7 Leadership Styles* & How They Impact Your Ministry: #3 PRESTIGE

Making Things Better

If your dominant personality Advantage** is Prestige you will earn respect for your results. Those results might include increasing the membership of your community, instituting a successful program or even raising the funds needed for a building project. Whatever the results are about, you will be seen as challenging your community and yourself to higher standards. Yes, you will be perceived as ambitious and strong-willed, but also as discerning and good with details. You are perceptive and frequently offer suggestions on how to make any program or idea even better, even when you didn’t initiate the idea or program. You can focus on the tasks that need to be done and are usually efficient in managing your time.

As with the other Advantages, when Prestige is your dominant Advantage there are a couple of areas where it’s important to be careful. Because you can always find ways to improve upon the ideas and suggestions of others, those people can become demoralized if you do this a lot. Frequently offering “better” suggestions can lead others to think that they can never be good enough or say something that’s good enough for you. If that happens, they could stop offering ideas or participating in programs altogether. That would limit your ministry and that of your community. Also, you tend to have a sensitive side and can become demoralized if you believe your image is at stake, even when you believe it’s called into questions only a little. Becoming defensive about your self-image will not be a useful response at such times. Put your efforts back into producing the results that further ministry.

Remember Paul’s words (Romans 12 & 1 Corinthians 12) that we are each one member of the body of Christ. Each part/member of the body has gifts to offer to the whole. No matter what our part is, we are not the whole of the body and cannot go it alone. Whatever your primary Advantage is, those whose dominant Advantage is Prestige have a gift from God. May you use your dominant Advantage in gratitude to God and for the blessing of those you serve. May you also value the gifts that come from those who have Advantages that differ from yours. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Notes: * This material is based on the work of Sally Hogshead from her book, How the World Sees You: Discover Your Highest Value Through the Science of Fascination, ^©2014.

** Through her research, Sally Hogshead has identified 7 personality types, which she calls Advantages. We each have all 7 of these, but there is one that we use most often. It’s our dominant Advantage. This article looks at one of these 7 Advantages.