SCRIPTURE: “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles” (Romans 16:3-4 NKJV)
QUOTE: “A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit” – John Maxwell
NOTES:
For a leader there is nothing more rewarding than building a high-performance culture that cultivates ideas and growth. This cannot be accomplished in a culture where people fear failure and are denied credit for a job well done. Someone said “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves”. Andrew Carnegie said “No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it”. The act of giving the credit to others will generate greater long term results. Those results will be attributed to you as the leader no matter how humble you may be. Giving credit to others will reward your team and it will build trust.
ILLUSTRATION:
Does taking credit for the work of others, as a strategy to get ahead, help or hinder the leader using that approach? What is the impact of giving others all the credit? Assessments from over 3,800 leaders were gathered and their effectiveness was measured using 360-degree evaluations from managers, peers, direct reports, and others. Each person was assessed on their tendency to take credit from or give credit to others. Their effectiveness was also evaluated on 49 additional behaviors. An average of 10 raters evaluated each person’s effectiveness, with each leader receiving feedback from different perspectives.
The results demonstrated that those leaders whose tendency was to take credit were rated as very ineffective leaders, while those who tried hard to give the credit to others were rated as some of the most effective leaders. The data demonstrated the dramatic negative effect of taking credit, along with the positive impact of giving credit to others. When a leader makes another person look good, it makes them look good too. The analysis on the data strongly suggested that by giving others credit a leader will be perceived in the following ways: more effective in their overall leadership effectiveness; fairer; committed to help others succeed; does what is best for the company; walks their talk; accepts responsibility; is trusted; lives their principles and core values; and values diversity.
If a leader sets a goal to recognize others for their accomplishments, and looks for opportunities to make others look good, their own effectiveness will improve. Your motto should be, “Don’t take credit for anything—give it all away.” Leaders must give credit
REFLECTION:
Are you deliberate about seeking out opportunities to give credit to your team
TWO YEAR BIBLE READING: 2 Chronicles 29 – 30, Psalm 69