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In today’s episode of the Leader Fluent Podcast, I’m talking about, “10 Signs of an Emerging Leader.” One responsibility of a leader is to develop young leaders, but first, you have to identify the potential leaders that are emerging around you. Today, I’ll share the ten signs to look for. If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d love for you to subscribe to Leader Fluent today on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Android, Pandora, or your favorite podcasting platform. And as always, your RATINGS and REVIEWS are deeply appreciated.
SHOW NOTES:
How do you know if somebody has leadership potential? Leaders have the responsibility for developing more leaders, but before you can develop more leaders, you have to know what to look for in a potential leader. I want to encourage you to pay attention to ten signs of an emerging leader. I’m not suggesting that an emerging leader has all ten of these qualities; I’m simply saying, these are the qualities to pay attention to when you’re trying to determine if somebody is a potential leader.
1. They Have Influence
This one’s fairly obvious, because at its core a leader is someone who has the ability to influence others. If you see somebody with the ability to gather followers, that’s a sign that they have leadership potential.
2. They Take Initiative
When someone takes regular initiative to get things done without being asked or told, they likely demonstrate the ability to lead themselves. If somebody can lead themselves, then there’s a greater likelihood that they’ll be able to lead others. Ask yourself, “Who around me takes initiative?”
3. They Possess Forward-Thinking Abilities
Forward thinking abilities reveals a person’s ability to envision the future. If they can envision better ways of doing things, they may be able to use their vision to inspire others to take action.
4. Their Spiritual Giftedness Indicates or Assumes Leadership
Leadership is one of the spiritual gifts the apostle Paul describes in Romans 12. However, leadership isn’t the only spiritual gift that requires the ability to lead. For example, people who have the spiritual gift of pastor, or teacher, or apostle, or administration often find themselves in leadership roles as well. Consider administering a spiritual gifts assessment and look for those whose gifting indicates or assumes leadership.
5. They Possess Strong People Skills
Leadership is all about leading people, and people like to follow people who make them feel valued. If somebody exhibits strong people skills, they likely have greater influence with people than those who exhibit poor people skills or low emotional intelligence.
6. They Have the Ability to Motivate and Mobilize Others
Anybody can see a need, but seeing a need doesn’t make you a leader. However, some people not only see a need, but they also take initiative to do something about the need. These people can lead themselves, and possibly others. But other people have the ability to not only see the need and do something about the need, but they also have the ability to motivate and mobilize others to do something about the need too. These people have an even higher level of leadership capacity.
7. They are Problem Solvers
One of the quickest ways any leader can gain influence is to solve problems. Don’t pay attention to the people who whine about problems. Pay attention to the ones who can wrap their heads around a problem and work diligently to find the right solution to it. These are emerging leaders.
8. They are Growing as a Disciple
Followers of Christ are committed to lifelong growth, and part of that growth is learning to serve. And here’s the trend that I’ve noticed…when a disciple of Jesus proves faithful in serving in the small things, God tends to elevate their responsibilities—often in areas of leadership.
9. They are Teachable
When someone is teachable, it reveals their attitude and it enables their ability. First, teachability reveals a person’s attitude about improving, growing, and having the humility to receive feedback. Second, teachability enables ability. In other words, when a person is teachable, they are able to actually improve their abilities and get better. Their teachability has allowed them to deliver excellence in whatever you entrust to their care.
10. They Model Faithful Service and Stewardship
When you see someone who serves faithfully, pay attention. And when you see someone who faithfully stewards whatever responsibility has already been entrusted to them, pay attention. These people aren’t in it for the ego. They’ve put serving before leading, and they’ve put stewardship before ownership.
I’m not suggesting that an emerging leader needs to have all ten of these qualities before you can identify them as a potential leader. I’m simply saying that these are the signs to pay attention to. When you see them…even just three or four of them, you might have an emerging leader on your hands.
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