Olivet University Faculty and World Evangelical Alliance Leadership Institute trainees attended a special lecture on Tuesday, June 13 at Fide Hall by Dr. Ralph Enlow, the president of the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE). ABHE is a network of 200 bible colleges with a total of 55,000 enrollment in North America.
The two-hour lecture on “The Leader as Lifelong Learner” gave insight into leadership and leadership development.
Dr. Enlow started off by asking, what is leadership? Most commonly, people will describe attributes or behaviors of a leader, “but I prefer to define leadership based on not who a leader is, but what he does, and the EFFECT he has. This means you can know if someone is a leader because people follow.”
Introducing the “Leader’s Palette”, the lecturer expanded on the 7 dimensions of leadership: 1. Incarnational, 2. Relational, 3. Developmental, 4. Directional, 5. Ecological, 6. Situational, 7. Doxology .
Next, the conceptual framework on Leadership Emergence developed by Dr. Bobby Clinton, a longtime researcher on Christian leadership, was introduced: Stage One: Providential Beginnings, Stage Two: Character and Spiritual Formation, Stage Three: Ministry Maturing, Stage Four: Momentum and Production, Stage Five: Convergence and Significance, Stage Six: Afterglow and Anointing
The Seven Disciplines of Great Leaders by Reggie McNeal were also briefly covered: Self Awareness, Self Management, Self Development, Mission, Decision Making, Belonging, Aloneness.
There are also three important habits that leaders should develop to become lifelong learners: Reading (read broadly, read curated content); Relationships (heavenly Father, upward, peer, downward); Reflection (self awareness, debrief experiences, redemptive view of failure)
Dr. Enlow took a memorable quote from John Maxwell, that “Leaders are readers and readers are leaders”, emphasizing the importance of constantly learning.
And finally, attendants were asked to sharpen their self-awareness when it comes to their passion, giftedness and role (PGR). There is maximum effectiveness as a leader when there is good PGR alignment.
A video recording and notes on this lecture will be available as a professional development resource for Olivet staff and faculty.