For the remainder of the week I will be posting 4 favorite posts of 2009.
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?
It always used to bother me when I would read in 1 Timothy 3, “Elders must be able to teach.” While I value the gift of teaching, requiring it as a quality for this level of church leadership seemed to be so restricting. But now after 20 + years in church leadership myself, I totally agree leaders must be teachers.
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?
There seems to be a shortage today of leaders who reproduce leaders. Why? I’m sure there are many reasons but here is one for consideration.
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?
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.
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 GroupMike 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.
Identify a Key Job Responsibility
Create a list of no more than seven competencies (skills) that are necessary to do that responsibility well
Have the learner rank themselves 1-5 on each competency
Choose one area to work on and create a 30 day growth plan
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?
Mac Lake is the Development Pastor at Seacoast Church, a multi-site church with 13 campuses. He lives in Mount Pleasant, SC with his wife Cindy and three children Brandon, Jordan and Brianna. [read more...]
