In today's workplace there are a variety of needs that need to be met within any organization. And it is up to us to meet those needs. Different needs will require different solutions, and often are best dealt with by different people. So a well-balanced organization should have different types of leaders to help meet the various needs of the organization.

We have discussed the various levels of leadership here before (the manager-leader and the executive-leader), but in addition to those levels, we must also look at different types of leaders. And when striving to be a successful leader in the workplace, it is important to focus on a specific area of leadership, or you will run the risk of being mediocre at everything. It doesn't matter how good you think you are, you were not made to be the master of every type of leadership role that there is.

The Bible outlines in Ephesians 4:11 what the various leadership roles are for the church.... 
    "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,"

In verses 12-16 Paul continues with the purpose of the people in these roles. To sum it up, Paul's basically lays out that these people are to equip the others to fulfill the goals of the "organization." The bottom line is that these people are the leaders, but these leaders are all different types of leaders. Each was made to focus on specific areas of need within the organization. Let's take a brief look at these various roles...

• Apostles - One term that I often hear used to describe this role is "father." However, this role more clearly defined is as the one who pioneers and establishes new things. Technically this can cover functional areas such as research and new product development, but I like to think more in terms of people than objects. Therefore, this role I see more as an overseer and/or mentor. People in this role can include (but is not limited to) people in administrative job functions. In the workplace, it is these people that make sure that things move forward the way that they should.
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• Prophets - In the Bible it was the Prophets who led the people in the ways of God by sharing the Word of God with them, and setting new vision and direction (and sometimes correction) for the people. These were the visionaries and strategists of the "organization." In the workplace there are a few different functions that can fit into this concept, but I believe that this role covers primarily the workforce management in an organization. Anyone whose primary role is to create vision, direction, and lead the people on to the goals of the organization may fall into this category.
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• Evangelists -  Biblically speaking the role of the Evangelist is to share the Message with outsiders. In the workplace this role would most likely translate into the sales function. The responsibility of this person is to convince others to "buy" whatever it is that you are "selling."
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• Shepherds - In many other translations this one is also translated as Pastor. It is the role of the Pastor/Shepherd to guard and protect the flock. When applying this concept to the workplace, this role would likely function similarly to the Human Resources role. HR professionals are there primarily to meet the needs of the employee.
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• Teachers - This is probably the easiest of the bunch to translate into a workplace role. The Teacher has the primary responsibility of developing other people. In the workplace, this would be the Training or Learning and Development professional.

While many of us may have some of each one of these within us, we are usually built to be primarily one of them. A "shepherd" may have some "evangelist" in them, but they will never be primarily an evangelist. So for the "shepherd" it is important to focus more on being the best "shepherd" that they can be first, and recognize that developing skills in the other areas is secondary.
 
More will be covered on each of these leadership types under separate posts. I plan to dig deeper into how to discover which one of these you are, which skills are most important to each role, and how you can best position yourself for success while working in these roles. This is also my interpretation of these things. If you have different thoughts on this, then please share. I look forward to a dialog that can help each of us to grow...

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