Leading with Humility

Recently our world has been rocked with many things.  This, of course, has been happening with COVID-19, but now we are also being rocked with the protests and in some cases riots for Black Lives Matter.  There are many things that we can take from the most recent events (Many, too much for me to say as a white woman living in Iowa).  However one thing that I want to bring up is the importance of leading with humility. 

Obviously, I am not going to boil down everything in regard to police brutality examples and Black Lives Matter to a simple matter of humility.  There are a lot of other things that are at play.  BUT I do think that this does show the issue of abusing power.  Abuse of power can happen so easily.  Anytime we are given a new position, specifically a new position over other people, there are times when we may start to abuse that newfound power over people.  However, this isn’t what is going to get the people underneath you to enjoy having you as a leader or in my opinion be as completely successful as you otherwise could be.  

I have obviously discovered this quite a bit as I was teaching.  I am in charge of youth.  I am supposed to give them instruction, grades, and when sadly needed, discipline.  There are times when that can be hard because there may be some kids that one may not get along with right away.  There were some kids that struggled to get the work that I asked of them completed.  Yet, it is very important to teach those kids with respect.  We have all had teachers or (in some cases) professors where they didn’t treat the students like people, but rather they treated them like they were not as smart or as able.  It was really important (and very much still is) that I treat students like they are people, and that I show them as much respect as possible, even when that respect isn’t given back in return at all times or right away.  This was definitely something that I had to learn this year in regard to teaching and in leadership. I still want to continue to grow in that every year.  

The thing to remember is that when anyone is in a  leadership position, there is still a good chance that mistakes are going to be made as well as a struggle to make some decisions.  It is really important to know that anyone who is in that leadership position can be willing to admit that.  We are not perfect humans.  We will never be fully perfect humans.  If a person is not willing to admit that they make mistakes and still have areas to grow, then they will not continue to grow in leadership and in skills.  This is similar to when someone, maybe even in a lower position, may have a better idea than one that you have.   Just because it was not your idea, does not mean that it wasn’t a great one.  Therefore, as a leader, it is really important to give other people under you a chance to speak up to ideas in order to all grow.   

There are going to be times when I will a mistake.  I will probably make quite a few.  This could be if I teach a concept wrong.  I sometimes forget a word in Spanish or I get a word confused with another.  Those are times that I need to make sure to be humble by, of course, correcting myself, apologize, and reteach the concept correctly.  This also includes, of course, if there are times that I get mad at a student when it isn’t justified.  I am upset with myself, but then I need to take that time to be humble. I need to take the time to apologize to the student that I got mad at, and be willing to admit that I did wrong.  I also need to be willing to take the advice and criticism that comes from my fellow teachers or leaders.  This will be the only way that I grow as a teacher and as a person.  

The best example of leading with Humility was, of course, Jesus.   Jesus showed humility through service.  He was the main leader in charge of his disciples.  His friends were not just his friends, but were calling him, teacher and master.  They were following in his footsteps.  They quit their job in order to follow him.  Yet, Jesus never gave them tasks in order for them to serve him, but rather he focused his energy on serving his followers.  For example, John 13:14-15-14 “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”  Jesus set the example when he washed his servant’s feet as something that we should do.  

One big thing that we can take from this is that if we want to lead with humility, it is very important that no matter how big of a leader that we are or no matter what our position we are in, we never forget to serve multiple people.  Never forget that if God has put you in a position to lead a group of people, he has also called you to serve those very people.  Again, those people are not there to solely serve you, even if that is the exact thing that society teaches us about leadership.  This means that he wants you to care about their well-being, and therefore be willing to make any changes that are necessary to ensure their wellbeing.  

A leader is also called to help grow the followers and the people behind them.  In Matthew 4:19, Jesus tells his followers to, “‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said.  ‘And I will send you out to fish for people.’” Jesus wanted to help grow his followers to be the spiritual leaders and missionaries after he would be gone and crucified.  He knew that he wouldn’t be with them forever, and he wanted them to be strong doers and speakers of the world when he wasn’t around.  This is also, as a leader, what one needs to focus on.  A main focus should be teaching people under you how to do the job, so that way you know it can be taken care of if you ever need to move on.  It takes humility to empower others as opposed to giving glory completely to yourself, but it is the only way that anything can grow and develop from the initial beginning where it started.