Personal Application Worksheet

The primary purpose of this worksheet is to enable you to process the study material to give you a deeper understanding of the main principles. Therefore, it is important that you work through the worksheet with a thoughtful, reflective attitude.

The Importance of Developing Relationships

• Developing relationships can enrich our lives and leadership in many ways. Identify 5 benefits of investing in relationships mentioned in this section of the study. What would you like to experience in the relational area of your life?

"Many Christian leaders are experiencing a communication breakdown in their relationships with the people that they value the most: their family, friends, those they are leading, and with non-Christians."

• Take a few moments to identify the important relationships in your life using the table provided (see the last page). For each name that you have written, evaluate the quality of your relationship. Ask the Holy Spirit to highlight any relationships that require rebuilding or strengthening and write down your thoughts and impressions.

Three Strategies to Develop Relationships

• It takes time to rebuild and strengthen relationships, and it is important to use the correct "seed". With reference to question 2, identify some practical areas of good "seed" that you can invest into these relationships.
• A powerful way to build trusting relationships with others is to model openness and transparency. Write down some of the thoughts, dreams, failures, successes, aspirations, and experiences that you have been through that would help others to understand and know you better.
• How has listening to others helped you to identify some of your "blind-spots". How do you usually respond to personal criticism? How does your response affect relationships with those around you?

Practising Relational Disciplines

• With reference to what you have written to questions 1 and 2, identify one or two disciplines that you could use to rebuild and strengthen these important relationships.  From this list, what are you prepared to commit to? Remember to "start small".