I was at a leadership conference recently and one of the speakers said something that resonated with me. He said that “…a leader must be loyal to his subordinates. It is difficult to be loyal to a disloyal leader” We commonly expect loyalty to flow upward and not downward, but the reality is that loyalty must be reciprocal.
When we are in authority, our expectation is that we must be respected and our followers must be loyal to us, but this is an error. People in authority must show loyalty and in some cases defer to those that they lead or supervise. When this happens or is in place, the one in authority gets the best out of the team.
I have read the account of the Centurion in the bible several times. I have gleaned many lessons from it, but recently I read it again and saw that all the efforts the Centurion made to see Jesus was for the benefit of one of his servants and not for his child! Amazing! The Centurion understood that loyalty must be reciprocated. He put his faith on the line that a servant in his regiment may be healed. Up until that moment he had never asked Jesus for a favor, but he did for a servant.
This is the lifestyle that God seeks in His children in positions of power. He wants us to lift and support those in our circle of influence and beyond. Too often we see people in the corporate world with some kind of authority, destroy the careers of those they are supervising. Managers talk to subordinates nastily and hurt their feelings as a matter of course. When promotions or raises are due their direct reports, they deny them with flimsy excuses yet they fight for their promotions and raises. As a matter of fact salaries are withheld or slashed for cases of genuine ill-health even with the corroboration of a valid doctor’s report. This was not the attitude of the Centurion with his servant.
To pass God’s mark of excellence we must begin to care, support, coach, train and mentor the people God has given to serve or work under us. We must avoid taking on the attitude of the world that says that people are dispensable. We must avoid using people to meet our needs and dumping them in their time of need. We must stop making demands from them when we have not made any deposits in them. We must stop threatening to fire our employees because we know that there are no jobs in the country. In spite of the economy, if you know you can pay better than what you are currently paying please go ahead and make the increase. This is the attitude in power that catches the attention of God.
Look at what is currently happening in our country. Billions of public funds allocated to fight insurgency and terrorism was diverted to private bank accounts whilst thousands of innocent souls were killed. This is gross abuse of power and authority. It is a show of disloyalty to the citizenry they were supposed to serve and lead. It is easy to criticize these individuals, but the reality is that most of us have this exact same tendency and may rob the citizenry more if given just a half chance. If you have formed the habit of robbing and mistreating your domestic assistants, you will rob and mistreat a state, if you become governor tomorrow.
The reason God gives us power and authority is that we may serve people i.e. make things happen for the people we are leading. What do you think happened in the camp and household of the Centurion when his sick servant got healed? I am sure that the morale of his personnel was buoyed and they would have committed to serve him with their lives! We would shout less at our staff if we invest a little loyalty on them.
This is the way to go. Jesus said if you desire to be a person of power or authority, you must be a servant of all. He said, “I am among you as one who serves” Jesus ultimately served mankind with His precious life by dying on the cross for our sins.
I am not saying you have to be superhuman or perfect neither am I saying that you cannot correct, rebuke or discipline those under you when the occasion demands. All I am saying is that we take a cue from the Centurion and reciprocate the loyalty of those we have been privileged to lead, supervise or manage.