A Guide for Busy Nonprofit Professionals and Church Leaders
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to three specific people in my work on this project. First, my wife Jennifer has been the main reader of all my work through school and now after. Second, my faculty advisor Dr. George Hillman at Dallas Theological Seminary allowed me to pitch this idea and he faithfully provided feedback. Third, Amy Vickery who was my supervisor at United Way (she’s supervisor number three) and who read several revisions of this book.
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Leadership Development in
Nonprofits and Churches
Nonprofit organizations and churches are often understaffed and underfunded, resulting in over-worked mid-level managers. Most nonprofit managers and church pastors face the challenge of running a program, managing staff, providing monthly board reports, helping with various fundraising responsibilities, and last but not least, developing leaders within their staff. Sadly, all of the challenges nonprofit leaders face often prevent leadership development from occurring. While developing leaders can yield the highest outcomes for employee productivity and improvement in the community, this area often gets put aside amongst other pressures because it does not provide immediate results. Investing in leadership development, whether financially or timely, “can feel like a luxury compared with investing in needs at the heart of a nonprofit charitable purpose, but failure to invest in leadership, as well as services, puts the entire mission at risk.”[1] Investments in leadership development for nonprofit and church staff must be made.
I. MY STORY
I experienced this lack of leadership development during the six years I was an employee at a nonprofit organization. My primary responsibilities were to recruit, equip, train, and lead approximately 125 volunteers. During those five years I had three direct supervisors. These individuals were responsible for my growth as a competent employee and potential future leader within our organization.
As a twenty-two-year-old employee, my first supervisor provided a good orientation and training for me to learn the basics of my job. He took me along on his work, showed me the ropes, and gave me some basic guidance on how to do my job. My second supervisor was good at providing clear goals and expectations for what I was and was not supposed to do. As an employee with some experience and skills, this was a good fit for me as I was provided freedom to complete my work in ways that matched my strengths. This supervisor only wanted to know my results and ensure I had what I needed to succeed in my basic job responsibilities. Neither of these two supervisors showed interest in nor provided guidance for me to develop as a leader. Each was very busy and had a long list of responsibilities which left little time for leadership development of a younger staff member.
Finally, my third supervisor expressed interest in training me as a leader. Entering that working relationship was an important element in my growth as an employee and future leader. By the time supervisor number three became my boss I had become well skilled at doing my normal job. Yet she took the time to review my performance evaluations conducted before her arrival to assess my strengths and weaknesses. Based on these evaluations she and I discussed my desire to have a leadership position. Supervisor number three saw that while I had an opportunity to lead our volunteers’ council, I also needed to have someone to regularly talk to and discuss issues with. She worked with me on my one-year goals and determined we would follow up with each other every three months for a brief meeting to see how I was progressing.
My own experience of trying to develop as a leader in a nonprofit organization led me to research how leaders in nonprofit organizations and churches can develop potential leaders. Did all of my three supervisors at my past job want to develop me as a leader? I would think yes, but they lacked time to regularly invest in that for the future benefit of our organization. Therefore, I would characterize each of my three supervisors as good people who did a good job of managing me; yet they all faced the same issue. They recognized the need to develop me into a competent leader but lacked the time to implement leadership development.
II. THE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROBLEM
My experience is not an isolated experience. This is a common problem in the nonprofit sector. To benefit the agency, management must develop future leaders yet lacks the time to do so. Nonprofit leaders “grasp the value and importance of leadership development while conceding that it is something they do haphazardly and inconsistently, if it happens at all.”[2] This lack of leadership development is something that might not affect nonprofit organizations’ impact on the community today, but it will affect the future success of the nonprofit. Lack of leadership development leads to “missed opportunities and organizational missteps. Hence, when the pool of capable organizational leaders is not continually nurtured, the organization may stagnate in the short term and become vulnerable in the long term.”[3]
One might think that since management personnel often lack time to develop leaders besides their many other responsibilities, the solution is to send staff to outside leadership trainings. Thus, many may see budgeting for outside leadership development training as the biggest inhibitor of leadership development. Research conducted by The Foundation Center in 2011 found that while for-profit companies spend $150 per employee per year in leadership training, the nonprofit sector only spends $29 per employee per year in leadership training.[4] However, the nonprofit battle cry of “we don’t have enough resources” is not an excuse for training and developing nonprofit leaders for “the lack of a discretionary budget for outside training should not be considered an insurmountable barrier to development.”[5] Numerous examples have shown that simply throwing money at a problem rarely solves it. One organizational leadership expert explains that expensive formal training programs are a “distant third in the hierarchy of effective leadership training techniques.”[6] Outside leadership development trainings are not as effective as in-house and on-the-job trainings.
Research conducted by The Bridgespan Group in 2012 shows that only 28 percent of nonprofit leaders have leadership plans for individuals to address leadership gaps. Yet, the best news is that 65 percent of nonprofit leaders report they have plenty of on-the-job opportunities for leadership development.[7] These “on-the-job” opportunities might be the best means for developing future leaders for these opportunities rarely cost additional funds and do not require potential leaders to spend time away at expensive training events. I will explore several of these opportunities in the chapters that follow. But first, let’s look at the importance of your organization’s culture and other staff when developing leaders.
Chapter 2: Get Support from People and
the Organizational Culture
To develop leaders, there must be buy-in from all levels of the organization. From the board of directors or elders down to the administrative support staff, everyone needs to believe in the importance of developing leaders. Besides support from people, there needs to be support from the systems and culture of the organization.
I. SUPPORT FROM PEOPLE
A. Board of Directors and Elders
To develop leaders in nonprofit organizations, Tom Adams says, “Top leadership commitment is the place to start.”[8] Within nonprofit organizations, top leadership is the board of directors. The board of a nonprofit holds more authority than any staff position in a nonprofit organization because the board is the governing arm that makes decisions about the CEO, key staff, budgets, and mission. Within a church the board is often called “elders”[9] or a “leadership board,” and according to Aubrey Malphurs and Will Mancini, the leadership board “in many ministries is more influential than the pastor.”[10] Therefore, conversations about leadership development of potential leaders start with the board of directors and elders. This can be done by bringing research and case studies to board meetings showing how leadership development will improve the organization.
B. CEO
Once support for developing leaders has been established from the board of directors, the second most important person is the president or CEO in a nonprofit or senior pastor in a church.[11] While the board might be more influential than any staff member of a nonprofit, Kirk Kramer and Preeta Nayak state that in an organization “no other staff member has more influence over the norms of an organization than the CEO.”[12] Malphurs and Mancini agree that the CEO or pastor must support leadership development because if this person “resists, drags his heels, or shows no interest in raising up this and the next generation of leaders, it won’t happen.”[13]
Obtaining support from the CEO or pastor starts with the board seeing the value of leadership development and taking the necessary steps to implement development of the CEO or pastor. This means the board evaluates the CEO regularly and in that process helps the CEO identify his own professional development goals.[14] In other own words, the second step to effectively developing potential leaders is to have a CEO actively developing himself.[15] The first step to getting CEO support for leadership development is to have the CEO create her own leadership development plan. (A leadership development plan will be explained later in chapter six of this book.)
C. Managerial Staff
According to Malphurs and Mancini, the managerial staff are the main players “involved in the process and mentoring emerging leaders.”[16] Managerial staff are crucial to leadership development because these are the people that will directly develop potential leaders throughout the organization.
Tom Adams, in his book The Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development Guide, advocates that nonprofits should look three to five years in their future to see what their leadership needs will be. Once the board and CEO have determined what those needs are, a leadership development plan should be created and “completed by the CEO, board, and appropriate staff.”[17] The “appropriate staff” are the people who will do the day-to-day work of developing potential leaders. The process of leadership development might never occur if the board and CEO do not support it. If managerial staff do not support leadership development, it will occur but not very well.
Before approaching managerial staff about developing potential leaders make sure that the board of directors and CEO have each signed off on leadership development. Then, approach managerial staff saying they need to actively look for potential individuals to develop into leaders. That active process of leadership development is discussed in chapters four through seven.
D. Non-positional Leaders
Last, the leaders in the organization without an official position of leadership need to support leadership development. These people are called “non-positional leaders”. Within churches this might be most important because according to Malphurs and Mancini, “non-positional leaders may actually lead the congregation.”[18] Non-positional leaders are the recipients of the leadership development program. Consequently, non-positional leaders must buy-in to the process of developing leaders.
Non-positional leaders are perhaps the most difficult people to get buy-in for the leadership development process. The next chapter will provide a list of qualities and skills that will help management staff evaluate which non-positional leaders to get buy-in from (because those will be the people who are actively developed).
II. SUPPORT FROM SYSTEMS AND CULTURE
The culture of an organization is important because if the culture supports learning and leadership development, then it will happen. If the culture does not provide support for leadership development, no amount of pushing from staff or the board will make an impact.[19] In his book Informal Learning in Organizations, Robin Hoyle makes the important point that “culture can have an impact [on learning], not only on how people learn but what they learn as well.”[20] Four areas in an organization’s culture can support leadership development.
A. Mission
Part of getting support for leadership development is to do what Skip Bell calls, “rethinking mission.” Rethinking mission means that an organization focuses on its area of service while also creating a mission “in which personal transformation of its members is sought.”[21] In this way, an organization creates a marriage between its mission to serve the community and its development of the people who carry out that mission. This means that mission is no longer an accomplishment or goal, but instead, the mission becomes developing people who learn, change, and do while producing a product or service.[22] Part of developing systems that support leadership development is having a mission that supports it.
B. Responsibility
A culture must be created in which responsibility is taken by learners. This means learners assess their skills and knowledge and determine where they need improvement. Both the learner and the organization must place the responsibility on the learner. According to Robin Hoyle, “The organization has a requirement to create the environment in which learners can learn from their peers and can take responsibility for updating their own skills and knowledge. Even where individuals are not part of a large organization, learners are helped by a similar culture that expects professionals to continually learn and develop their practice.”[23]
C. Freedom
The culture of an organization also must provide potential leaders with some level of freedom to try new things and experiment. If potential leaders know they will be ridiculed and punished for doing something wrong, they will never try new things. Instead, potential leaders must be supported to try new and innovative practices that might improve their work and the organization they work for. Therefore, a balance of freedom to try new things and support after the work has been completed needs to exist to support leadership development.[24]
D. Budget
The last and most tangible expression of a culture that supports leadership development is an organization’s budget. While some people might see money invested in leadership development as discretionary, it is essential that funds are adequately provided to ensure that leadership development can happen in formal contexts (as will be discussed later).[25] Implementing a budget that supports nonprofit leadership development must be supported by both the CEO and the board to acquire the resources to support leadership development.[26] However, just because an organization’s budget provides financial support for leadership development does not mean that leadership development occurs. For good leadership development there needs to be financial resources to support the leadership development plans created and implemented by potential leaders.
III. CONCLUSION
The first step to developing potential leaders in an organization is to ensure the organization will support the process. And, by organization I mean the people who work there and the overall culture. When it is determined that the organization will support leadership development, the next step is to identify potential leaders for development.
Chapter 3: Develop a Pipeline of Potential Leaders[27]
In organizations, people will always come and go. Therefore, to remain viable, an organization must develop a pipeline of potential leaders. John Maxwell describes the importance of looking for potential leaders when he writes, “There is something much more important and scarce than ability: It is the ability to recognize ability. One of the primary responsibilities of a successful leader is to identify potential leaders. It’s not always an easy job, but it is critical.”[28] To develop this pipeline, one must identify potential leaders with both prerequisite qualities and prerequisite skills.
I. PREREQUISITE QUALITIES
Some people are happy with their current job responsibilities and do not want to stretch into new roles. This means that some people will not want to be developed into leaders. Maxwell’s summary is relevant: “Nurture all of your people, equip many. But develop only a few—the few who are ready and willing.”[29] Below are descriptions of the prerequisite qualities for potential leaders that should not just be nurtured or equipped, but also developed.
A. Good Character
Good character means potential leaders have a good reputation in their community as responsible citizens. This means potential leaders can pass simple background checks, are not being investigated by law enforcement for prior crimes, etc. Potential leaders are people of good integrity and are trustworthy.
B. Positive Attitude
While potential leaders need not be the most positive person in a room, they do need to have a positive outlook on situations. One of the main responsibilities of a leader is to solve problems and having a positive outlook on people and problems is required for potential leaders.
C. Servanthood
Servanthood should be seen in potential leaders’ willingness to submit, play as a team, and follow the leader. Part of servanthood is also seeing the big picture of an organization and focusing on contributing to fulfilling the organization’s vision. Potential leaders must show signs they will work hard, make tough decisions, and put the needs of the organization above their own.
D. Teachable
Potential leaders must show a desire for professional growth and be open to coaching from other people. A desire to do their work well and improve means potential leaders accept constructive criticism and use it to improve their work and skills.
E. Follow-Through
The quality often overlooked in potential leaders is follow-through. American culture loves visionary leaders who are charismatic and likable. Yet, often visionary leaders are terrible at getting work done and seeing projects through completion. Follow-through is a must for potential leaders without a large staff working beneath them to catch all the loose ends that fall through the cracks. For potential leaders to succeed they should be known for saying what they will do and following through on those commitments.[30]
II. PREREQUISITE SKILLS
When creating an ongoing leadership development plan, leaders must clarify what competencies are needed for potential leaders.[31] Senior leadership at an organization must look at what leadership capacities they will need to fulfill their mission in the next three to five years and based on that, create a list of competencies and skills that leaders need to have.[32] While that list will be different for each organization, the development areas below should be a starting point for Christian and secular organizations. Most potential leaders will not have a high level of competency in each area, but current leaders need to believe potential leaders can learn and grow in these areas.
A. Ability
Ability is more than the desire or aspiration to be a leader. It is the innate characteristics and learned skills needed to carry out day-to-day work. These are things such as cognitive abilities, emotional intelligence, and technical skills. These are the leader’s actions and behavior in what is called hard or task skills and soft or relational skills. Hard or task skills are how to cast vision, develop core values, manage a budget, and teach. Soft or relational skills are how to listen to others, provide encouragement, mentor others, and resolve conflict.
B. Engagement
Engagement includes four elements. The first is emotional commitment, which is how the employee values, believes in, and enjoys the organization where he works. The second is relational commitment in which an employee believes that staying with the organization serves his best interest. Third is a discretionary commitment, which is the employee’s willingness to go the extra mile. Fourth is intent to stay as an employee desires to continue with that organization.
C. Feeling
Often this is described as the Personal Awareness and Management quadrant of “Emotional Intelligence” in which a person recognizes her emotions, identifies them as good or bad, manages that emotion, and explores why that emotion has arisen.[33]
D. Applied Researcher
Personal and professional growth are not enough for a potential leader. And a potential leader must anchor innovation and strategy in data and evidence. This data and evidence can be acquired through various means. Academic journals, books, magazines, and podcasts are all ways that potential leaders can acquire data and evidence for improved work.
E. Savvy Networker
A potential leader builds relationships with colleagues and taps into the resources he rarely has access to but which can be reached through others.[34]
III. CONCLUSION
The natural inclination is for current leaders to seek potential leaders like themselves. This list of qualities and skills should serve as a safe boundary that current leaders can use to identify potential leaders. With this list in place, current leaders can find potential leaders and implement the 70-20-10 principle for their development, which is the topic of the next chapter.
Chapter 4: Implement the 70-20-10 Strategy
The 70-20-10 strategy was created by the Center for Creative Leadership based on thirty years of Lessons of Experience research.[35] The 70-20-10 rule for leader development follows this breakdown: 70 percent challenging assignments, 20 percent developmental relationships, and 10 percent coursework and training.[36] In nonprofit organizations, these three components reinforce each other and add up to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.[37] Before examining the 70-20-10 strategy closer, it is important to describe what it is not. Robin Hoyle mentions he has seen the 70-20-10 approach misrepresented in these statements: 90 percent of learning is done on the job, it is how people naturally learn, the numbers do not matter, the 20 percent is done most effectively through Twitter and LinkedIn, and since most learning is done on the job there is no need for training courses.[38] However, let’s look at the correct understanding of the 70-20-10 principle.
I. THE 70-20-10 STRATEGY FOR LEADER DEVELOPMENT
A. 70 Percent Challenging Assignments
The on-the-job element of the 70-20-10 strategy is not simply doing one’s usual work but instead is “stretching” tasks and projects that provide the learner with new challenges and situations. But, why does this on-the-job element need to be the majority of potential leaders’ training? This is because “human beings retain information most effectively when they gain it in a practical context.”[39] Or, as Andy Stanley has stated, “People learn on a need-to-know basis.”[40] Malphurs and Mancini inadvertently agree with the 70 percent principle advocating that “you can’t learn leadership by simply being in a classroom or a seminar. It’s best learned while you are involved ‘up to your elbows’ in ministry in which you can apply and evaluate classroom or seminary instruction.”[41] One testimony from a lead pastor supports the 70 percent idea, “I made some huge mistakes as a young leader, but at the same time, it’s how I learned – through trying, failing and trying again.”[42]
B. 20 Percent Developmental Relationships
The 20 percent element of the 70-20-10 approach consists of conversations with coaches, peers, managers, role models, or experts. Kramer and Nayak believe, “Learning is even more powerful when the lessons of experience are reinforced through informal discussion with people who have performed similar work.”[43] One benefit of 20 percent conversations is that the conversations do not always have to be with a superior. Hoyle states that the 20 percent time can best be spent with coaches “who are specially trained to assist individuals to look at their own goals, assess the landscape and the challenges and opportunities they face and then plan action.”[44] The most important part of the 20 percent is that the learners are discussing their learning needs and are planning how to adapt what they are learning to their work. This also includes honest conversations with the potential leaders about themselves, their strengths, and their weaknesses.
C. 10 Percent Coursework and Training
The 10 percent element of the 70-20-10 model is formal training. These are workshops, eLearning modules, and even training simulations. While only 10 percent is formal learning in the Center for Creative Leadership’s model, it does not devalue formal classroom learning. Instead, it sees formal learning as most valuable when it “supplies technical skills, theories, and explanations that apply directly to what is learned through experience—and when it is both valued and quickly integrated within the work environment.”[45] The key here is that what is learned in the coursework and training is quickly integrated into potential leaders’ daily work. There must be a close connection between what is being learned and how it helps potential leaders do their work better and faster.
D. 20 and 10 Work Together
The 20 percent and 10 percent categories can take place in a variety of areas and often complement each other.[46] For example, the Center for Creative Leadership has been exploring four distinct areas where these two can occur. The first is feedback. This is honest feedback that a potential leader receives that helps improve performance. The second is social media. This is a way that potential leaders can get connected with other leaders to gain expertise, build community, and function as a virtual water cooler. The third is apps and mobile learning. These are performance support tools, job aids, learning “nuggets,” and effective examples. The key here is that an app can quickly pull up learning material when needed (instead of being buried in a workbook on a shelf). The fourth is massive open online courses (MOOCs). In this format thousands of people can explore ideas and solutions together.[47]
While two of these methods are digital, Ron Rabin at the Center for Creative Leadership admits, “Blended learning for leadership isn’t just about technology or mixing classroom with online experiences. It’s not about social media or the latest trends that promise to transform learning forever. It’s about building, in a thoughtful, systematic way, a structure to enable and support how leaders learn best.”[48]
II. IMPLEMENTING THE 70-20-10 STRATEGY
According to Kramer and Nayak, there are four steps to implement the 70-20-10 approach effectively in nonprofit organizations.
A. Cultivate Talent Champions
These are the managers who recognize the importance of developing up-and-coming leaders. Talent champions take responsibility for preparing potential leaders for leadership positions.
B. Identify the Organization’s Needs and Craft Development Opportunities
The next step is to identify ongoing activities that potential leaders can engage in to develop new and needed competencies. These opportunities should involve four areas. First is discomfort. Assignments should take potential leaders outside of their comfort zone and use skills they have not yet perfected. Second is accountability. Potential leaders should take responsibility for their assignments and take ownership of the results regardless of the positive or negative outcome. Third is clarity. There should be a lesson that can be learned, and that lesson should be clear to the potential leader. Fourth is relevance. Projects should teach potential leaders’ skills they need in their current roles.
C. Co-Create Individualized Development Plans
Managers must provide support and guidance for development plans, but potential leaders must take the initiative to create and execute the plan. Kramer and Nayak suggest that the potential leader and manager meet twice a year to follow up on development plans.
D. Follow Through on Development Plans
What gets managed gets done. Therefore, senior-level managers must ensure that managers are checking in and encouraging potential leaders to fulfill their development plans. [49]
III. CONCLUSION
This is a simple and short chapter on the 70-20-10 strategy. Many books and articles have been written about the strategy and can be explored for further assistance.[50] There are many ways to implement the 70-20-10 strategy so try some ideas out and see how it works best for your organization.
Chapter 5: Give Potential Leaders
New Projects and Tasks
In his book, Developing the Leaders Around You, John Maxwell writes, “Varied experiences add incredibly to people’s development. It keeps them growing, stretching, and learning. The broader people’s base of experience, the better they will be at handling new challenges, solving problems, and overcoming difficult situations.”[51] Providing potential leaders with new projects and tasks gives them the skills they need to develop into leaders. Thankfully, this idea helps current leaders because they can get rid of projects they are working on which can easily be delegated to potential leaders. However, this is not an opportunity for leaders to dump tasks that leaders do not want to do onto potential leaders.
I. LEADERS DELEGATE PROJECTS AND TASKS
Leaders must be intentional about what they delegate. Three criteria are important to follow when leaders look for projects to delegate to potential leaders.
- First, the project must be something that leaders regularly do.
- Second, the project must be something that will develop the qualities and skills of potential leaders.
- Third, the project must be something that potential leaders have both the capability and potential to do.
With those three criteria in mind, current leaders can delegate a new project they have wanted to start but have not had the time. Or, current leaders can delegate some of their recurring work so they have time to start a new project.
II. FOCUS ON MEASURABLE OUTCOMES FOR LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Every CEO, board member, and senior-level manager wants to see results. However, developing leaders is difficult to measure. One way that leaders can show they are developing leaders is through the results of potential leaders’ work. Current leaders can show upper-level management that new projects have been started or old ones have been improved because of the work that current leaders delegated to potential leaders. If leaders can show they have been more productive because they delegated work to potential leaders, then current leaders can show the results of leadership development in potential leaders.
III. CONCLUSION
I cannot stress enough that giving potential leaders new projects and tasks is not an excuse to dump unwanted work. Busy leaders must think strategically about what projects and tasks they can give to potential leaders for leadership development.
Chapter 6: Potential Leaders Design and Implement a Professional Growth Plan
Professional growth is a requirement for potential leaders. While people might have potential for leadership, active professional growth removes the gap between potential leaders’ current skills and the skills they need to lead. Professional growth must be customized to the learning of the individual and it must occur regularly. Individuals learn in many ways; therefore, a one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate for professional growth plans. An organization should require professional growth of potential leaders, but it should not require the specific details of how that growth occurs.
I. THE DIFFERENT TRAINING TYPES
A. The Four Training Types
Aubrey Malphurs and Will Mancini comprehensively explain the different training types in their book, Building Leaders. While they describe eight training venues and eight event venues, the four training types are most relevant to this chapter.
1. Learner-Driven
The first training type is learner-driventraining. In this type, potential leaders take responsibility for their own growth for self-development of character, knowledge, skills, and emotions. Ways this training can occur are reading books, listening to conferences on CD, interviewing successful leaders over lunch or coffee, or attending classes and seminars.
2. Content-Driven
The second training type iscontent-driven training. In this training type, there is a clear transfer of knowledge where a body of information is the basis for the learning. This type of training can be formal or informal. Usually, content-driven training focuses on specific and technical knowledge such as human resource (HR) laws in the workplace, or in a church content-driven training would focus on systematic theology topics.
3. Mentor-Driven
The third training type is mentor-driven training. Potential leaders are matched with a mentor who provides help by giving instruction, being a model, providing observations on the strengths and weaknesses of the mentee, as well as evaluating the progress of the mentee.
4. Experience-Driven
The fourth training type is experience-driven training. In this training type, potential leaders grow by practicing the skills and knowledge they need while doing the work.[52]
B. Potential Leaders Chose and Design the Training Type
1. Choose the Training Type
Each potential leader should choose the training type (or types) that best first his or her personality and learning style. Because potential leaders have different ways of learning it is important that the organization and current leader do not set a “one size fits all” approach for leadership development. Potential leaders should be able to evaluate the different training types and chose the one that fits their personality best.
2. Design the Training
After the current leader has expressed that potential leaders must have a growth plan and the potential leaders have identified which method they best learn in, it is then time for the potential leaders to design their growth plan. I suggest that current leaders create a meeting with potential leaders to explain the need for leadership development, explain the four training types, then put the responsibility on potential leaders to create their own professional growth plan. Once that professional growth plan has been created by potential leaders, the current leader should meet with each of the potential leaders to briefly review the plan and agree to follow up every month for a brief coaching session (as will be discussed in chapter seven of this book).
III. REFLECTION AS THE MOST POWERFUL GROWTH TOOL
The most effective and cost-efficient way for potential leaders to grow is through daily reflection. Regarding reflection John Maxwell comments, “There are many different ways of growing and an infinite number of lessons to be learned in life. But there are some kinds of growth that come to us only if we are willing to stop, pause, and allow the lesson to catch up with us.”[53] Therefore, potential leaders must take a moment every day to pause and reflect about the projects they are working on, the experiences they have had, and the things they have learned. This may be thirty seconds to five minutes.
A. Questions for Reflection
There are some basic questions that potential leaders can ask when they take time to reflect. What did I do well today? What can I improve on? What did I learn today from the tasks and projects I worked on? What did I learn today from the people I met with? What did I learn today from the things I heard? What did I learn today from what I read?
B. Record the Reflections
Reflection is useless unless potential leaders record their learnings and review them regularly. Potential leaders must find a place to record the things they have learned. For example, potential leaders should write their reflections in a small journal, record them into an audio file, write them on a legal pad, put them in the “notes” feature in a phone, or organize the reflections into an Excel spreadsheet. The place and method of recording the reflections is not as important as the necessity of doing the reflection daily.
IV. HOW TO IMPLEMENT A PROFESSIONAL GROWTH PLAN
A. Steps for Implementation
To implement a professional growth plan several things must be in place. First, this plan must be agreed upon by the leader and potential leader. Second, it must be put into writing. Third, the leader must follow up with the potential leader regularly to assess progress with the plan. Fourth, potential leaders must show growth through their recorded reflections.
B. Time for Implementation
The goal of implementing a growth plan is not to provide potential leaders with one more thing to do. Once potential leaders have assessed the best ways they learn, they should seek ways they can implement their growth plan with minimal time and effort.
1. Growth at Work
There are numerous times throughout the day that potential leaders can seize extra time to complete their growth plan. For example, if a potential leader finds himself at a meeting waiting for it to start, he can grow from his peers by asking different questions about their work and what they are learning about leadership. Another idea is to have a book or some type of reading related to leadership that potential leaders can read while they wait for their computer to boot up every morning.
2. Growth outside of Work
While a leader cannot require potential leaders to carry out their growth plan outside of work, here are some ideas for potential leaders who want to utilize extra time outside of work hours for their growth plan. For example, when a potential leader waits in line at Starbucks every morning he can pull out his phone and read a blog post or two related to leadership growth he has put into his RSS feed. Instead of listening to the same news headlines told repeatedly on the radio during a potential leader’s drive to work, he can be intentional about leadership growth by listening to podcasts or books on tape. If a potential leader has to go to a doctor’s appointment, he can be intentional about growth by bringing a book or magazine related to leadership that he can read while he waits for his appointment. The goal is to find methods that are effective and require minimal time.
V. CONCLUSION
There are different training types and different ways that people learn. Yet, reflection can often be one of the most powerful growth tools. The key idea is that growth needs to occur even if it is in small increments every day through various means.
Chapter 7: Give Potential Leaders Thirty Minutes of Coaching a Month
Coaching is an essential element to groom potential leaders. Even if potential leaders do new projects and actively pursue professional growth, they still need a little bit of coaching every month from their direct supervisor. What is coaching? According to Clinton and Stanley, “The Coach’s central thrust is to provide motivation and impart skills and application to meet a task or challenge.”[54] Let’s look at how to do that.
I. THIRTY MINUTES A MONTH
In this model, it is proposed that potential leaders receive thirty minutes of coaching per month. Thirty minutes might sound like a lot, but if the typical nonprofit leader or pastor works fifty hours a week and provides thirty minutes of coaching a month to a potential leader, that is only one quarter of one percent (.0025%) of the leader’s time every month. Any leader can carve out one-quarter of one percent of her time every month to coach a potential leader.
II. FOUR BASIC COACHING STRATEGIES
When conducting coaching sessions with potential leaders four basic elements should be present.
A. Be a Good Listener
First, leaders must be good listeners. They must listen to what potential leaders are going through and, if necessary, ask questions of the potential leaders. How have things been going? Do you feel you have succeeded? What are you struggling with?
B. Provide Resources and Ideas
Second, leaders must provide resources and ideas to potential leaders. If potential leaders are struggling in an area and appear to be stuck, leaders should step in to provide resources or ideas that will help potential leaders solve the problem.
C. Give Encouragement
Third, leaders must offer encouragement to potential leaders. People experimenting and trying new things will have limited success. Therefore, offer encouragement to potential leaders because they must know that their leaders still believe in them.
D. Restate the Vision
Fourth, leaders must restate the vision for the organization or program that potential leaders are working in. Potential leaders can become consumed with the details and forget about the larger picture. Every coaching meeting should end with the leader restating the vision of the nonprofit organization or church. This reminds potential leaders that what they are working towards is bigger and more important than themselves.
III. CONCLUSION
Any leader who carves out thirty minutes a month for leadership coaching and who follows the four basic coaching strategies can have confidence that leadership development will occur.
How Busy Leaders
Develop Potential Leaders
Although busy nonprofit leaders struggle to find time to develop potential leaders, there are several ways that leaders can overcome this hurdle. Leaders can get the support of the organizational culture, identify the qualities to be developed, and implement the 70-20-10 principle for leadership development. Busy leaders can develop potential leaders by providing new projects to work on, having potential leaders create and follow a customized professional growth plan, and by participating in coaching. These solutions may not completely solve the problem of nonprofit leaders and church pastors having limited time to develop potential leaders, but they can significantly improve this common problem.
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[1] Kirk Kramer and Preeta Nayak, “A 5-Point Plan for Grooming Future Leaders,” Chronicle of Philanthropy 24, no. 14, June 28, 2012. Accessed May 14, 2015.
[2] Kirk Kramer, “Solving the Time and Money Puzzle in Leadership Development,” Nonprofit Quarterly, December 11, 2012. https://nonprofitquarterly.org/management/21481-solving-the-time-and-money-puzzle-in-leadership-development.html. Accessed May 28, 2015.
[3] Karen Jones, “Preparing an Organization to Sustain Capable Leadership,” Nonprofit Quarterly, June 21, 2008. https://nonprofitquarterly.org/management/1022-preparing-an-organization-to-sustain-capable-leadership-html. Accessed May 28, 2015.
[4] Laura Callanan, “Under-Investing in Social Sector Leadership,” Philanthropy News Digest, February 11, 2014. http://pndblog.typepad.com/pndblog/2014/02/underinvesting-in-social-sector-leadership.html. Accessed July 9, 2015.
[5] Karen Jones, “Sustain Capable Leadership.”
[6] Kirk Kramer, “Solving the Time and Money Puzzle.”
[7] The Bridgespan Group, “The Challenge of Developing Future Leaders: Survey Results Say…” (Boston, MA: The Bridgespan Group, 2012), http://www.bridgespan.org/Publications-and-Tools/Career-Professional-Development/Develop-My-Staff/The-Challenge-of-Developing-Future-Leaders-Survey.aspx#.VaewaPlVikp. Accessed May 15, 2015.
[8] Tom Adams, The Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development Guide (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010), 230.
[9] To learn more about elders in the Bible read 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Peter 5:1-3.
[10] Aubrey Malphurs and Will Mancini, Building Leaders: Blueprints for Developing Leadership at Every Level of Your Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2003), 108.
[11] While I do not have the space to explain my position, I see “pastor” and “elder” as two terms used to describe the same person doing the same ministry in the New Testament.
[12] Kirk Kramer and Preeta Nayak, Nonprofit Leadership Development: What’s Your “Plan A” for Growing Future Leaders? (Boston, MA: Bridgespan Group, 2013), 48.
[13] Malphurs and Mancini, Building Leaders, 107.
[14] Kramer and Nayak, Nonprofit Leadership Development, 39.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Malphurs and Mancini, Building Leaders, 108.
[17] Adams, Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development, 256 (emphasis added).
[18] Malphurs and Mancini, Building Leaders, 110.
[19] Robin Hoyle, Informal Learning in Organizations: How to Create a Continuous Learning Culture (Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page Limited, 2015), 68.
[20] Ibid., 68 (emphasis added).
[21] Bell, “Learning, Changing, and Doing,” 107.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Hoyle, Informal Learning in Organizations, 38.
[24] Ibid., 44.
[25] Adams, Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development, 230.
[26] Malphurs and Mancini, Building Leaders, 110-111.
[27] This terminology is adopted from Dr. Aubrey Malphurs.
[28] John Maxwell, Developing the Leaders Around You: How to Help Others Reach Their Full Potential (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 37.
[29] Ibid., 109.
[30] Malphurs and Mancini, Building Leaders, 136-137; Maxwell, Developing Leaders, 23.
[31] Adams, Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development, 256.
[32] Kramer and Nayak, Nonprofit Leadership Development, 54.
[33] See Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1995), 43, 48; Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee, Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002), 39-50, 253-256.
[34] Callanan. “Under-Investing in Leadership.” Kramer and Nayak, Nonprofit Leadership Development, 64-65. Malphurs and Mancini, Building Leaders, 147-151.
[35] Ron Rabin, Blended Learning for Leadership: The CCL Approach (Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership, 2014). The 70-20-10 principle is also described by Kramer and Nayak, Nonprofit Leadership Development, 82-101; Kramer, “Solving the Time and Money Puzzle”; and Hoyle, Informal Learning in Organizations, 168-177.
[36] Rabin, Blended Learning for Leadership, 2.
[37] Kramer and Nayak, Nonprofit Leadership Development, 83.
[38] Hoyle, Informal Learning in Organizations, 169.
[39] Kramer and Nayak, Nonprofit Leadership Development, 83.
[40] Andy Stanley, Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 69-85.
[41] Malphurs and Mancini, Building Leaders, 156.
[42] Ron Edmondson, “7 Ways to Raise up Young Leaders,” Ron Edmondson: The Blog of a Leader, Pastor, and Church Planter, July 14, 2015, at www.ronedmondson.com/2015/07/7-ways-to-raise-up-young-leaders.html. Accessed July 14, 2015.
[43] Kramer and Nayak, Nonprofit Leadership Development, 83.
[44] Hoyle, Informal Learning in Organizations, 168.
[45] Kramer and Nayak, Nonprofit Leadership Development, 83.
[46] Rabin, Blended Learning for Leadership, 6.
[47] For more on MOOCs see Hoyle, Informal Learning in Organizations, 137-157.
[48] Rabin, Blended Learning for Leadership, 7.
[49] Kramer and Nayak, Nonprofit Leadership Development, 85-101.
[50] Ron Rabin, Blended Learning for Leadership: The CCL Approach (Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership, 2014). The 70-20-10 principle is also described by Kramer and Nayak, Nonprofit Leadership Development, 82-101; Kramer, “Solving the Time and Money Puzzle”; and Hoyle, Informal Learning in Organizations, 168-177.
[51] Maxwell, Developing Leaders, 118.
[52] Malphurs and Mancini, Building Leaders, 152-156.
[53] John Maxwell, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential (New York, NY: Center Street, 2012), 51.
[54] Paul Stanley and J. Robert Clinton, Connecting: The Mentoring Relationships You Need to Succeed in Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1992), 73.