Tools of Encouragement

Proverbs 26:3 (NLV) Guide a horse with a whip, a donkey with a bridle, and a fool with a rod to his back!

Leaders must use many different tools to encourage excellence. Some tools are meant to train; others, to govern direction and focus; and finally, there are tools that a consequence of inappropriate behavior. Each must be used with wisdom and without succumbing to emotional anger or disgust or some other expression of how we feel – it should never be about us – it must be about them.

Coaches often use different tools to train a team – I can remember running laps because of an inadequacy in someone else – the lesson was that we were all in this together. We work together. We are “punished” together. It is about team.

Motivations to change are both extrinsic and intrinsic – using a combination of each, at the right time, is what effective leader’s master. That mastery is directly related to the state of the leader’s heart. If your feelings, attitudes and motivations are not congruent with your Creator’s, how do you expect to train, guide and effectively discipline those you are charged with leading?

Are you encouraging growth with the right tools at the right time?


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Copyright ©2009 by P. Griffith Lindell