Every day we’re surrounded by small golden opportunities to develop the leaders around us.  But if we aren’t looking we’ll miss them. They come in the form of a short conversation in the hallway, a quick pop in the office Q and A session, or a casual exchange in the middle of a ministry event.  These “teachable moments” can take place every day if we simply take the time to look for them.

So how do we recognize them?  Teachable moments tend to come when someone is struggling with a task, project or person.  These struggles create feelings of fear, anger, frustration, disappointment or discouragement.  And there’s no doubt people are most teachable when they’re experiencing these types of heightened emotions. So when you see their struggle engage their emotions by asking questions that stir thinking.  Ask, listen, then carefully provide the coaching they need to help them get past the barriers they’re facing.  For example ask:  What’s causing your frustration?  What have you done about it so far?  What’s not working?  What are your options?  What’s your next step?  These types of questions help them wrestle through their situation.  Then follow up by asking:  What’s the leadership lesson we can learn from this experience?  In these golden moments of opportunity you identify their challenge, coach them in how to handle it and reinforce a leadership principle, and often times this can all be done in a matter of five minutes.

While I may not be able to remember the specifics of the circumstances I do know it was in emotional moments like these that key leadership principles were branded into my mind.

This Weeks Leadership Challenge:  Look for and sieze one of these 5 minute  teachable moments with someone you lead.

When we start someone out on a new job we aren’t thinking about who they will develop or how they will replace themselves, we just want the job done. But what if we changed our approach. What if we talked to them about developing others from day one…no from before day one. What if we talked to them about being a “Developer” rather than a “Doer” during the interview process. What if we told them we were hiring them not just to do a job but to teach others to do their job. What if we put developing others in their job description. What if a portion of their performance review was based on how well they’re developing others. This could radically change our culture over the course of time.

Are you teaching people to be “Doers” or “Developers”?

Leaders we have to remember that we’re responsible for making each player on our team better so the organization can win. It’s interesting that the older I get the more rewarding it is to watch other people win.   Watching someone I’ve coached speak well, teach well or lead well is extremely satisfying.  It’s fun watching the organization win as more and more players are contributing their best.  So what can you do to help others win?

• Listen to their dreams.  Ask someone on your team, “If you could do anything what would it be?” and watch them light up as they describe what’s deep within their heart.  Listen intently and try to see their dream as clearly as they see it.
• Resource their ideas.  If you can help fund their ideas do it.  If not find other ways to resource their ideas by helping them get the training, books, relationships or experiences they need to take their ideas to the next level. Sometimes you may feel you have nothing to offer but you can give encouragement or hope which can be a priceless resource for someone who has a dream.
• Network them with others.  A well networked leader will be a growing leader.  When you connect people of similar passions and mission you open up doors of new opportunities, ideas, wisdom and experience that will change their lives.
• Develop their strengths.  Focusing on weaknesses can hold people back from becoming all that God created them to be.  Help others not only discover their strengths but develop them to the fullest potential.  Help them see the specifics of what they do well.

Who is God calling you to assist in a win today?

So this Friday we are trying something new.  Through the power of technology we are doing our first All Leaders Conference for the leaders of all our ministries all at one time.  Leaders from all of our campuses will be joining in all at the same time.  Some gathering at their campus, some from their homes with their ministry teams and others simply joining us from the comfort of their computer. 

The conference will focus on the leadership topic of VISION.  Our desire is to help our leaders become better biblical leaders not just better church leaders so we will focus on how to cast vision in your home, workplace and ministry.  Our Senior Pastor Greg Surratt will kickoff the evening talking about the importance of vision.  He will then be followed by Reggie Joiner, from The Rethink Group who will be talking about Casting Vision in Your Home.  Next, Business Professor Ray Snyder will talk to us about Casting Vision as a Marketplace Leader.  And the evening will be closed out by Steven Furtick, lead pastor at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC talking about How to Cast Vision as a Ministry Leader.

If you are interested in attending the conference non-Seacoasters can register at www.seacoast.org  and register as a guest.

This exercise was designed to get us thinking about reproducing ourselves and preparing our organization for the future.  How future ready is your organization?  Keep in mind that you and the others in your organization will not be in the position you are currently in forever.  Here are 10 things you can do to start getting prepared. 

1. Put some of your sharp young leaders at the decision making table.
2. Give young leaders the opportunity to expand their leadership competency by letting them lead a key project.
3. Give young leaders greater visibility in front of the organization. 
4. As an executive leader give some of your young leaders some of your credibility by publically pointing our their potential and value they bring to the organization. 
5. Give your young leaders opportunities to watch you make difficult decisions.  Discuss the why’s and how’s of those decisions with them. 
6. Make sure older and more experienced leaders are investing in your younger leaders.   Make it an expectation in your corporate culture. 
7. Put dollars toward the development of the young leaders in your organization exposing them to some of the best training and best experiences. 
8. Challenge your young leaders to start reproducing themselves.  They need to develop this discipline early. 
9. Create an atmosphere where young leaders are allowed to fail. Sometimes we don’t see their potential because they’re afraid to take risks. It’s up to us to create a culture where leaders aren’t afraid of failure.
10. Establish a culture of leadership development (by doing the things listed above)  Check out previous post on Foundations for Building a Leadership Development culture  CLICK HERE.

What else can you do to prepare your organization for the future?

• Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast - Andy Stanley is the senior pastor of NorthPoint Community Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also one of the best leadership teachers I’ve heard in our day. If you are a leader, this podcast is a must listen. While they only release one new podcast each month the practical insights are worth the wait.  CLICK HERE
• Manager Tools - This weekly podcast focuss on helping you become a more effective manager and leader. Each week they talk about tools and techniques you can use to help achieve your management and career objectives. If you’re tired of a lot of management theory and would rather learn specific actions you can take TODAY to improve your management performance, you’ll enjoy the manager tools podcast. To download CLICK HERE
• Business Week The Welch Way -This weekly podcast features Jack & Suzy Welch who answer questions from listeners about business, managing, and careers. Drawing on Jack’s experience as the legendary former CEO of General Electric Co. and Suzy’s experience as the former editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review they give practical advice on daily leadership issues.  To download CLICK HERE.
• The Dave Ramsey Show – While this is not a Leadership Development resource, it’s still a must listen for leaders to help them manage their personal finances in a way that they can have financial peace.  Dave offers life-changing financial advice as he takes calls from listeners and reinforces the 7 Baby Steps of his financial program. The Dave Ramsey radio show is broadcast on more than 240 radio stations throughout the United States to over 2 million listeners each week .  In a very personal and practical way Dave teaches you to manage and budget your money, get out of debt, build wealth, and live in financial peace.  To download CLICK HERE.

What leadership development resources are on your Ipod?

My Leadership Development Wake Up Call

I remember when I had my leadership development wake up call. I was fresh out of seminary working as an associate pastor at Pawleys Island Community Church. I was young, enthusiastic and thought I could do it all. But it wasn’t long before I was overwhelmed and overcommitted. I was responsible for weekend worship, midweek teaching, small groups, Sunday school, outreach, youth ministry and the summer children’s program (I had a slight case of Superman complex).

After a year and a half of this madness I told Cindy, “They’re going to fire me.” She told me I was crazy, the church loved me and there was no way they would get rid of me. So I explained, “Oh, they’re going to fire me, they just don’t know it yet!” I was juggling way too many responsibilities and was about to drop the ball with all of them. My enthusiasm and inability to lead through others had painted me into a corner and I was headed for trouble. That night I couldn’t sleep, so I wrote down the names of the volunteers who reported directly to me. I was shocked when I saw the list totaled 88 people.

God showed me two things in that moment: First, I needed to make leadership development a priority and second I needed a leadership development strategy. That night I decided to build a wall of protection around myself by choosing seven key leaders to oversee the various ministries. From that point on I started pouring into those leaders so they could pour into their teams. For the first time in my life I truly started doing leadership development and it saved my ministry.

I look back at those days and see 6 signs that I needed a wake up call.

• I was a doer not a developer
• Replacing myself wasn’t even on my radar
• Others leadership success threatened my sense of leadership security
• I gave people responsibility but not authority
• I had no intentional plan for developing or equipping leaders
• There was a severe shortage of leaders in our ministry

Do you see any of these signs in your ministry?  Have you had your leadership development wake up call?

• Leadership is the ability to influence the thoughts, attitudes and skills of others which requires an ability to teach. 
• Leadership means identifying and equipping future leaders which requires an ability to teach. 
• Leadership is building a team of people and focusing them on a common mission which requires an ability to teach.

Now before you disqualify yourself as a leader please understand I’m not talking about the traditional standing in front of a classroom and dispensing information.  I’m talking about being alert to capitalize on teachable moments, avaiable to debrief successes and struggles of those you lead and being astute of those who are hungry students of leadership in your organization.  Teaching leaders will have a multitude of growing leaders in their wake.

What adjustments do you need to make to become a teaching leader?

When Cindy and I had our first child it was quite a celebration.   Cindy wanted nothing more than to be a momma, but in the first five years of our marriage she miscarried two babies.  So on June 21, 1990 when our first son Brandon was born phone lines across the country lit up like crazy.  Within hours family and friends everywhere were celebrating with us.  There were cards, balloons, presents, meals, and people coming to visit from miles away.  All to celebrate the birth of our son.   

Thinking back to that day makes me wonder…how do we respond when a current leader reproduces a new leader?  Are we celebrating this enough or are we taking the development of new leaders for granted? 

Typically we need new leaders, we  develop new leaders, we place new leaders…THE END. What about celebrating the reproduction of new leaders?  Maybe this is a missing ingredient in our leadership development process.   Someone has said, “What gets celebrated gets replicated.”  My guess is more people would start to reproduce themselves if we simply took the time to celebrate the development of new leaders.

How would it impact your organization’s culture if you began to celebrate the reproduction of leaders?