Name: Myk Habets

Title: Head of School of Theology

Organisation: Laidlaw College

Myk lectures in Systematic Theology and Ethics and has lectured at the University of Otago and other theological institutions in New Zealand and abroad. He is President of the Thomas F. Torrance Theological Fellowship; Associate Editor of Participatio: The Journal of the Thomas Torrance Theological Fellowship; and Co-editor of Re-envisioning Reformed Theology Series (Cascade Books).

His work is widely published in international journals, and he has published over twenty books, including The Anointed Son and The Progressive Mystery. Myk’s teaching and research centre around constructive contemporary dogmatics and moral theology (ethics). He has a special interest in pneumatology and is a world-leading scholar of Third Article Theology, theosis, Spirit Christology, the theology of Thomas F. Torrance, Evangelical Calvinism, and the theological interpretation of Scripture.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

We’ve gone through the interviews and asked the best of the best to come back and answer 7 MORE Questions on Leadership.

I hope Myk's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. As a leader, how do you build trust with employees, customers and other stakeholders?

Relationships are the key, along with being consistent with people. People trust others if they are honest and reliable. I also try to show trust in others, so they show trust in me. Trust is also built on honesty, authenticity, and delivering on promises.

2. What do 'VISION' and 'MISSION' mean to you? And what does it actually look like to use them in real-world business?

These two concepts are necessary, but they are overrated in contemporary business speak. Keep it simple, keep it clear, and keep it realistic. Vision is the goal, the concept, the reason, the why, and that needs to be succinct and aspirational without being a fantasy. Mission is a statement of how we will achieve the vision in big terms, this is what this organization does. This too needs to be succinct and realistic so that any employee can look at it and say, 'Yes, that is who we are and what we do.'

3. How can a leader empower the people they're leading?

Empowerment takes trust and a relationship. Responsibility has to be given, in appropriate doses, with clear lines of responsibility, reporting, clear KPIs, including time constraints. Along with this, support has to be clearly available, and the objectives need to be able to be achieved for success to happen. Keep short accounts and reward good work.

4. Who are some of the coaches or mentors in your life who have had a positive influence on your leadership? Can you please tell a meaningful story about one of them?

One mentor was my first boss/manager after I left school. It was my first job and her last job before retirement. She could tell I was bored in my work, unstimulated, unchallenged, and in the wrong place. She clearly expected me to do the job I was hired to do and not slack off on that simply because I was bored, but she took the time to get to know me and my aspirations, clearly worked out my potential, and then did something about it.

To my surprise, one day she called me into her office and told me to prepare for a job interview she had arranged with another firm that had far more challenges, more responsibilities, higher pay, and a career track. I was so impressed with her. She could have ignored me, told me off, or worse. Instead, she took the time and used her circle of influence to help me with no personal reward. I admire and appreciate her and that example, and I try to do the same with those I manage.

5. Leadership is often more about what you DON'T do. How do you maintain focus in your role?

Prioritize work each day, week, month, and year. That is the key. What is urgent, what is important, and what is both, and work from there. Then, delegation is important. What do I need to hold on to, and what can I let go? In addition, meeting with colleagues, mentors, and reading in the area - all help maintain focus. Finally, keeping the goal in mind and the people concerned in mind is important in order not to get off track.

6. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Everyone plans differently. How do you plan for the week, month and years ahead in your role?

I start with the end in mind and work backwards from there. So I work out where we need to be and what we need to do, then work back to how we can achieve that, and then work out the details from there. Long-term goals turn into a strategic plan that turns into KPIs and so forth. I find it important to know when to collaborate and when not to, as I find many people collaborate too much and too often, and as a result, they get little done, and what is done is done by committee and not always what is needed. No collaboration is just as disastrous.

7. What advice would you give to a young leader who is struggling to delegate effectively?

The struggle to delegate comes from one (or both) of two places: there are no good people to delegate work to, or the leader is so arrogant as to assume no one but them can do the job.

For the first issue, move people on and make good hires. It is hard, but it is central- get the right people on the bus and then you can go anywhere.

For the second issue, develop humility and build trust in others with small things growing into large things. Also, with delegation, sometimes things have to fail and collapse, and people have to learn the lesson, so a leader can't have a pathological fear of failure either.