LEADERSLIP

I have often asked myself questions like: "Why did that leader fail?" Or, "Why did that leader make that poor decision?" Or even, "Why did they leave their church?" Those are legitimate questions, but the answer I come back to all the time is they developed leaderslip. They slowly slipped away from their calling, their marriage, their children, and their ministry. They developed leaderslip.

Every leader can face leaderslips. No one is immune to it, but you can be protected from it. So, what causes leaderslip? The first cause is vision leakage. At some point in their leadership journey they began to drift from the vision they are called to or the the vision they serve under. When someone can't retain the vision eventually their leadership slips. The second cause is life drift. Your life heads in the direction of your thoughts, but at some point people begin to drift from who they are, if they do not protect their minds. The final cause is accountability loss. When someone does not have accountability in their life it will cause negative outcomes to their life. You are only as strong as your accountability.

I have watched friends have major leaderslips in their lives. Some have been painful and private, while other have been public and problematic. So, how do you protect yourself from leaderslips?

DON'T LOSE YOUR WHY

I have said this many times over the years, but if you lose your why you will always lose your way. You must fight to protect your why.

Questions to ask yourself all the time:

• Why did I start that company?

• Why did I ask her to marry me? Or why did I say yes?

• Why did I move to this location?

• Why did I accept this new position?

If you want to protect yourself from leaderslip you will have to keep your why in front of you all the time. It adds a grip to your leadership footing.

STAY FOCUSED

Don't allow life to distract you from the reason you have been placed on planet earth or put in the position you are in. As my pastor often says, "If it's God today it's God tomorrow." What God has placed in your heart to accomplish you must pursue with every once of strength that you have.

When you get distracted from the right things you are called to do you will become discouraged by the things you are told to do!

BE ACCOUNTABLE TO SOMEONE

I have an accountability team. I have surrounded myself with a group of five men who ask me hard questions and probe into the secret places of my life and leadership to help protect me from poor decisions. Remember, you are only as strong as your accountability. Find someone or a group of people to help keep you on track and centered.

However, accountability is not just asking you hard questions, but you must move in the direction of their input. In other words, you have to be honest and make adjustments because of your accountability. If you don't make any adjustments you don't have accountability.

You can live with leaderslip or lead with leadergrip! The choice is yours! I am choosing to live with leadergrip. How do you do that? Pretty simple: (1) Don't lose your why, (2) Stay focused, and (3) Be accountable. Take a grip on those three things and you will protect yourself from leaderslip.