In my previous article, I discussed the concept of self-stewardship and how a successful leader balances the disciplines of self-management, self-awareness and self-preparedness. Healthy leaders recognize the need to make these disciplines key habits in their lives — not just for their own success, but also for the success of those around them. At the end of the day, leadership is a group activity.

To go to the next level in your leadership, you must also steward well the people God has placed in your life. The following practical disciplines will help you develop the stewardship of others.

The Discipline of Character

While self-management, awareness and preparedness dictate the person you’re becoming, character determines the person you are.

Many people think character affects only themselves. The truth is, bad character kills your influence with others, whereas strong character gives you credibility to lead. People expect leaders to have impeccable character, and if there isn’t an underlying foundation of integrity that governs a leader’s thoughts and actions, a life failure isn’t too far off. This initial failure may not be the embezzlement of thousands of dollars, but it may begin as something as small as falsifying travel reimbursement requests.

To engage in this discipline, you must continually ask yourself, Who am I, really? Examine the things you think about, talk about, dream about and act on. One thing to watch for is self-gratifying thoughts and actions. The dark side of leadership begins when we think we deserve something that isn’t ours.

David, for example, enjoyed close fellowship with God; yet he gave in to self-gratification. Indulging one selfish thought ultimately led him down a path toward adultery, deception and murder. David's failure of character not only damaged himself personally, but it almost cost him his right to lead the people of Israel. The lesson of David is obvious: No one is immune to temptation, so we must protect our character at all costs.

The Discipline of Relationship

You can’t fulfill your divine design without relationships. God created you for relationships! It is the job of leaders not only to know the people they lead, but to empower them to embrace their divine designs. As a leader, you must be willing to discipline yourself to step out of your comfort zone and develop relationships with others.

I’ll never forget Pastor Fred Cottriel. He was my pastor at Bakersfield (California) First Assembly when I was a teenager. Pastor Cottriel was a true investing pastor, a servant mentor. One Sunday morning after a church service, Pastor Cottriel told me that he had been observing my life.

Pastor Cottriel believed God had placed gifts, talent and abilities in my life for future ministry leadership, and he wanted to invest the time to mentor me. So, at the age of 15, I began spending one day a week with Pastor Cottriel. He took me on hospital visitations and newcomer visits and even taught me how he crafted his weekly sermons.

God created you to give, love and serve others.

Years later, when God opened the doors of ministry to me, what Pastor Cottriel had poured into my life made a huge difference in my ability to handle the call. I still benefit from what he gave me through our relationship. Pastor Cottriel emphasized repeatedly that God designed each of us with intentional purpose.

As a leader, always be intentional in setting the tone in your dialogue and relationships to focus on others. Empowering others means you are not the object of the relationship. Don’t design the conversations with the end goal of receiving praise.

Genuinely pour into people for their betterment and growth. The degree of trust others have in you dramatically affects the quality of your relationship. Relationships are the prerequisite for empowerment.

The Discipline of Generosity

Generosity matters because God’s blessings are not meant to flow to you; they should flow through you. If you are not prepared to be generous, you’ll miss out on the blessing of investing in others.

A story about the results of generosity comes from the life experience of my wife’s father. Like many others at the time, the Kraisses were adjusting to life following World War II. Fortunately, 16-year-old Glenn Kraiss landed a job as a soda barista at the Walgreens drugstore in his Southside Chicago neighborhood. He had exceptional interpersonal skills, and he worked hard and showed promise far beyond the ability to make the perfect chocolate malt.

The store manager noticed. He also discovered Glenn’s family couldn’t pay his way to college. Although Glenn had applied for college the summer after he graduated high school, a few weeks before Glenn was to start, his parents told him he would not be able to attend. The money wasn’t there.

Then, one week before he was to start college, Glenn received a postcard saying his tuition and room and board had been paid in full. It was signed by the Walgreens Drug Company. For the next eight semesters, he received a postcard in the mail, saying the same thing.

Glenn earned his undergraduate degree and then graduated from the University of Illinois pharmacy school. All through college, Glenn worked at Walgreens and eventually decided that, since the company had invested in him, he would commit his professional life to the company. Glenn rose through the ranks over a 50-year career — from soda jerk to manager to district manager, regional manager and senior vice president. He spent the last 21 years with the company as executive vice president of all store operations.

God created you to give, love and serve others. His generosity should inspire us to be willing to give away everything we have and are. That’s hard to do in a culture that tells us to hold on to everything we get, but we must discipline ourselves to release the things God entrusts to us. We can do that when we realize everything belongs to God.

If you allow your character to guide you, the relationships you develop will make you a stronger, more trustworthy leader. When you discipline yourself to give mercy, forgiveness, encouragement, wisdom and even finances to those with whom you have developed a relationship, your leadership will blossom.

As a leader, the disciplines of character, relationships and generosity are how you steward the people God has placed in your life.