I had the chance to sit down recently with Pastor Jeff Leake from Allison Park Church near the Pittsburg area.  Jeff has a huge heart for leadership development and church planting.  In this video he shares some great insights about helping transfer values in the leadership development process.  Scroll down below the video to see my takeaways.

My Takeaways

• Values are more caught than taught
• Leadership development is the key  to transfering values
• Leaders have to be a part of a culture for a signficant time in order to really catch the values of an organization
• We must have intentional conversations with those we are developing about our DNA and values
• It’s not until a potential leader gets out on his own that his values are really tested
• We have to allow people to learn through failure
• It is essential that we keep an ongoing relationship of influence with those we have developed, coaching, encouraging and resourcing them.

One of the most important things a leader can do for his or her organization is build a leadership development culture.  How well has your church or organization done with making leadership development a part of your culture?  Take the following assessment, then discuss your next steps for making necessary changes. 

Rank each statement 1-5

• 1- Not true of us at all
• 2- Rarely true of us
•  3 – True of us
•  4 – Very true of us
•  5 – We are models in this area
    

1. _____ The senior leaders are supportive and involved in the leadership development of our church.
2. _____ Leaders at every level are expected to be involved in developing new leaders.
3. _____ We have a specific leadership development strategy we are promoting consistently in our culture.
4. _____ We cast vision for leadership development on a regular basis.
5. _____ We have developed a language around our leadership development efforts that has found its way into our culture.
6. _____ We are using simple and specific systems in our leadership development efforts.
7. _____ We are providing accountability by measuring the results of our leadership development efforts.
8. _____ We celebrate the successes of our leadership development efforts on a consistent basis.
9. _____ We have one central person championing the cause of leadership development at our church.
10. _____ We have a mentality that “we are in this for the long haul”.

TOTAL SCORE: ___________
 
SCORE
45-50    STRONG LEADERSHIP DEVELOMENT CULTURE
You already have a very strong leadership development culture. You need to focus on fine tuning the details and consider doing some outside the box thinking for the future of leadership development at your church. You also need to consider how you can help other churches improve their leadership development processes.

39-44 HIGH POTENTIAL FOR a LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CULTURE
Your church is close to having a leadership development culture. You’re doing a good job in some areas of leadership development but are likely to have some weak spots that are keeping it from truly being engrained in your culture. It is likely that some people in your organization have bought in, while others still do not see “leadership development” as a part of their job.  You need to choose the one or two areas that are lagging and find ways to maximize your efforts there.

33-38 GOOD POTENTIAL FOR A LEADERSHIP DEVLEOPMENT CULTURE
Don’t be discouraged, you have some strengths you can build on. While it may be important to you, others in the organization dont’t see leadership development as a priority.  Make sure everyone in the organization understands what is going well in the area of leadership development and then cast a vision for taking it to a new level. The fact that you are doing some things well will help your current leaders easily get excited about improving leadership development in your culture. Choose one or two areas you feel are most important to begin improving, gather a team of people who can help you make the necessary changes.

27-32 NEED MUCH IMPROVEMENT TO REACH A LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT CULTURE
While your church or organization may be growing and doing good things, it may be in danger of losing effectiveness in the future unless you raise your leadership development efforts. It will be important that senior leadership begin to emphasize leadership development as a priority. Leadership development has not been a part of your culture and it is going to take some hard work and patience to begin to build it into your culture.

0-26 SERIOUS NEED TO CHANGE YOUR CULTURE
This is a strong indication that your church may be in decline or is built upon a dynamic-charismatic leader. You are facing an uncertain future and the senior leadership team needs to begin to have some serious talks about the future of the church. You may need to bring someone in from the outside to coach you in the initial steps of building a leadership development foundation in your church. Top leadership need to begin to study the importance of leadership development and begin to make it a priority in their own day to day practices.

What are our next steps?

On this Thanksgiving day I am reminded of how thankful I am for the mentors and mentees in my life.  Gratitude has the power to bond two people in a very special way.   That’s why it’s an essential element in the mentor-mentee relationship. 

While Timothy was undoubtably grateful for the investment Paul made in his life, I find it interesting that Paul expressed his gratitude for the relationship as well.  He wrote, “I thank God…as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers” 2 Tim 1:3.  He was thankful for this young man who followed, listened and learned from him.  And thankful to have someone who would carry on what had been started.

Expressing thanks to those who faithfully follow you deepens their loyalty, increases their confidence and enlarges their hunger to learn.  So take some time over the next couple of days to look one of your faithful followers in the eyes and say, Thank you for growing along side me, I appreciate your loyalty and consider myself blessed to know you.”

So to all you mentees out there, we say a great big thanks to you today…the future is bright because of your hunger and willingness to be teachable.

Nearly 20 years ago I went to my first John Maxwell leadership conference.  As I  listened to him teach, a hunger to grow as a leader swelled up within me.  At the end of the first day he promoted a special on 100 of his Leadership audio tapes,  12 of his favorite leadership books and a  daily leadership devotional all packaged together in a Personal Growth Kit for $500. As he described this offer I started to salivate.  But here’s the part that really got me… He said, “I guarantee if you buy this resource and work your way through it over the next year you will not be the same!”   As I listened I knew it wasn’t a sales pitch, it was a leader who had a heart to see other leaders grow.

I was  just starting out in ministry and didn’t have $500 but I wanted those resources more than anything.  That evening  I told Cindy about the special deal and her immediate response was,  “You’ve got to get it.”  I laughed reminding her we didn’t  have $500.  But she continued to persuade me.  On the second day of the conference I went back and sat through another round of leadership training and walked away resisting the urge to make the purchase.  But again that evening Cindy urged me saying, “Mac, if you’re going to lead you have to invest in yourself.”

The next day I purchased the Personal leadership growth kit.  To this day I consider that one of the best investments in my entire life.  I listened to all 100 tapes and read all the books within 6 months.  As soon as I finished I started re-listening and re-reading.  Over the years I wore those leadership tapes out. I thank God for that Personal Growth Kit and also for a wife who was wise enough to encourage me to invest in myself.

We are five weeks away from a new year.  What are you going to do to invest in your own leadership development in 2010?

We’ve all heard it said, and it is so true… Leaders are readers.  If you want to continue to grow as a leader then you must always have a book by your bedside, in your car, in your briefcase and in your bathroom.  But if you’re strapped for cash and can’t run down to Barnes and Nobel to refresh your library check out the first three on this list for some FREE reads!

• Heard all the buzz about Seth Godins book Tribes, but still haven’t read it yet?  Here’s your chance to download it FREE.  Just click on THIS LINK and start reading within minutes!  If you are a leader and want to increase your influence in this new day and age you have to read this book.
• On his blog Lead Change Group Mike Henry shared a link to a free audio download of the book Tribal Leadership.  Read Mike’s review of the book HERE and then download it free HERE.
• Melanie posted a link this week on one of my posts with this little piece of gold for your worship leaders.  This is a 72 page research paper by Joel French entitled Worship Leader Mentorships.  In this paper French gives some great detail about mentoring young worship leaders.  You can GET IT HERE FREE.  Thanks Melanie!
• And finally WWBR – What Would Bill Read?  Here is Bill Hybels recommending reading list for leaders.  CLICK HERE print and post this list by your computer and over the next 2 years start checking off the list as you read them one by one.  This would be a great personal leadership development plan for any leader.

Are there other free book resources for leaders that you’re aware of?  Share the wealth and let me know

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the changes taking place with leadership development.  One of those changes is Customized Learning plans.  Well, last week I was meeting with a sharp young worship leader who wants to develop his leadership skills.  During our meeting time we went through the following steps to develop a customized development tool he can use for himself and his team. 

1. Identify a Key Job Responsibility
2. Create a list of no more than seven competencies (skills) that are necessary to do that responsibility well
3. Have the learner rank themselves 1-5 on each competency
4. Choose one area to work on and create a 30 day growth plan
5. Follow-up and share your progress

This young man chose the responsiblity of Leading a Worship Band.  Here is the customized tool we developed for that particular responsiblity. 

1  Read each sentence below and rank yourself on each of the competencies.

SCALE:  1 = I don’t have a clue  2 = I know a little bit  3 = I have some experience  4 = I’m fairly confident  5 = I do this really well

Leading a Band requires the following competencies… rank yourself 1-5 on each.

• Dynamic of Worship  – The leader understands the rhythm, focus and dynamics of each song in order to maximize that particular songs message
• Confrontation  – The leader brings correction or adjustment to each team members attitude and performance
• Connect with team – The leader connects with team members by communicating and relating to them outside of church services
• Spiritual leadership – The leader brings spiritual insights and encouragement to the team and serves as a model for spiritual leadership.
• Encouragement – The leader helps each team member understand and maximize the strengths they bring to the team.
• Communication – The leader communicates clearly before rehearsal by informing members of service details in advance and during rehearsal by addressing each team member in a way that brings clarity and understanding.
• Servant Leadership – The leader models servant leadership by serving each member of the team with humility and kindness.
• Time management – The leader will effectively manage rehearsal time by starting and ending on time as well as sufficiently covering all songs according to the need of the band members.

2  Next work with your mentor or learning group to choose one area you will focus on over the next 30 days. 

3 Write down 3-4 next steps you can take to help you develop that particular competency. 

Use the following to help prompt your thinking about your next steps:

• I will read…
• I will meet with…
• I will Google search…
• I will do…
• I will listen to…
• I will observe…
• I will go…

4 Meet again within 30 days with your partner or mentor and share your progress as well as what you have learned.  I would recommend discussing the following questions:

• What next steps did you take?
• How well did you do?
• What would you do differently?
• What did you learn?

Who are you personally developing?  Create your a customized growth tool by following the steps listed above. Give it a try over the next 30 days and see what happens.

Do you remember those long boring hours in school studying subjects that you could care less about?  Your teacher would try to motivate you by saying, “You’re going to need this one day”  There was no motivation to learn the subject because it just didn’t feel relevant at the time.  This type of “Just in Case”  training is rarely very effective, especially for adult learners.   However, this tends to be the approach we emphasize the most in our leadership development efforts.

When I was in seminary I was sick and missed the day they taught how to do a funeral.  It didn’t really matter any way because it was “just in case” learning and I wouldn’t have paid a bit of attention.  But after I graduated it wasn’t long until someone in our church died and I was asked to perform the service.  All of the sudden I felt panic inside, I started going through my files, looking for books on performing funerals and calling pastor friends asking for advice.   I was looking for anything I could get my hands on to do the job well. 

This type of “Just in Time” learning is so effective because the learners emotions and teachability are at an all time high.   Plus they get to put what they are learning into practice right away!  Look for “just in time” learning opportunities for those you are mentoring.  If nothing obvious is on the horizen simply ask them a couple of the following questions and you will discover the “just in time” learning opportunities.

• What are you most frustrated with in your role right now?
• Where do you feel like you’re failing?
• What challenges are you facing that you can’t figure out?
• Is anyone on your team giving you problems that you aren’t sure how to handle?
• What do you feel unprepared for right now?

What ” just in time” learning opportunities are presenting themselves for those you are developing?  Are you capitalizing on them?

Throughout my day yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with three different young leaders.  I walked away from each meeting impressed with the  hunger,  teachablity and leadership potential of each young man.   I envy these guys as they are beginning their leadership journey in this day and age.  We live in a world where we are surrounded by a wealth of content for self-development.  I mentioned this to one of these guys and told them - there was no internet when I was his age – he couldn’t begin to imagine that!  Below are a few online resources I use regularly  in my own leadership development journey.  I hope you find them helpful as well.

1.  Book Summaries

There are many book summary services out there today.  I subscribe to Business Summaries at www.bizsum.com.  I like this service because they send you 52 summaries a year, they are accessible in a variety of formats including PDF, Powerpoint, MP3, Mindmap and more.  Plus right now they are having a SALE so you can get a one year subscription for $69.  Way worth it.  Another book summary service I like is www.christianbooksummaries.com this is an absolutely FREE service…you can’t beat that.

2. Self-Assessment

 Tim Irwin has recently released a new book through Nelson Publishersentitled Derailed.  In this book Irwin describes the failures of six different CEO’s and draws leadership principles that help us from getting derailed in our own leadership.  Here is the cool thing…there is an online assessment that helps you identify your risk of derailment in four key areas.  Take the assessment by clicking on this LINK.

3.  Social Networking Community

If you are a Campus Pastor or a Multisite Leader and are looking to strengthen your leadership and pastoral skills you have to check out www.leadingmultisite.ning.coma social networking community for multisite leaders to share best practices and learn from each other.  The site also features a Training Videos section that features training from a variety of multisite church leaders.  Each video session includes a three step mentoring process to help the learner process what they are learning with a mentor.

4.  Leadership Podcast

Andy Stanley has a Leadership Podcast that I highly recommend.  I devour these when I am on the treadmill in the gym.  They are short but loaded with rich content.  You can access these podcasts at the following LINK.

5. Leadership Blogs

Here are some of my favorite Leadership Blogs:  Michael Hyatt, Steven Furtick, Perry Noble, and John Maxwell.

What resources have you found helpful on your personal leadership development journey?

Every year your organization and mine spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on leadership development.  We know it’s important, but what are we hoping to get from it all?  Below are seven things I hope our leadership development efforts produce.

1. An increased sense of self-awareness among our leaders.  We want them to understand and live out who God has designed them to be as leaders.
2. A greater ability to practice self-leadership.  Until a leader masters self-leadership they will struggle leading others. 
3. A maturation of character.  Leadership is just as much about character as it is about competency.
4. A mounting sense of inspiration.  Christian leaders aren’t just filling roles, they have a calling and the deeper that sense of calling the more faith and passion they will exhibit.
5. A growing sense of confidence.  As leaders develop their competence they naturally develop their confidence.  And the truth is better leaders produce better results.
6. An expanding harvest of leaders who are consistently reproducing leaders.  Leadership development should ultimately produce a value in everyone of our leaders for reproducing themselves in the lives of others. 
7. A deepened sense of engagement.   Leaders who feel like someone is investing in them have greater levels of satisfaction at work.

What do you hope to get out of your leadership development efforts?

People are very selective in how they use their discretionary time these days.  In large, this is why we hear church leaders complaining they can’t get people to come out for training events.  It’s not that people don’t want development, they just live busy and complex lives.  This is why we have to rethink our leadership development delivery system.   The Fourth Movement I see in Leadership Development is HI-TECH, HI-TOUCH APPROACH.

Because we live in a Hi-tech society many organizations are now capitalizing on technology and providing their leadership development content online.  But if you simply put courses online and expect people to work their way through the content and “be trained” you will be disappointed.  The Hi-tech approach is not enough on it’s own…it must be combined with a Hi Touch element.  This means providing the content online but ensuring the learner then engages with a coach or mentor to debrief their learning experience. 

Using this approach you can provide training any time, any place at any pace.  For example, I am currently acting as a mentor for a Rockbridge Seminary student.  This week he will do his course work online at his own discretion and pacing, then we will meet on Saturday via a phone call to debrief and discuss what he is learning.  This combination is intended to move the learner beyond information to transformation.  

Making the move to a Hi-Tech, Hi Touch approach is not an easy one…

1. You must be willing to decentralize your training efforts.  Traditionally churches have centralized their training by having potential leaders come to the church building where a professional clergy provides the necessary training.  In the Hi-Tech, Hi-Touch model multiple leaders are empowered and encouraged to equip other potential leaders any time and any place.

2. You must take the time to get an understanding of the available technologies.  This can be frustrating because of the ever changing improvements with technology.  At Seacoast we currently use an on-line education management software called Moodle to house our online leadership classes.  This was a learning curve for all of us.

3. You must make the decision: Are we going to develop our own content or find existing content?  Because we live in a content rich world, I would recommend using existing content.  It is easy to copy embed codes from Youtube or Vimeo sites and insert videos into the training platform of your choice.

4. You must be patient.  It takes time to make this shift in your culture.  Start slow, simple and small and allow it to become a viral movement in your culture.

Check out the following sites that can be used in developing leaders…

• For training small group leaders:  www.smallgrouptrader.com
• For training worship leaders: www.worshiptraining.com
• For Student Ministry leaders: www.leadingyouthministry.ning.com
• For Multisite leaders: www.leadingmultisite.ning.com
• For Ministers: www.rockbridgeseminary.org

Check back tomorrow – I will be posting session one of the new Seacoast Small Group Leader Training.