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| Pastor Anu Ojo |
By Boluwatife Oparinde
The Superintendent of Christ Apostolic Church, Vineyard of Mercy Districts' Coordinating Council (DCC), Lagos and Guest Speaker at the ongoing CACYOF National Leadership Retreat 2022, Pastor Aanuoluwapo Ojo has emphasized the need for leaders to develop, stimulate and encourage creativity in their followers.
He said this at the first lecture of the ongoing 2022 CACYOF National Leadership Retreat holding at Babalola Memorial Camp Ground, Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State on Thursday, 17th February, 2022.
Pastor Ojo, lecturing on the topic, "Discipleship for Transformational Leadership" stated that, "leaders with inspirational motivation, challenge followers with high standards, communicate optimism about future goals, and provide meaning for the task at hand."
Defining transformational leadership as a "leadership approach that causes change in individuals and social systems," the cleric furthered that, "it creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing followers into leaders."
Pastor Ojo, who is the second Youth Officer of Christ Apostolic Church, Nigeria and Overseas, encouraged leaders to always act as mentors or coaches to their followers and listen to their concerns and needs which gives empathy and support.
"By keeping communication open and by placing challenges before the followers, it births respect and celebration of the individual contribution that each follower makes to the team. The followers have a will and aspirations for self development and have intrinsic motivation for their tasks," he added.
The Guest Speaker who said that without transformational leadership, we won't see the future harvest of our leaders; differentiated between mothers and parents stating that, "there are mothers who are not parents. There are fathers who are not parents. To become a parent, you become a coach. Parents are coaches, they are guides, they are involved in everything you do."
The Vineyard of Mercy DCC Superintendent, explained the importance and essence of transformational leadership as, being a guide to many people who have good dreams and get stuck starting a venture; turning difficulties into opportunities, breaking through cultural, traditional, spiritual, religious and societal barriers are a major key; giving encouragent, inspiration and motivation to people; and helping to achieve visible great performance and creation of meaningful change."
Describing that "great leaders are not required to be the most intelligent person in an organization but be Visionary, Charismatic, Communicative and also have 'Team First Attitude', Simplicity and Tolerance for risk"; Pastor Ojo highlighted that, "transformational leaders set standards for performance and demonstrate confidence in employees to motivate and enhance their creativity. Transformational leaders share knowledge and encourage their employees for generation of novel ideas for promotion of an individual's creativity."