9. Commitment to the Growth of People
| Servant-leaders believe that people have an intrinsic value beyond their tangible contributions as workers. As such, the servant-leader is deeply committed to the growth of each and every individual within his or her organization. The servant-leader recognizes the tremendous responsibility to do everything in his or her power to nurture the personal and professional growth of employees and colleagues. |
| Larry Spears |
The previous chapter talked about stewardship, which is taking care of that which belongs to another. Several examples of Jesus's attitudes towards stewardship, however, showed very clearly how people are far more important than money or things. Taking care of the people that God has put in our trust was a major emphasis of the last chapter.
This chapter is therefore a natural extension of the discussions about stewardship, by looking at the servant leader's commitment to the growth of people. People are the most important resource of any organization. To foster the personal and professional growth of its people is naturally in the best interest of the entire organization as well as its individuals.
Throughout Jesus's ministry, we see his constant commitment to the growth of the people that he interacted with. Let's revisit the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery (Joh 8:3-11). In the chapter on persuasion, we saw how Jesus convinced the scribes and Pharisees to drop their stones and their charges against the woman, and to abandon their attempt to trap Jesus into an answer they could use against him. Now, let's look at the end of this story, to see how Jesus was committed to this woman's growth (Joh 8:10-11):
10Then Jesus stood up again and said to her, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?" 11"No, Lord," she said. And Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more."
Go and sin no more. In sending the woman away with this command, Jesus gave her a second life. What greater opportunity for growth could there have been for her? She had expected almost certain death, and instead she was given a chance at a life without habitual sin.
Jesus performed many of his miracles out of compassion, but he often had other intentions as well. For example, we usually think of the feeding of the five thousand (Joh 6:1-15) as a story about Jesus's miraculous powers and his compassion for the hungry. In a sermon on October 19, 2003, Pastor Mike McClenahan of Solana Beach Presbyterian Church looked at this passage as a lesson in leadership. Perhaps, so he argued, Jesus was giving the disciples a chance to grow in their faith. In verse 5, Jesus asked Philip how they would feed the multitude of people (Joh 6:5). The next verse then goes on to comment that Jesus was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do (Joh 6:6), providing perhaps the best evidence that Jesus indeed had other motives besides feeding 5000 hungry people.
Perhaps there is no greater case study of personal growth in the Bible than to follow Peter's ministry, both before and after the death of Jesus. The first story that came to my mind was Mat 14:25-33, in which Jesus walked on water. When Peter saw Jesus, he wanted to do likewise, and Jesus encouraged him and let him try. At first, Peter even succeeded, but then he was overcome by fear and started to sink. Jesus rescued him and then explained that he just didn't have enough faith.
When we look at the first few chapters in the book of Acts, we realize just how much Peter had grown in his faith in a short while. In the first chapter (Acts 1:15-26), it was Peter who started the process of choosing a new twelfth disciple to replace Judas, the one who had betrayed Jesus and then found his own death. In doing so, Peter both continued the ministry, and gave Matthias, the new disciple, a chance to grow. In the second chapter (Acts 2:14-40), Peter started his preaching ministry with great results, as 3000 people became believers that day (Acts 2:41). In the third chapter (Acts 3:1-8), Peter no longer lacked the faith to performed miracles when he healed a man who had been lame from birth.
Now, looking at the fourth chapter, we find a compelling example of the good that can come from giving someone a second chance (as pastor Neal Nybo preached on June 20, 2004, at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church). Of all the characters in the Bible, perhaps Peter is the one with whom we most sympathize for getting a second chance. How crushing it must have been for Peter to have found himself denying Jesus three times in short order (Joh 18:17-27), just as Jesus had predicted earlier (Joh 13:38):
Jesus answered, "Die for me? No, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.
Jesus, however, did not give up on Peter, but forgave him for what he had done, and wanted him to grow. After his death and resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples, including Peter (who was also called Simon). Jesus asked Peter three times "Do you love me?", and Peter answered three times "You know I love you" (Joh 21:17):
Once more he asked him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, "Lord, you know everything. You know I love you." Jesus said, "Then feed my sheep.
(The real power and meaning of this passage is actually lost in the translation from Greek to English. The original Greek text uses two different words for love in this passage: agape, which is the stronger word and means to love in a moral sense or to love dearly, and phileo, which is the lesser word and means to be fond of or to befriend. The first two times, Jesus asked the tougher question, "Do you agape-love me?", to which Peter answered, "You know I phileo-love you." The third time, Jesus used Peter's language, and asked, "Do you phileo-love me?" It is this change in language that indicates in the Greek language that Jesus accepted Peter on his terms.)
Now we return to the events in the book of Acts, and see how Peter's second chance really came when he and John were arrested and questioned about their preaching (Acts 4:7):
They brought in the two disciples and demanded, "By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?"
This time, Peter did not deny his Lord, but boldly proclaimed him (Acts 4:10):
Let me clearly state to you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed in the name and power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth, the man you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead.
and his interrogators were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John (Acts 4:13).
I think these stories are powerful examples of what the commitment of one person (Jesus) to the growth of another (Peter) can accomplish.
Being committed to another person's growth means having that other person's best interest at heart. Looking back at the bosses, mentors, teachers, managers, and supervisors under whom I have worked throughout my career so far, there is an obvious difference between those who had my best interest in mind, and those who were perhaps more concerned about their own bottom line.
I clearly remember how some ten years ago, one of my Ph.D. supervisors showed his commitment to my professional growth. One of the most important tasks that any researcher must learn is how to write successful scientific publications, "papers" as they are usually called. When I gave the first drafts of some of my papers to my mentor, I was rather surprised by how little he edited them. I felt slightly frustrated to receive only general guidance such as "this is not convincing" or "that is not conclusive". I was thinking "couldn't he be a bit more specific, or just write a better paragraph for me?" In hindsight, of course, I realize how he was guiding me to develop my own successful writing skills. Only after I had made sufficient progress in the general concepts of a paper, would he then become more specific and detailed in his editing. While that approach felt somewhat painful to me at the time, it clearly had my best interests at heart.
One of the important catalysts of growth is the acquisition of new knowledge. A leader can encourage others to learn in a number of different ways. Often, just the invitiation to take time off from perhaps a repetetive or tiresome job in order to attend a class or seminar can unleash new creative energies in the employee. Many institutions, especially academic ones, have sabbaticals that allow a break from the regular job location and duties after a given length of service. Financial incentives can also be used. Of course, many organizations will pay for the cost of an employee's continued learning, but others have gone even farther by giving out knowledge rewards instead of performance awards, that is they will pay extra bonuses for successfully completed job-related training.
It is important, of course, to realize that even with our best commitment things may not always work out. Usually, we would want to make all reasonable attempts to allow an employee to grow in his or her current position in the organization. Everyone deserves a second chance, and in most cases a third, or fourth. Sometimes, however, it becomes clear that a person is just not the right match for the job. In those cases, it is in the best interest of all to communicate that in a caring, but honest way without delay, and help the person find a different position within, or if necessary, outside of the organization. For more on the subject of what to do when things go bad, see James Autry's "The Servant Leader" [5].
Commitment to the growth of others also includes a commitment to training one's potential successor. Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges write about this in "The Servant Leader" [9]. They point out that one of the most defining differences between a servant leader and a self-serving leader is whether the leader will freely pass on knowledge, or rather withhold it in fear or insecurity. I recall working for a supervisor who constantly criticized the work of his employees, and yet withheld important knowledge and documentation that would have made it much easier for them to do a good job. If such reluctance of knowledge transfer is driven by fear, then that fear is almost always unjustified and misplaced. As my current boss once said to me: "Training a new employee to potentially take over your job frees you up to advance to the next position yourself." Passing the torch can be and should be a win-win situation.
For Thought and Discussion
- Do you remember a favorite teacher in your life? What made him or her special?
- Can you think of anyone in your work place (or in your personal life) who might be stagnant instead of growing? What could you do to facilitate new personal or professional growth for that person? How about yourself? Where do you need encouragement to grow?
- An important aspect of growth is how to deal with failure. Read the two accounts of Jesus healing a boy from seizures in Mat 17:14-20 and Mar 9:14-29. Both accounts refer to the fact that the disciples had earlier failed to heal the boy. How did Jesus approach the disciples' failure? Can we learn anything from it?
