ABSTRACT
All of the other chapters in this book have been as descriptive as possible and have drawn tentative conclusions. This chapter is rather different: it is prescriptive, with its prescriptions backed up by the literature. This is in keeping with the literature on leadership (for example, Bennis 2000), and is presumably because any definition of ‘leadership’ must be either axiomatic or a definition in the form of a hypothesis (and whilst hypotheses can be supported they cannot be proved). In a book which is intended to be practical, a final chapter on leadership seems appropriate, even if it argues in the other way round from the other chapters. I can only claim in defence that all science is in fact hypothesis seeking support and giving rise to new questions (Popper 1959; 1962). Much of what we said on governance in Chapter 6 is relevant here, for an
important function of a leader in a religious or faith-based organization is to ensure that governance structures are working and that their own work serves the organization through those structures rather than conflicting with them (which does not mean that there will be no conflict, as we shall see below). Here we outline some tasks which any successful leader will be undertaking:
The leader will:
1 understand the organization’s structure and the organization’s values and work with them;
2 structure the organization according to its values; 3 develop goals in line with the organization’s values and will ensure that the
goals are met; 4 manage change in ways coherent with the organization’s values; 5 manage conflict in accordance with the organization’s values; and 6 in their own lives give expression to the organization’s values.
