preach every Sunday, you most likely use a support system: a microphone to help your voice project so you can be heard. In the same way, other people can act as support systems to help us accomplish tasks that we may not be able to accomplish on our own.
Establish complementary partnerships. When God spoke to Moses through the burning bush and called him to go back to Egypt to lead the Israelites to freedom, Moses was full of excuses about why he wasn't qualified. Moses told God, "I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue" (Exodus 4:10). So God found Moses a partner -- Moses' brother Aaron. Moses had the talent for leading and devising strategy, but he couldn't wow a crowd with his oratory or stand before kings and summon the appropriate words. Aaron could.
Together, Moses and Aaron made a great team -- which got even stronger with the addition of their sister Miriam. Power struggles notwithstanding, this trio brought their individual talents and strengths together into a complementary partnership that multiplied their effectiveness exponentially.
Leverage your own talents and strengths. Another way to manage your weaknesses is by relying on your strengths to overcome your lesser talents. "I even surprised myself when I volunteered to work as a counselor in our crisis center," says Robert. "I mean, I'm not a ‘touchy-feely, tell-me-all-your problems' kind of guy. People tell me I can be pretty insensitive, and I guess that's true -- a lot of times I'll hurt someone's feelings without even realizing it."
At first glance, the counseling role didn't seem like it would be a good match, but something inside kept urging Robert to do it. "I think it was God telling me to stretch myself," he says. "Anyway, I've always been interested in psychology, what makes people tick and stuff, and I really wanted to help."
Robert doesn't have much empathy, so he doesn't instinctively draw on that talent to help those who talk to him. But his problem-solving talents make up for his lack of empathy and enable him to be involved in a ministry he really is passionate about.
Religious leaders have an opportunity to help congregation members understand that God has made them uniquely gifted with undeniable talents that are the foundation of their strengths. It's a message that can transform the life of the congregation.
