Who are you mentoring and raising up for leadership?
By Dr. Jerry Nance
My daughter attended a John Maxwell leadership conference and heard him emphasize the importance of raising up leaders. She came home and asked me, "Dad, how did you know to raise up leaders when you first started with Teen Challenge?" I thought about that question for a moment and said, "desperation darling". We were in desperate need of competent staff who could help us meet the needs of the students.
The answer was from my heart. When I assumed the leadership of the Teen Challenge ministry in Florida the staff had not been adequately trained for leadership. They all had good hearts, but little training for the jobs they were performing.
I cannot stress the importance of raising up leaders who will help you lead your organization. It is critical that leaders create a learning environment where we celebrate individual growth. We must own the responsibility to encourage each of our staff to excel in their education and personal growth.
The Global Teen Challenge staff are working tirelessly to provide tools for you on the iteenchallenge.org website. We are daily adding new courses, studies and tools that are helpful to staff growth. We are developing an ongoing study program which allows you to provide a certificate for those who complete it. (Click here for more information.) These tools exist to help you as a leader provide tools for your team to grow.
If you as a leader will embrace learning, you will begin to see a group of people gather around you who want to be part of your vision. Recently I did an evaluation of two leaders who had failed in their role as Executive Director. My evaluation revealed that neither of them had the ability to inspire a team who wanted to grow the organization with them.
I think one of the greatest signs of an effective leader is that they attract individuals who want to follow them. People love to follow someone who is on fire for their vision and passionate about learning. Think of the successful leaders you know and see if they have followers around them who are growing and taking on responsibility. This is a sure sign that they are good leaders.
In 1 Samuel 22:2 the scripture says, "So [David] became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him."
Investing in a team brings benefits to everyone on the team.
John Maxwell suggests ten steps you can take to invest in your team.
1. Make the decision to build a team.
2. Gather the best team possible.
3. Pay the price to develop the team.
4. Do things together as a team.
5. Empower team members with responsibility and authority.
6. Give credit for success to the team.
7. Watch to see that the investment in the team is paying off.
8. Stop your investment in players who do not grow.
9. Create new opportunities for the team.
10. Give the team the best possible chance to succeed.
We are seeing now the fruit of investing in leadership training. More than 60% of our ministry staff are graduates of the program. Also 50% of our current center directors in the Florida/Georgia programs are graduates of Teen Challenge and have come through our leadership training.
I am always amazed at how God can raise up some of the best leaders right from the student body in our program. This only happens if you are willing to invest in training them. Steady growth over the years makes for great team players and it also provides opportunity for you to expand into multiple locations helping more people find freedom from addiction. If you raise up leaders, you can multiply your impact and ministry efforts.
Stop for a minute and ask this question: Who will take your place when you are gone? Who would lead tomorrow if a tragic accident took place today? You need to raise up someone now in your succession plan.
God Bless you,
Jerry Nance
