Every leader will have some teammates that fail regardless of the leader’s mentoring or interpersonal skills. Read Luke 22:1-6.

The Bible tells us that at times there were hundreds of people that followed Jesus all over Judea and called themselves His disciples. From His many dedicated followers Jesus chose an inner circle of 12 that He mentored and gave significant amount of personal time. Yet, even though Jesus is the one perfect leader to walk the face of the earth, one from His inner circle betrayed Him. If in leadership very long, every leader will have a similar experience.

Effective leaders handle conflicts personally, privately and with the spirit of forgiveness. Read Luke 17:3-10.

Jesus, knowing His disciples would soon have major leadership roles, continually taught principles that would make them more effective leaders. When He told them they should forgive a person who had wronged them, even if they wronged them seven times, as long as that person returned and ask for forgiveness, His disciples’ first thought was this may be too much and they would need more faith to accomplish the task. Jesus simply told His team their faith was sufficient and conflict resolution and forgiveness was part of a leader’s everyday job. Jesus was clear that a leader should not expect praise for doing what was an expected part of their leadership role.