Volume 50 Issue 6 - June 2012 : Mokanoki

 

By now we should all admit and agree with Myles Munroe’s school of thought that any person who would like to be a true leader he or she should:

          .Find the courage to mentor

.Secure a legacy for the next generation

.Transfer their deposit to the next generation

.Measure success by the success of their successors

In this issue of Kutlwano I would like us to examine the above four points as listed by the founder and chairman of the International Third World Leaders Association, Myles Munroe. 

 To start the ball rolling let us use as our base for study the example set by our Lord Jesus. This historic leader Jesus Christ we learn from the Bible that He began organising and building his organisation or church at age of 30 and appointed His first few leadership team members from among common village folks who were also business owners involved in the fishing industry. Fa e kabo e ne ele mo Botswana gongwe he could have called badisa kwa morakeng kgotsa balemi kwa masimo.

 As soon as He gathered His first leadership students, He began to speak of His inevitable destiny – to be arrested, tried, toured, crucified, and resurrected from the dead. In other words he wanted them to know that he would not lead them forever. 

He constantly reminded them of His need to leave them and urged them to prepare for this inevitability. 

Early in His ministry one day after the mentees had failed to exorcise a demon from a little boy, He asked them a revealing question.

Matthew 17:17 “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you?  How long shall I put up with you.”

The implications of these questions are profound. His words reveal the frustration of a teacher or mentor who expected His students to learn enough to allow Him to turn His work over to them with confidence. 

 

It also indicates His deep desire for them to learn what He knew and to perform at His level. Here are the most important considerations for succession planning, using the mentoring style of Jesus Christ, the greatest leader who ever lived, as our model and standard:

Plan your departure the day you begin.  You are dispensable, mortal, and temporary. 

 

As Munroe puts it start with the attitude, “I am temporary, and my greatest job is to leave someone greater than myself in this position.”  You start planning immediately to leave this position. 

 

The secret to succession begins with the leader’s acceptance of his mortality.  It begins with a consciousness – “I am temporary” – that allows confident leaders to begin planning their departure.

“I am aware that I must quickly find a replacement, train and develop someone quickly in case my departure is soon.”

He meant it for normal, daily tasks or projects.  In this case, the logical ënd” I is the end of your tenure, your working life, or the end of life itself. 

 

Recall how Jesus reminded His team that His departure was inevitable and should be an incentive for them to apply themselves to the lessons at hand:

Matthew 17:22 – 24:  When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.

True leaders should always lead with their departure in view, being ever mindful that their priority is to work themselves out of a job. Nyaa rra moo ke botlhodi! Fa ke kotame setilo ga ke suti. Poo ga dike di nna pedi mo sakeng. That is a wrong school of thought.

 

As a leader, you cannot buckle yourself in and strap yourself to the seat of power with the hope that no one can or will try to move you. 

Finishing well is more important than starting well.  It is how a leader completes tenure.  Finishing well depends on what and whom you left in your place. 

Many leaders start with great momentum, passion, and lofty goals.  Then they let it all die with them. 

 

One of the greatest secrets of finishing is not with a project but with a person, finishing not with success but with a successor.

The organisational ministry of Jesus Christ after 2000 years of continued growth, expansion, and progressive movements is a stellar example and prototype of a leader who finished well. 

 

When the time came for transition, He spent the final months of His life focusing on refining and developing His successors, as revealed in many of His instructions, prayers, and mentoring sessions with His students.  That is a mouth full for the day next month I will focus on MENTORING.

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