1 Chronicles 13:1
“And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader.”
We often hear the statement, “Behind every great leader are a great people.” This statement sounds good, but it is not true. I believe that beside every great leader is a great people. No leader can be successful alone. He must have people who work beside him in the work in order to be successful. Many times, those people who are beside the great leader are those whom he goes to for opinions on how to do something. That is why he either hired them or asked them to be on his team.
In the verse above, David had a team of men whom he consulted about what to do. This team of people whom David consulted made the same mistake that many other team members make when the leader asks for their opinions. David asked these men if they should move the ark of God to the city where he lived and they agreed with that which was not bad advice. The bad advice came when they didn’t disagree with the method that David came up with to move the ark. They knew that the ark was not to be moved upon a new cart, but nobody raised their voice of concern to David to tell him that is not how it should be done. This lack of inaction by his team weakened David and caused a man to lose his life.
Many leaders are weakened because their team members will tell them what they want to hear instead of telling them what is right or wrong. Great leadership is not intimidated with someone disagreeing with them during a time of consultation. The reason a leader put someone on their team is because they had confidence in their ability to do certain things. Strong leaders are not afraid to put people on their team who know more than they do in certain areas; however, strong leaders can be weakened by team members who won’t voice their opinions during times of consultations about things that could negatively impact their cause of what they are trying to do.
The greatest way you can weaken your leader is to never tell your leader an opinion that might differ from theirs during times of consultation. When the leader asks for your opinion on something, that is the time to tell them in a respectful manner what you think, even if it contrasts what they want to do. Once the leader makes up their mind that they are going to do something a certain way, and that way may be against what you advised, then you must follow the leader’s decision as long as it doesn’t go against the Word of God.
I’m sure you love your leader, but don’t make the mistake of not telling them what you truly think when they ask your opinion. These men whom David consulted should have told him that the ark needed to be carried the way God prescribed in the Pentateuch. I truly believe that David had such a tender heart that he would have heeded their advice and it would have saved someone their life. Your leader most likely has a tender enough heart and is strong enough to hear if you differ on how something should be done. So, if they ask you your opinion, tell it to them. Don’t weaken them by simply agreeing with them all the time. However, when they make the decision on how they are going to do something, then follow them with a good attitude even if your advice was not followed.