When leaders are faced with difficulties, it can be easy to point the finger. Blame-shifting, avoidance, and hiding can all occur, especially for new or immature leaders, whether the difficulties are directly a result of your or your team’s action or inaction. The mature leader, however, takes a different approach to leadership in difficult times.
Nehemiah 1:3-4, LSB
3 They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who remain from the captivity are in great calamity and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.”
4 Now it happened that when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Many devotionals, articles, and commentaries have been written on Nehemiah’s leadership skills. While there may not be much left to say, there are still crucial principles worth repeating – one of which is this: Leadership begins with ownership. In the face of troubling times, Nehemiah did not look to blame shift, avoid, or hide from the situation. Instead, Nehemiah understood from the beginning that while a problem existed, there was little time to seek absolution in castigating fault; instead, he acknowledged his place among the failed people of God and sought an immediate resolution.
The first acknowledgement from Nehemiah was the status of the walls. He lamented the existing state of his people and immediately approached God with his heavy heart. By verse six, he confessed personal sins: “I and my father’s house,” then immediately went to work on behalf of the sons of Israel, pleading their case before a God rightfully jealous for His own glory. That is the heart of leadership. Nehemiah took ownership, not waiting for anyone else to take action, knowing he was capable.
What if our leadership consistently looked like this? What if we were leaders who understood that the matter doesn’t end with blame but resolution? What if we were the kind of leader that genuinely valued the prosperity of the people God put in our circle of influence instead of notoriety, avoidance, or anything in between? Perhaps this writer is projecting, and for that, I apologize. However, this is not an uncommon occurrence. The mindset—owning failure before demanding change—seems rare in today’s leadership landscape.
A 2020 study found that 82% of leaders “acknowledge they have ‘limited to no’ ability to hold others accountable successfully, and 91% of employees would say that ‘effectively holding others accountable’ is one of their company’s top leadership-development needs” (Carucci, 2020). If that many leaders and employees acknowledge a leader’s inability to hold employees accountable, how accountable are leaders holding themselves? Looking back to Nehemiah, his ability to recognize his failures first put him on a path to course-correct the matter and engage others to take ownership of the situation.
So, leader: How are you leading yourself? Do you blame-shift, avoid, hide, or something similar? Or do you take personal ownership of a failure and mobilize not only yourself but others around you to action? Because regardless of how things pan out (sometimes you can correct things, and other times you have to pivot), the quality and character of a leader starts with how they manage themselves. Leadership isn’t about controlling outcomes—it’s about owning responsibility because, ultimately, all good leadership begins with intentional ownership. So, step up, own the situation, and lead forward.
References
Carucci, R. (2020). How to actually encourage employee accountability. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/11/how-to-actually-encourage-employee-accountability?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert_notactsubs&deliveryName=DM107012