Last night in my weekly leadership class called Habitudes, we talked about the importance as leaders to take inventory! Just as any business cannot be successful without taking good inventory on a regular basis, leaders must take personal inventory of their God-given gifts, talents, etc. This will shape our self-image and, consequently, our results. The discovery of the largest golden statue in the world, the Golden Buddha, is a great story that drives home this point. Their is gold inside of us, formed and fashioned by our Creator…we have to look and evaluate what that is.
Over the years, taking inventory through assessments, serving and conversations have been incredibly valuable to me. I promised my friends in my class I would share these today and I want to share them with you as well. Here is a short list of some of my favorite tools to take personal inventory of our leadership potential. I can’t wait to hear how these help you discover how God has formed you for real influence in our world.
S.H.A.P.E. — God has “shaped” you for an incredible purpose and life in this world. Birthed out of Rick Warren and Erik Rees at Saddleback Church, the teaching and assessments of SHAPE have fueled thousands of Christ-followers to discover their spiritual gifting and opportunities to influence the world.
Uniquely You Profile — The New Testament makes a bold promise that the Holy Spirit has gifted every Christ-follower with a spiritual gift to serve and strengthen the body. Their are tons of gift assessments out there. They are a good beginning point for discovering your gifting but they are no substitute simply getting in there and serving along with affirmation from the Body of Christ. Uniquely you is a thorough profile for helping you discover your spiritual gifting as well as your personality. I took this over a decade ago, originally, and it was a great encouragement.
Ministry Insights: Leading from your Strengths — This is a personality profile that will give direction not only on your wiring but also how that impacts your relationships. We use this as a tool for hiring and relating as a staff and trust it incredibly. Rodney also uses this in his marriage counseling. Great tool! (I am an Otter by the way).
StrengthFinders — This comes out of the business world and Gallup but has great spiritual implications for us as we look at our “SHAPE” and leadership. I believe the insight from the StrengthFinders movement is simply the discovery of God’s hard-wiring in our lives. The inspiration of StrengthFinders is to focus on our talents, God-given, and invest in those so they will be strengths. To take the assessment, you simply purchase the book. I have taken the original Now, Discover Your Strengths, the updated StrengthFinders 2.0 and Strengths Based Leadership; all incredibly helpful! Here is a breakdown of my strength mix.
Five Love Languages — This has been foundational in my 13+ marriage and now I see it showing up in my parenting. Great insight! (My Love Languages are Words of Affirmation & Physical Touch…no comments from the peanut gallery, please.)
Career Direct — I used this tool as I was ending my college and graduate student career and moving into the “real world” and ministry. Great for high school students, college students or those searching for a potential new direction.
This is just the tip of the iceberg but hopefully a place to start. Their are some that are free and more simple then there is stuff out there that is more thorough. I would love to hear others you have experience and success with and if you take any of these please leave a comment about what you have discovered to encourage me and others!
Great post Stu! Constant evaluation and reevaluation of where we are and how we measure up to the Lord’s expectations of us is mandatory. Good tool recommendations too.