The Top Ten Percent

Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death In the high places of the field. Judges 5:18 KJV

The problem of followership is a crucial matter in leadership. It was not peculiar to Deborah. In December, 2007, Barbara Kellerman explored the problem in Harvard Business Review. It insists that followers are not amorphous. There are those ”followers who tag along mindlessly and are altogether different from those who are deeply devoted.” Every leader must know that subordinates usually may not always follow. This requires a typology of followers. Kellerman identifies the following types of followers: isolates, bystanders,participants,activists, and diehards. Isolates are completely detached. Bystanders observe but do not participate. Participants are engaged in some way. Activists feel strongly one way or another about their leaders and organizations, and they act accordingly. We can classify the responses to the call of Deborah according to these frames. Zebulun and Naphtali, jeoparded their lives. How do your people respond? You will notice that leadership will only accomplish with diehards. They are the ones every leader should pray for. We can use this same frame to classify the disciples of Christ and the workers in your church or organization. If you’re a worker, where do you belong? Researchers say they are the top ten percent of any group. Read that again.Ten percent. May God help leaders.