The #1 Way to Grow Your Team of Leaders

Kyle

This blog answers the #1 question that ministry leaders are asking. Do you know what it is…? “How do I recruit more volunteers?”

In this short post, I’ll show you how. This may be the most practical thing you’ve ever seen on leadership development. I know that’s a bold statement, but read on and see for yourself.

This blog post will eventually become a book. But they say that any good book should be able to capture the essence of its writing in a few sentences or in one page. The content of today’s topic is about a development mindset (as opposed to a tactic).  As a youth pastor in a local church, this idea came to me and I tried it. Twice a year I did this simple practice, and it revolutionized the way I still develop leaders to this very day. When I started this, I more than doubled my volunteer base in my ministry, to over 50 volunteers. I’ve counseled and taught hundreds of leaders this principle. It works. Use these principles and over time you’ll have more leaders than you know what to do with! Trust me.

Leadership development is different than volunteer recruitment. You want leaders, not followers. Ninety-five percent of leaders from all fields of work don’t adequately equip their leaders. And as John Maxwell says, “There is no success without a successor.” Because leaders aren’t developing their people, they are producing followers, not leaders. And that is no good. You want to go from having a team of producers to reproducers. Let me show you how.

LEADERSHIP PIPELINE
Take a blank piece of paper right now and landscape orientate it. Draw a line across the top and bottom of the page from left to right with an arrow on the right side. Imagine the space between these two lines as representing your flow, or pipeline, of leadership in your ministry. This continuum will show you not only how many leaders you have, but how far along you have developed and equipped them to lead. Imagine people in a flow within this space going from left to right. On the far left, are your possible recruits, and as they “flow” more towards the right they become more developed as leaders, more committed to the vision, and more responsible on your team. When they are on the far right they are leaders of leaders, multiplying your vision.

In your leadership development pipeline there are 4 stages of leadership:

POSSIBILITY
DEPENDENCY
INTER-DEPENDENCY
INDEPENDENCY

Let me define each one and then I will show you how to put this into practice right away.

POSSIBILITY Stage
This is the header above the far left side of your pipeline. These are potential leaders, but are NOT YET on your team. They need your invite. Some of their traits are:

  • They have leadership potential.
  • They and/or you are observing them as a leadership candidate.
  • There is possible interest with you and/or them in joining your team.
  • There is no leadership commitment from them.

Think of people you have been thinking about as potential leaders and write their names in towards the left of you sheet. Don’t make the mistake of recruiting SEASONALLY only. For most youth workers, August is recruitment month. If this is the only time of the year you recruit, your ministry will suffer long term. Provide “on ramps” throughout the year for any possible new leaders.

DEPENDENCY Stage
This is the header above the middle left side of your pipeline. These are developing leaders who have a lower commitment to your vision and responsibility on your team. They are officially on your team. They need your direction.  Some of their traits are:

  • They are more reliant upon leader.
  • They are more task-driven.
  • They have a lower range of responsibility on your team.
  • They have a lower leadership commitment to your vision.

DEPENDENTS lead FOR YOU. Give them smaller tasks to accomplish.

INTER-DEPENDENCY Stage
This is the header above the middle right side of your pipeline. These are developed leaders on your team that possess a growing commitment to your vision and responsibility on your team. They need your support.  Some of their traits are:

  • They are becoming a confident leader.
  • They are both task driven & result oriented.
  • They have a higher range of responsibility on your team.
  • They have a higher leadership commitment to your vision.

INTER-DEPENDENTS lead WITH YOU. Give them medium sized tasks and/or results oriented projects.

INDEPENDENCY Stage
This is the header above the far right side of your pipeline. These are developer leaders on your team that will have the highest responsibility and commitment to your vision. They need you to get out of the way so they can lead.

  • They are a leader of leaders.
  • They are result-oriented.
  • They have the highest range of responsibility on your team.
  • They have the highest leadership commitment to your vision.

INDEPENDENTS lead AS YOU. Give them larger result initiatives.

TIME TO ASSESS YOUR TEAM
Now do three simple things to assess your team:

  1. Write down names

Now that you know your stages, take a few minutes to fill in your blank sheet. Write the word “Possibility” on the top at the left of the page above the top line. Next to it towards the middle left write the word “Dependency.” Next to it towards the middle right write the word “Inter-Dependency.”  Then write the word “Independency” at the top right of the page above the caret of the arrow. Underneath each area, write the names throughout the continuum of people across the spectrum of your leadership.

  1. Assess your team

Look at where people are currently developed, and make observations. Ask questions like:

  • Does my pipeline have each area filled with names?
  • What does my present picture say about the future of our ministry?
  • How can I move people along my pipeline?”
  1. Target leaders

Pray and ask God to show you people from across your spectrum of leaders and potential leaders that you need to invest in strategically in this season of your ministry. Then get some time on the calendar with them or delegate a task to them to see results, big or small.

The people on your page will define your ministry success. Be a strategic developer and over time you’ll watch the success of seeing great leaders emerge within your influence.

Jeff Eckart, CEO
Never The Same

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