Ask Henry >> Leadership Development

How should I communicate my expectations as a leader?

Leadership and management involve making up your mind what you want people to do. Telling them what their job is. Telling them what constitutes satisfactory performance. Checking to see that it’s done. Recognizing quality work. Correcting poor work. Getting rid of the ones who don’t do it. Sometimes those tasks can be difficult, but they are required of leaders.

In 1Samuel 15:1-23, we find an example of a management experience involving the leadership of men.

God sent Samuel to give King Saul an assignment. This assignment could also be called a “job description.” “The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over His people, over Israel: now therefore, hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. Go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”

But Saul disobeyed. “Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs and all that was good and would not utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.”

Realizing Saul hadn’t completely done the job, Samuel confronted him. But Saul lied: “Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” That’s why you need management, because someone needs to make sure that the people in your business do their work.

That’s what Samuel did. He put Saul on the spot. “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of those oxen which I hear?”

Saul answered with an excuse. “They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”

Samuel ignored Saul’s reply, saying “Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord?” You don’t need to answer people’s excuses, simply get back to the original responsibility.

Surprisingly, Saul twisted the assignment: “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag. I did go the way the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.” Even though Samuel didn’t have the luxury of a written job description, it’s wise to write the job description down.

Samuel didn’t back down: “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?”

Does the Lord delight in how hard we work? Or in how much we are sacrificing? Samuel answers that question for us: “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”

Finally, Samuel brings the conversation to completion: “Because thou has rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected thee from being king.”

When you lead people, you’re going to experience interplay between looking at the job and looking at the performance standards of your workers. Communicate your expectations clearly and follow-up to see that the job gets done.

 Take a step . . .

Are you currently in a leadership role where you have not communicated clearly what it is that you want/need done? Evaluate how you can communicate the expectations more clearly and then make the necessary changes.

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This summary is from Dr. Brandt’s manuscript The Nature of Human Nature. Click here to read the manuscript or to listen to this audio.