About a year after I’d been leading a local campus team I finally received some formal team leader training. Roughly 20 of us gathered in Austin, Texas, for a week of lectures, discussions, and workshops. Each participant’s experience in leading ranged somewhere from 3 weeks to 3 years.
I’m sure I received a notebook filled with very important materials. I can also assume that the facilitators and trainers invested hours preparing their messages. I confess I remember only two specific things from that week.
One was Ray Anderson. Ray was a legend in our organization. Ray had built one of the largest and healthiest student-led movements in the States. As he shared from his life experiences, his successes, and his failures, I remember thinking: “Hey, if God can use this guy to do big things, maybe he can use me, too.”
The second thing I remember was Ray’s list. During the first morning of the training, Ray asked each of us to take out a blank piece of paper. “Fold it in half, top to bottom,” he said. “Write these things at the top of each column:”
What Good Leaders Do _____________What Poor Leaders Do
“Now, we’ve all been led before. Each of us has had people lead us well, and we’ve had people lead us poorly. Take a few minutes and write five actions in each column that you’ve observed in those who led you.”
After some group discussion, Ray simply asked us to do three things.
1. Keep adding to the list.
2. Emulate actions in left column.
3. Avoid behaviors in the right column.
That lesson was nearly twenty years ago and I’ve never forgotten it.
Message to us: With every act we train the next generation how to live and lead.
2 replies on “Ray’s One Page Leadership Training”
Hi Ken, I trust you and Ann are well. I’m reading your blog for the first time. Hard to believe it’s been 30yrs since we spent the summer together at Minzu in Beijing. Kris & I are doing well. Our son Ethan is married and in 3rd year of dental school in Chapel Hill then will serve in the Air Force. Abby graduated from Palm Beach Atlantic U in May, 2021 and is with us for now as she begins to launch in a career direction. Also in May last year, the Lord led us to join Trans World Radio in Cary, NC where I serve as Deputy to the President.
The ideas you share (from Ray) to capture ‘good leader’ and ‘poor leader’ examples is a helpful development tool for leaders at any stage. It’s easy to pass on to those we are mentoring. The encouragement to keep adding to the list, emulate the left, and avoid the right is simple and profound at the same time.
Our move from a sister organization of The Navs, where we were leading medical and business teaching teams to Vietnam, to TWR where we are now was hugely impacted by a ‘poor leader’.
God is sovereign and we are beginning to sense now that it took an abrupt 180 to pull our hearts out of Vietnam (we loved that work) to move us to this new amazing place of ministry with TWR. I’m leading an audience engagement response project now, working closely with our digital strategists. As many contexts are closing to more traditional efforts, we can reach into those areas with digital medial.
Well, keep pressing on brother! Let me know what you are learning as you give focus to developing spiritual leadership. Say hi the Ann from us and hi to Mark Tjernagel from me.
Craig (and Kris) Slater
Deputy to the President
TWR
M# (719) 287-4049
Hi Craig. Great to hear from you. I’ll PM you.