Last week I wrote a post “Thank God for Failure”.  As leaders I believe we have to embrace the benefits of failure more. Failure is fertile ground for leadership growth because it cuts deep into the leaders emotions. Think about it, most of life’s long lasting lessons are typically tied to a strong emotion, and very little stirs our emotion more than failure.  I’ll never forget the day I when I was a rookie minister our executive pastor walked into my office and said,” We’re going to let you go”.  WHAM!!!  That moment of failure, produced an emotional crisis that led to healthy self-examination and a dependence on God for the development of my ministry giftings.

I’ve discovered that processing failure the right way eliminates an unhealthy self-confidence and replaces it with God confidence in the spirit of the leader.  Part of the sanctification process for a leader is eradicating that self-reliant, ego-driven leadership and coming to a place of realizing, “I am weak but he is strong.” It’s assessing what went wrong and allowing the Holy Spirit to convince us, “Without me you can do nothing.” It’s evaluating self in light of Truth and coming to that place of knowing “Not by might, not by power but by my Spirit says the Lord”.

The self-reliant leaders impact is restricted to results that he alone can produce.  But it’s the humble, God-confident leader that God longs to display His power through. And it typically takes a series of failures to see that produced in our character. As mentors we must nurture not just the development of our protégée’s competence through failure, but nurture the God-reliant attitude the Holy Spirit wants to produce in their life as well.

I don’t know anyone who likes to fail.  We all try our hardest to avoid it, yet it’s inevitable.  I was working with a young leader recently who was exercising a new leadership skill for the first time.  We talked through details for approaching this new competency, but afterward he came to me discouraged.  The outcome was something he labeled a “FAILURE”.  He wrestled with self-doubt, he battled with his ego, and asked himself a laundry list of self-examination questions.  While it didn’t go as he envisioned, he was now asking all the right questions, and was eager to learn.

I don’t enjoy watching anyone fail but I do enjoy being there to help a young leader process his mistakes.  You see failure without a mentor can be disastrous but failure with a mentor leads to development.

In Acts 13:13 John Mark clearly abandoned the God-ordained calling to travel with the team commissioned to take the gospel to the Gentiles.  A few years later this failure caused Paul to reject Mark as a team member on the second missionary journey.  But Barnabas refused to give up on Mark and invited him to travel with him to minister in Cyprus  (Acts 15:37-38).  Barnabas mentorship undoubtedly paid off because years later Paul told Timothy, “Send Mark because he is valuable to me.”

I thank God for failure because…

• It gives me the opportunity to authenticate my belief in the leaders I mentor.
• It gives me the opportunity to be there to answer the tough questions
• it gives them the opportunity to demonstrate emotional fortitude.
• It gives them the chance to gain leadership wisdom.

When a young leader under your supervision fails, thank God because you’ll find this to be one of the most opportune times for leadership development, don’t miss it.

One of the greatest gifts you can give to a young leader is your belief in them.  I’m convinced that was a large factor in Timothy’s leadership development.  Paul not only believed in him but he spoke publicly of his confidence in him.  In Philippians 2 Paul wrote, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. 20 I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. 21 For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”

Let me give you an equation that I’ve watched work over and over again: The greater the confidence you have in a potential leader the greater the confidence they will have in themselves. As I demonstrate confidence in a young leader it solidifies the confidence he needs to risk, innovate or embrace a higher level of leadership.

You want to pour some miracle grow on someone?  Let them know you believe in them.

The Dual Invitation of Leadership

Not many people are satisfied with the level of leadership development taking place in their organization.  Yet few take serious strides to really do anything about it.  Leadership development requires focus and discipline.  Here are 7 questions to stir your thinking at the beginning of the week.

• Am I rewarding and celebrating the reproduction of leaders?
• Am I challenging older leaders in our organization to reproduce themselves?
• Am I making leadership development and mentoring simple enough?
• Am I tracking and measuring the development of leaders?
• Am I modeling a lifestyle of leadership development for others in my organization?
• Am I talking with my key leaders on a consistent basis about the up and coming potential leaders in our organization?
• Am I taking a risk on any young talent in our organization?

None of us are likely to be doing all these things perfectly but if we focus and plan we can improve by 1% this week, 1% next week and over time with concentrated effort it will make a big difference.

Why is it that so many organizations are struggling with developing leaders? In a time of unprecedented leadership resources both in print and media we still struggle with equipping people to lead. If you Google Leadership Development you get 7.5 million results.  If you search leadership on Amazon you get over 65,800 books.  I counted well over 100 evangelical seminaries or bible colleges listed on Wikipedia.  Type in “leadership development” into Youtube and you have access to over 5,000 videos.

So why do we still have a shortage of well equipped leaders?  I believe it’s because we still look for a program, curriculum, event or resource to equip leaders rather than looking to leaders to equip leaders.  Leadership development is most effective in the context of relationship. Leadership competencies are not just taught, they are caught as the learner interacts and observes an experienced leader.

Who can you intentionally invest your time and energy raising up in your organization?

Someone asked me the other day, “Why are you so passionate about leadership development?”  That’s a good question; I guess I’ve never thought about the “why”. Here’s what I told them, “I’m passionate about leadership development because…”

• Jesus was passionate about it.  He took three years to pour into 12 men.  Yes, it was discipleship- he taught them how to pray, forgive, share their faith, understand Scripture and more.  But it was more than that.  Knowing He would entrust the mission of spreading the good news into their hands he taught them how to lead.
• as a young man, who had given his life to ministry, I never had a true mentor until I was 28 years old.  I’ve discovered the exponential impact intentional development can have on the life of a young leader.
• a church’s long term viability is dependent upon the constant reproduction of new leaders
• I want others to experience the joy of watching a young leader they’ve poured their lives into take their first steps in leading others. Watching someone gain leadership confidence and competence right in front of your eyes is an amazing experience.
• Scripture is replete with examples of leadership development.  Moses- Joshua, Elijah- Elijah, Paul- Timothy and many more.
• God’s impact through our lives will reach its maximum impact when we focus on reproducing reproducers.

Why are you passionate about leadership development?

When you promote someone to a new position you have high expectations for the results they’ll produce.  But it doesn’t always work out the way you anticipated.  Sometimes they flounder, make major mistakes and fail to live up to your expectations.  If these performance problems aren’t dealt with things could go from bad to worse.  To help them turn things around will require appropriate diagnosis and coaching.

In the Leadership Pipeline, Ram Charan gives a great insight that can be used to diagnose performance problems of a newly promoted employee. He points out when someone is promoted to the next level of the leadership pipeline of your organization they have to learn three things: New skills, new values and new ways to use time. Our awareness of these adjustments can go a long way in diagnosing performance problems.

1. New Skills - The skills that brought success at one level may not be the necessary skills to succeed at a higher level.  For example someone who has been leading themselves and producing results may be good at goal setting, establishing personal priorities or stewardship.  But when they’re promoted to a position of leading others they have to learn how to manage other people’s goals, get the team to work together for results and establish the department budget.  Moving from leading yourself to leading others requires a totally different skill set and way of thinking.   Diagnostic Question:  What 3-5 skills are necessary at this new level of leadership that weren’t necessary in their former level?
2. New Values –  While the values of the organization will be a constant, the behavioral values of positions within the organization change at different levels.  For example someone who has been leading a department will likely value teamwork, communication and accountability.  But when they’re promoted to an executive level their values shift to include things like organizational alignment, corporate morale and forecasting the future.   Diagnostic Question: :  What are the top three behavioral values in their new position?
3. New ways to use time –  In most cases people, no matter what level they’re at in the organization, are expected to work the typical 40 hour week.  However the way their time is distributed is dependent on their level responsibility within the organization.  For example when someone is leading themselves they spend their time completing specific tasks, usually things that move projects forward.  But when they move to a position where they’re leading others they must spend their time managing the performance of others, things that move people toward results.  Diagnostic Question: : What ways do they need to adjust their schedule to fit their new level of responsibilities?

So if a newly promoted employee is struggling, have a candid conversation around these three areas to see if you can accurately diagnose the problem and coach them toward improved performance.