Leaders are always looking for ways to leverage their time in order to get the best results from their efforts. They know they have limited amounts of time and energy, and they want to be responsible and fruitful. Here is one of the best ways I know to maximize your effectiveness: get away, get with God, get with a couple of confidants, and work out your core values. I can’t overstate how important this endeavor is. In fact, I have never worked with a leader who did not experience significant return on investment in this exercise. It pays off in outcomes, in relationships, and in life. And yes, taking the time to work out your values will certainly create some stress, cause a few fires to go untended, and make some people a little upset that you are unavailable for a while, but it is worth the brain damage!

What are values? Values are the basic architecture of who you are and how you lead. They are those few fundamental realities (and you can only have a few) that anchor you to what is important to you and your mission. Values are beneficial because they guide your decisions and keep you on the path; they solve dilemmas and bring you back to the very basics of your character, spiritual life, and relationships. When you have a true and clear set of values, you are never lost in confusion or serious doubt, like “a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6, NIV). Rather, you become a person of clarity and decisiveness, one who leads with wisdom and a clear sense of direction.

Why not take some time and think through your values? To prime the pump a bit, here are three basic values that I believe all leaders can hold on to and live by:

Leaders Value God. It goes without saying, yet it needs to be said. God, and your relationship with Him, is the highest value of all. It is the most critical, for everything flows from God. He is the center and source of the world, of your organization, and of your own life. As the great Architect of all companies and churches, He is the one who will guide and direct your path so that you can be successful. So commit your life, your relationships, your plans, and your dreams to Him. Ask Him for light, truth, and support in your task: “ Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed” (Prov. 16:3).

Leaders who regularly spend personal, connected, worshipful time with God can only gain from this activity. If He gave you your vision and is behind it, nothing on earth can thwart your plans, for they will ultimately further His interests in His kingdom. Ask Him to give you eyes to see His hand, His answers, and the spiritual realities behind your day-to-day work. He wants to show you how much the everyday world is actually spiritual in nature, and how much He wants to guide you!

Leaders Value Relationship. If God comes first on your list of values, then relationship undoubtedly comes next, for God wants us to be about relationship. God Himself, at His deepest level, is all about love, and in fact, in some mysterious and wonderful way that we cannot fully grasp, He is love itself: “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (I John 4:16). Love and grace are what we are to receive and give, over and over again. They empower, strengthen, and heal all aspects of a person or organization.

You will never be the same once you have experienced the power of relationship. You learn how much you need connections with God and other people. You learn that you can be known and accepted fully for who you are, and that you can receive understanding, empathy, and compassion for your failures. And, in gratitude, you learn how to provide what you have received to people in your organization.

Your being emotionally connected and present can have a huge impact on your work. When people know they are following someone who cares at a deep level and wants the best for them, they in turn are motivated to love back and to produce good results because that relationship has touched them. Be a relationally-based leader, and everything will become different. Touch people relationally, and you will see performance at incredible levels.

Leaders Value Honesty. One of the greatest responsibilities of leadership is to require honesty, both of oneself and others. That is, things improve when people can tell and hear the truth. It really does set you and your organization free (John 8:32). Honest people, honest churches, and honest organizations can solve problems, repair hurts, achieve goals, and change directions in needed ways. Conversely, people, churches, and organizations that do not value honesty tend to experience the opposite fruit: outward compliance but inward protest, disconnectedness between people, personnel conflicts that stay unresolved, and a fear-based mentality that makes people walk on eggshells. Most of the time, in a less-than-honest environment, the healthy people leave and the not-so-healthy stay on. And that problem compounds itself.

Let some fresh air into your organization, and reward truthfulness! Be a person who shows love and yet also speaks reality: “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ” (Eph. 4:15). Be able to receive feedback and criticism from people, and make the adjustments you need to make (this is what repentance is all about). Honesty is good for you and for your group.

God. Relationship. Honesty. There are other values, but none higher. These three will never fail you in your leadership. Hold onto them every day, and make them part of your life. You will continually reap good fruit from them. God bless you.

Save on How People Grow or Ultimate Leadership Satellite Broadcast DVDs!

Here is an excerpt from How People Grow to whet your appetite:

The Truth of Our Condition. Our condition is that we all have to grow. Everyone has weaknesses, sins, immaturities, and brokenness. Most of us are aware that we aren't perfect people. However, true growth occurs when we are able to discover what our own particular issues of growth are, which areas of our lives need God's healing and maturing. In other words, all of us need to be in the path of living the life of God: dependence on him, relationship with others, productive jobs and careers, ministry, and character growth. This is universal. At the same time, we need to find out what areas we have fragility or a pattern of failure in and bring those into the growth process also. Spiritual growth requires certain ingredients to work correctly. Here are some of the things people need:

• A spiritual context where God is seen as central to growth

• Abiding human relationships that are loving and truthful

• Experience and competence in the particular areas of growth

• Enough time for the process to take hold

• A structure or framework that fits the needs of the grower

Whatever people are working on, they need to know what activities to engage in to bring about the fruit of growth. We need not only to know the truth about ourselves, but also to act on it.

(How People Grow, ch. 17, "Facing Reality: How Truth Deepens Growth," pp. 322-3)

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