TOXIC LEADERSHIP
In October 2014, author Thom S. Rainer published an excellent article entitled "Fourteen Symptoms of Toxic Church Leaders".
His article made the following points about these "leaders":
| They rarely demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. Paul notes those specific attributes in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control. You won't see them much in toxic leaders. |
| They seek a minimalist structure of accountability. Indeed, if they could get away with it, they would operate in a totally autocratic fashion, with heavy, top down leadership. |
| They expect behaviour of others they don't expect of themselves. "Do as I say, not as I do." |
| They see almost everyone else as inferior to themselves. You will hear them criticizing other leaders while building themselves up. |
| They show favouritism. It is clear that they have a favoured few while they marginalize the rest. |
| They have frequent anger outbursts. This behaviour takes place when they don't get their way. |
| They say one thing to some people, but different things to others. This is a soft way of saying they lie. |
| They seek to dismiss or marginalize people before they attempt to develop them. People are means to their ends; they see them as projects, not God's people who need mentoring and developing. |
| They are manipulative. Their most common tactic is using partial truths to get their way. |
| They lack transparency. Autocratic leaders are rarely transparent. If they get caught abusing their power, they may have to forfeit it. |
| They do not allow for pushback or disagreement. When someone does disagree, he or she becomes the victim of the leader's anger and marginalization. |
| They surround themselves with sycophants. Their inner circle thus often includes close friends and family members, as well as a host of "yes people". |
| They communicate poorly. In essence, any clarity of communication would reveal their autocratic behavior, so they keep their communications unintelligible and obtuse. |
| They are self-absorbed. In fact, they would unlikely see themselves in any of these symptoms. |
In his article, Thom makes the point that "they can often get away with their behavior for years because they often have a charismatic and charming personality".
He ends his article by asking, "Do you know of any toxic church leaders? Do these symptoms seem familiar?"
THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE CAN BE FOUND HERE:
http://thomrainer.com/2014/10/fourteen-symptoms-toxic-church-leaders/
