HOLLY CULHANE
I met Holly Culhane seventeen years ago when she became an independent consultant for The Ken Blanchard Companies to help us spread the word about our training programs. We became better acquainted a few years later through our Lead Like Jesus ministry, where she is one of our certified trainers. What I love most about Holly is that she continually challenges her own thinking and explores new ideas. I think you’ll admire that aspect of her, too, when you read her essay. —KB
A WHILE BACK, in reference to a self-serving leadership scandal I had experienced, a wise and dear friend remarked, “A shepherd is supposed to lay down his life for his sheep.” The analogy hit me hard. The self-serving leaders involved hadn’t considered the needs of their followers a priority—but were first only concerned about their own well-being.
I had heard the term shepherding in a leadership context from time to time in speeches, books, and the media. Earnest leaders spend much time discussing the values of servant leadership. But was there a skill or tool or philosophy of shepherds that would bring even more depth and meaning to those lessons of leadership?
What did the word “shepherd” mean beyond Webster’s definitions: “a person who herds, tends or guards sheep” and “a person who protects, guides, or watches over a person or group of people”?
Fascinated by this concept, I did internet searches, read books about shepherding, and conducted interviews with modern-day shepherds. I learned about methodologies and medical techniques, philosophies and opinions, processes and procedures. It became clear that the term shepherd needed consideration from a servant leadership perspective.1
After researching multiple interviews, articles, and even readings of ancient prophets, a premise emerged: shepherding is a universal—and I would say godly—leadership principle. It applies to supervising and managing at work in for-profit and nonprofit organizations and the government sector, parenting and partnering at home, and friendships and work relationships across cultures, socioeconomic levels, ethnicities, and generations. Everyone who is interested in becoming a servant leader can connect with the message of shepherding. After all, a shepherd is the ultimate example of a servant leader, often laying down their life for the sheep.
It became clear that it was time for me to develop this remarkably simple yet uniquely profound concept.
The responsibilities of a shepherd are to ensure that the sheep are in good health on a consistent basis, well fed, and shielded from predators. The needs of sheep are remarkably similar to the needs of people. Sheep need:
• a calming presence to rest;
• discipline to stay on task with the flock;
• a leader who knows their condition and responds accordingly; and
• special attention when they are young, new to a flock, or struggling.
Sheep have no desire for change. In fact, it takes some time for them to produce wool again after their lifestyle has been altered in any way. They can be the most beneficial of all livestock when well managed—and they can be destructive, causing ruin almost beyond remedy, when mismanaged.
Sound familiar? If you’re a parent, a pastor, a coach, or a supervisor, you’ll immediately see the analogy for what people and sheep need to perform well.
The skills that make up the job description of a responsible shepherd are the same as those of an effective servant leader. Every responsibility of a shepherd and, ultimately, of a servant leader, can be captured in three words: provision, protection, and presence. Effective shepherding is grounded in these three pivotal elements of leadership. It’s only when provision, protection, and presence are intertwined that shepherds can truly fulfill their calling as leaders.
Good shepherds care for sheep, providing nourishment and ensuring the availability of clean water. Similarly, effective servant leaders care for team members or family, providing a suitable space for them to work or live and resources to sustain them. Pastors and priests provide nourishment through their teaching for those under their care.
Good shepherds delight in the flock, shelter them from storms, protect them from enemies, and keep them healthy. Effective servant leaders take pleasure in the successes of their team or family, protect them from danger, and as much as possible ensure their physical and emotional health.
Good shepherds ensure their sheep are free from stress and conflict with other sheep. They bring a calming presence and make sure those that stray are quickly brought back to the flock. Effective servant leaders address problems between employees or family members when they arise and strive to assist those who are struggling, while offering a reassuring and comforting presence.
Good shepherds guide, train, and discipline the sheep when necessary. Effective servant leaders praise employees, congregants, or family members when things are going well, redirect when behavior dictates, and provide training, development, coaching, and opportunities for growth.
Effective shepherds and servant leaders provide, protect, and are present at a variety of levels. We use these definitions for the three terms:
Provision: To take care of or to furnish or supply the need of another.
Protection: The act of safeguarding, shielding from harm, or guarding against danger.
Presence: At hand—physically and/or emotionally available and engaged.
These three pivotal elements form the Leader’s Shield—not to protect the leader from those they lead but, in fact, to act as a shield for those they lead.
What would employee engagement statistics look like if leaders at work cared for their people at a level that encompassed provision, protection, and presence? What would the future of the world’s children be if parents and care-givers shepherded them with an emphasis on all three elements? Would prison overcrowding become a concern of the past? Would the turnover rate of volunteers drop if nonprofits, churches, synagogues, and mosques truly shepherded those who gave of their time, talents, and treasure to further the mission of their organizations?
There’s no formulaic equation to determine how the three responsibilities in the Leader’s Shield are demonstrated. Every work, home, and volunteer environment, as well as different cultures of countries or organizations, will dictate how leaders live out provision, protection, and presence.
The shepherd’s rod has always provided discipline to help sheep make the right choices. The shepherd’s staff represents protection and is on hand to pull the sheep to safety or to help them avoid slipping into a ravine or crevice. The shepherd’s presence allows both of these tools to be available when needed and provides a trust and peace the sheep need to live well and produce effectively.
For an entrepreneur, supervisor, or manager in a first world country, provision may be a necessary piece of equipment or a fair wage. Protection may be ergonomically designed chairs and desks or a facilitated conflict resolution meeting when a team is struggling. Presence may be responding to emails in a timely manner or electronic face-to-face chats when the leader isn’t personally available. In a third world environment, provision may be paying transportation fees for employees. Protection may include ensuring that employees leave their work environment in time to arrive at home before dark, or assisting them in techniques of how to address potential bribery by vendors. Presence may look similar in many settings. It may include the leader being available for conversations, seeking people’s input with problem solving, and helping address concerns with coworkers.
In the case of a parent, provision may include providing basic food and shelter for a child or assisting with funding a college education. Protection may be an emotionally safe environment where family members can learn and thrive as they share life together. Presence may take the form of electronics-free family time, date nights between partners, attending children’s important events, or listening attentively to a teenager’s angst over friendships or high school.
Leaders of volunteers may demonstrate provision by assuring that people know how their tasks are to be performed. They may demonstrate protection by assuring that conflict among volunteers is addressed, and presence by candid, face-to-face communication, holding meetings on a consistent basis, or seeking volunteers’ feedback in their areas of expertise.
It’s important to add two additional points of interest with regard to these responsibilities. First, whether a behavior is defined as provision, protection, or presence is not imperative. What is imperative is for the leader to be conscientious in carrying out these responsibilities. Second, presence is not about simply attending an event or an online conference call—it is about focused attention. People want their leaders to be engaged in what they do. Engaged presence is a significant behavior that separates a shepherd from every other kind of leader.
We humans are complicated beings—difficult to understand, at times a struggle to lead, and imperfect in our actions and responses. It’s often easier to love the child who challenges and stretches our leadership than the coworker, team member, or volunteer who pushes our limits. But remember: we don’t have the option of discriminating between those we shepherd well and those we leave in need.
As I studied biblical writings describing the shepherd, it was clear the responsibilities within this leadership concept are to be applied for the benefit of everyone servant leaders work to influence—even in lateral relationships such as peers and friends. Servant leaders are called to shepherd well when they take on any influence or leadership role. And the Leader’s Shield is a tool to be implemented at all times—not just in comfortable circumstances. The reality is that our responsibility as servant leaders is to shepherd well all of those in our care.
A number of organizations are seeing remarkable results in how their teams work together and perform when servant leaders ramp up their attention to provision, protection, and presence. The same is true of families who focus on all three areas of responsibility.
It is crucial that every person who wants to be a servant leader is intentional in the provision, protection, and presence provided to people in their life. As shepherds we must be purposefully informed and able to answer the question of why we do what we do. Intention and informed purpose must support each action, decision, and step we take as a shepherd on the servant leadership journey. The people in our lives are too important for us to offer them less.
Holly Culhane is CEO and founder of Presence Point, Inc. (www.presencepoint.com), a nonprofit organization focused on helping people live into their calling as shepherd leaders. She is also consultant emeritus with P•A•S Associates, an HR consulting firm she founded in 1987. She is a leadership coach and consultant who facilitates leadership development workshops with The Ken Blanchard Companies and Lead Like Jesus. She also serves a variety of nonprofit organizations through board involvement.
1. Dr. Owen Phelps, in The Catholic Vision for Leading like Jesus (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2009), captures this concept when he boldly states that an effective leader is a combination of servant, steward, and shepherd.