Why a framework?
The discipline of leadership is complex and broad. So much so that we may conclude that it is an X-factor that you are born with or born without.
However, the elements of leadership can be made explicit and accessible. This is what the framework does. It makes the landscape of leadership navigable by making explicit what leadership is and how to do it.
As a framework, rather than a methodology, it is a trellis on which the vine of life-long learning is encouraged to grow.
What are the 5 E’s?
The baseline for Christian leadership is character – to Embody the vision we’re calling people to.
Leaders Envision people, rallying them around a vision of a better world. Leaders Enable their organisation to bring that vision into being. And Leaders Embrace their people for who they are, as whole human beings, not just what they bring to the organisational goals.
Our growth as leaders never ends. In an ever changing world we keeping learning and adapting as we Evolve into the leaders God calls us to be.
The dynamics
Much of the value of the model comes from understanding the the dynamics of five elements.
To get a feel for how they relate, you might want to read a ground-up exploration of what leadership is.
Embody is a Biblical mandate. But the three pillars of Envision, Enable and Embrace are expressions of gifting and we have them in varying measures. That’s the reason New Testament leadership is always plural.
To understand the need for all three pillars, it’s useful to think through what a church might look like if its leadership had only two of them.