Relational Leadership: A Biblical Model for Influence and Service by Walter Wright

Review by Edward Pilling

Leaders hold something very fragile in their hands the hopes
and dreams and ideas and contributions of their people. These
must be held gently with respect, not crushed in the fist of power.
(p59) This quote (Griffin 1993 p53) reflects the aspiration of the
authors own leadership over several decades and sets the prevailing
tone for the book which chronicles his leadership journey.
Wright begins by establishing a biblical basis for servant leadership
and highlights five twinned leadership themes: influence and service,
vision and hope, character and trust, relationships and power,
dependency and accountability. The book is widely sourced using a
number of authors from varying traditions and includes changes in current organisational culture.
Specific attention is given to a contingency leadership model developed by Hersey and Blanchard that
describes leadership as a relational continuum with four distinct styles of leadership behaviour tied
directly to the specific follower (p36) that encourages the leader to adapt to the maturity of the followers.
This model is modified to be consistent with a biblical understanding of leadership and applied to ministry
in the local church. The original task behaviour model becomes an empowering curve that identifies the
relationship between the leader and follower in a local church context. Leadership teams rather than
individual leaders can make a positive contribution in ensuring a diversity of skills are released to
followers who are at varying stages of maturity. The willingness to modify current leadership theory is to
be commended although it is unclear how the original model conflicts with biblical principle. The
modification seems to be contextually rather than biblically focussed.
Wright concludes with practical applications for organisational leadership. These include recruitment and
training of volunteers, performance review, values statement, handling of conflict and a planning model,
which are developed using the criteria of relational leadership. The applications are so specific to the
authors experience that whilst it makes interesting reading, the challenge of the book for the reader is to
separate the principles from the applications and then to re-apply them in their own context.
The author addresses a primary issue for any leader needing to correlate the purposes of an organisation
(mission, goals and objectives) and the values of an organisation (culture and beliefs). He is right to
conclude that both should impact the strategy and operational plans and it is the role of the leader to
harmonise the two. Personal and corporate values are significant in contemporary leadership literature and
are sometimes referred to as ethics. Northouse writes of ethical theories that stress the consequences of
leaders actions and those that emphasise the rules governing their actions (2007 p132). Morgan points
out that there may be different and competing value systems that create a mosaic of organisational
realities rather than a uniform corporate culture (2006 p 132). Decisions are allowed to be based on
expediency with values that are relative rather than absolute, but for Wright the values of a leader are
shaped in their relationship to God and are crucial to effective relational leadership. The contrast of
relativism in secular thinking and the non-negotiables of a biblical mandate are seen clearly in ethical
dialogue.
Forgiveness, received and offered, is an essential characteristic of leadership (p199). Over the six pages
devoted to this topic five illustrations are developed but no practical application is given to clarifying the
nature and practice of forgiveness. It encourages a high empathy but little help for the leader struggling to
forgive or be forgiven.
Walter Wright was President of Regents College, Vancouver, when he wrote Relational Leadership. He is
currently Executive Director of the De Pree Leadership Centre. Two observations are of note, the first is

self confessed, that the majority of illustrations are personal examples taken from his presidency of the
college and are narrow in their application. Secondly, Max De Pree was his mentor throughout his tenure
at Regents College and there are an excessive number of quotes from De Prees writings.
The author communicates one of his own principles of leadership by his refreshingly transparent honesty.
He shares from his mistakes and successes. The book left this reader concerned at the narrowness of
illustration and application, but with an increased sense of conviction that relational/servant leadership is
biblical and looks to the welfare and development of people as significantly important as well as to the
aspirations of the organisation.
References
Griffin, E. (1993) The Reflective Executive, New York: Crossroads
Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K.H. (1998) Management of Organisational Behaviour, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice Hall
Morgan, G. (2006) Images of Organisation, California: Sage Publications, Inc
Northouse, P. G. (2007) Leadership: Theory and Practice, Fourth Edition, London: SagePublications, Inc.
Wright, W.C. (2000) Relational Leadership: A Biblical Model for Influence and Service, Carlisle:
Paternoster Press
PUBLISHER: Authentic Media
ISBN-13: 978-1606570258

Relational Leadership: a review

Published: Tuesday, 08 December 2015 12:00

Written by Nick Pitts

Credit: Biblica
Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing is considered by
many to be one of his finest comedies. His comedic wit
beautifully melds with his poignant meditations on honor
and shame in this classic. In one exchange, Claudio, who is
convinced his beloved Hero has been unfaithful, notes,
"Friendship is constant in all things, Save in the office and
affairs of love." Claudio found the steadfastness of
friendship to waver when it came to the workplace and to
the heart. Relations between friends may be unreliable in the office, but that does not mean
they should be forsaken, according to Walter Wright.
In his book Relational Leadership: A Biblical Model for Influence and Service, White writes out
his thoughts and draws from his previous experiences with leadership in order to stimulate
the reader to think about leadership and empower readers to invest in the people they are
leading. He tackles the often nebulously defined concept of leadership as "a relationship a
relationship in which one person seeks to influence the thoughts, behaviors, beliefs or values
of another person."
Beginning by giving the reader a brief theology on servant leadership, White continues by
defining a servant leader. Emphasizing the role of influence, White spends the rest of the

book by elaborating upon how the leader is influencing with vision, values, through
relationships, and with accountability.
Giving strong attention to the concept of influence, Wright writes that while leadership is a
relationship of influence, "organizationally, it is a relationship of influence with purpose:
maintaining the community and achieving the shared mission." Coupled with influence is
trust, in which the leader and follower develop a faithful bond whereby the leader trusts the
feedback from the follower and the follower trusts the direction of the leader. Citing and
concurring with Warren Bennis, Wright believes it is the job of the relational leader to provide
direction, trust, and hope to the follower. In turn, the leader must acknowledge and act in
such a way that realizes that they "hold something very fragile in their handsthe hopes
and dreams and ideas and contributions of their people. These must be held gently with
respect, not crushed in the fist of power."
According to Wright, the leader, who is in relationship with followers, influences them
through vision. Using the metaphor of a cloud, Wright finds that influencing through vision is
both promising (the shade of the cloud) and providing (the water from the cloud). The vision
both casts the direction for the organization, while also implanting strategy as to how to
achieve the vision. To ascertain the vision, Wright provides ten questions that might be
helpful:
1. Who are we?
2. What is important to us?
3. Where in the world are we?
4. Where do we want to be?
5. What can we do?
6. How should we do it?
7. When will we do it?
8. Who will do it?
9. How are we doing?
10. Was God pleased?
Not only does a vision provide a sense of direction, it also identifies the values of the group.
Termed "influencing with values," Wright finds that in order to reinforce a culture of service
and values serving, the leader must demonstrate this posture. "Leadership exists to serve
the mission and to serve the people. It is a relationship of power to serve
Belief precedes behavior." One of the rhetorical ways in which Wrights say this can manifest
itself is in reversing a normative question. Instead of asking who reports to you, ask "for
whose success are you responsible for?"
Influencing with vision, with values, through relationships, and finally the leader influences
with accountability. These leaders have not only been tasked with holding on to the hopes
and dreams of their followers, they have been entrusted the organization as a whole.
Therefore, the followers hold the leader accountable to their vision, and the leader holds the
followers accountable to their actions. "Leaders hold followers accountable to the shared
vision, mission and values of the organization, not to the vision, values or opinions of the
leader." Wright understands that confrontation is inevitable, but he also understands like
David Brooks that to be broken open is to be healed.
Walter Wright offers a refreshing and personal perspective of leadership in his work
Relational Leader. Much like the leadership of Jesus, Wright calls on individuals to lead in a

way that rarely forces anyone to follow, but strongly and loving allures individuals to keep up
(Hosea 2:14). Wright finds it far more efficient for leaders to lovingly serve instead of
begrudgingly force. I believe Shakespeare would agree. As Claudio later said in Much Ado
about Nothing, "Time goes on crutches till love has all his rites."
Source: http://www.denisonforum.org/reviews/2129-relational-leadership-a-review