What A Leadership Training Course Can Do For You

I once directed about 20 different people in a Christian volunteer organization. I didn´t have any experience in leading an organization  and really had no idea what to do. So I enrolled in a leadership training course, and was I ever glad that I did.

The class only lasted for two days with not more than a couple of hours each day. But I learned a variety of techniques on how to deal with different kinds of people, how to gain respect and trust from the people I was leading, and how to balance assertiveness with flexibility.

One of the first things we were taught in the leadership training course was to never ask someone to do something that we wouldn´t do ourself. One of the aspects of the ministry I headed up was to do home visits. So when I volunteered to do the first one myself I immediately noticed the relief in the other members.

Another thing we were taught was, that the people we were leading were expecting us to be confident and know what to do in different situations. This proved to be difficult for me, since, to be honest, none of us really knew what we were doing. I circumvented this issue by calling on the larger council at our church in such situations, and quickly learned the ins and outs.

In the leadership training course we also learned to listen to everybody, whether it was a business or something else, and make sure their voice was heard and respected. It also stressed the necessity of making sure that everybody had something to do, especially in volunteer organizations, so that everybody felt appreciated.

Because of what I learned in the leadership training course, I made it a point to thank everyone personally at the end of each meeting, to call attention to the hard work of various volunteers, and to send letters of appreciation to everyone in our conference. I soon discovered that I had earned a tremendous amount of loyalty from the members of the ministry. Once when our priest came into the conference room where we were holding our meeting and asked if we could do something for Christmas, every head in the room turned to me. That was very gratifying.

I enjoyed heading up that ministry very much and still keep in contact with all of the members. I don't think I would have been nearly as effective a leader, however, if it had not been for the leadership training course I attended and the valuable tools I learned along the way.

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