Dan Smith & Mary K. Hucyke: CourageousSpace Newsletter: January 2007
Give Your Leaders What They Need
In many churches, people assume new leadership roles in January. Much time and
energy goes into discerning who the right next leaders are and recruiting them.
Relieved to have the task done, all too often once those persons say "yes",
churches leave them to sink or swim on their own. The afternoon session of leader
training offered by some churches is a good beginning, but it's not enough if
you want your leaders to flourish in their roles.
A congregation experiences growth and development only to the extent of the
growth and development of the individuals who make up the congregation. And
their development depends on the persons who lead them. If you’re serious
about congregational development you must also be serious about the development
of your leaders - their development as Christian Disciples AND in the ability
to provide effective leadership in the role to which they've been called.
We bring you this month a way of looking at the second aspect of their development
- what you can do to help your leaders flourish in their work. Ken Blanchard
and the Ken Blanchard Companies have worked extensively teaching leaders and
managers how to help those they oversee succeed. Though their arena is the secular
workplace, their learnings are no less applicable to the church.
Joe and Nancy Cox had agreed to take over the leadership of the outreach team
when the current chair announced that a recent promotion at work would require
her to move to another state. For Pastor Glenn, it seemed like a natural fit.
Joe and Sally had been active members of the team for the past year and had
provided leadership in other areas of the church across the past 8 years. Passionate
about the work of the outreach team, they eagerly jumped right in. Confident
in their ability to do the job, Pastor Glenn turned his attention elsewhere
and left them to do their job. So, it was with a great deal of surprise that
Pastor Glenn received their letter of resignation from that role six months
later. Discouraged by their lack of progress, Joe and Nancy felt that they were
the wrong people for the job.
It's a common mistake. Having experienced a person as being competent and confident
in one setting, we assume that the person will step into doing a brand new task
at that same level. Not true. Each time a person takes on a new task or assumes
a new role there are four predictable stages of their learning and growth. Each
stage is based on where the person is on two scales - competency and commitment.
Each stage requires a different type of leadership from you if that person is
to grow into the fullness of their ability.
Think back to before you learned to ride a bike. Remember how excited you were
and how committed you were to learning how to ride? And then the day came when
you stood astride that bike and realized that while you were excited to get
going, you didn't know what to do. What a help to have someone there to make
sure your first ride was in a location that gave you plenty of room and who
could say, put your hands like this, and your feet like that – to give
you the instruction that you needed.
Perhaps like the little boy down the street, after a session or two of not figuring
it out, you got frustrated and decided that riding a bike was more than you
wanted to tackle and walked away. While you'd received the instructions you
needed, they hadn't really sunk in. Now, in addition to still needing to acquire
the basic skills you also needed support and encouragement to keep trying.
Probably, the day came when you finally mastered the basics. You could ride!
But it was a shaky kind of riding, and it didn't take much – an unexpected
bump or fall to rattle your confidence and send you into the house, bike abandoned.
More instruction wouldn't be very helpful at this point; your skills would develop
as you spent more time riding and gained experience. What you needed at that
point was the support and encouragement to get back on and keep learning.
After enough time in the saddle, riding a bike became a natural act. You swooped
and swerved and jumped without a second thought. Your ticket to moving freely
through your world, you didn't need much in the way of instruction or encouragement,
just the freedom to ride! Imagine how annoying it would be at this point to
have a relative sit you down and walk you through the basic instruction you'd
been given when you first learned to ride and then encourage you to ride.
That progression of learning is the same for people who take on a new task or
role. It might be the woman you hire as the new administrative assistant, the
intern who arrives to help with the children's program for the summer, or the
fellow that steps into heading up VBS. Each will go through these stages. Some
move through the stages quickly, others more slowly. Some are open and vocal
about their experience at each stage, while others will give you only the subtlest
of clues.
Your goal is to help each leader reach the place where they are competent, confident
and committed. That's when they, through their position, will have the biggest
impact. For that to happen they will need specific behaviors from you at specific
times. Doing the right things at the wrong times is as deadly as not doing anything
at all. This requires you to do two things. First, you must pay attention and
NOTICE the clues the person is sending you and assess which stage they are in
as regards the specific task or role. Second, you must provide them with what
they need – direction, support, a combination of the two, or the trust
and freedom to do the work without your interference. It's all about being flexible,
being willing and able to adjust your style to meet the needs of the person
you're working with.
Below are the 4 stages of growing into learning a task or role as outlined in
the work of Ken Blanchard and the style of leadership persons in each stage
will need from you.
Enthusiastic Beginner. New to the task or role, enthusiastic
beginners have a low level of competence, but a high level of commitment. Even
though they may have past experience in related roles, they have not yet done
the work under these particular circumstances. Excited by the work and the possible
results, the enthusiastic learner is nonetheless unaware of how much they don't
know.
What persons in this stage need from you: Lots of direction. They have
all the enthusiasm they need, so they don't need you to spend your energy inspiring
them. What they most need from you is instruction. What exactly is the task?
What are the limits of their authority? Where does their job begin and end?
What's the outcome needed? What's their role in the development of those on
their committee or team? How does their work fit into the bigger picture? How
does scheduling happen, and sending out notices and minutes? Don't assume they
know these things just because they've served in other roles. Think of it as
giving them the tools they need to grow and flourish in this work.
Joe and Nancy's letter signaled to Pastor Glenn that he had not been as directive
with them they had needed. He doesn't naturally like to be directive, and they
had been so strong in other areas, that he realized he'd set them up for a more
frustrating experience than it had needed to be.
Disillusioned Learner. Beginning to develop some basic competencies
at the work, disillusioned learners have discovered there is more to the task
than they first thought. Frustrated with their lack of progress and/or the complexities
of the work, their confidence and level of commitment begins to plummet. Thoughts
like "I never should have taken this on," and "how can I get
out of this" begin to percolate.
What persons in this stage need from you: Lots of direction AND lots
of support. They still need help in learning how to do particular aspects of
their job. For Joe and Nancy in the story above, what had them stymied was how
to make the team meetings venues for spiritual support and growth. Feeling unable
to accomplish what the church held as important, they felt their only option
was to quit. Identifying the issue or skill at the root of their frustration,
Pastor Glenn sat down with them for a mini-workshop and then connected them
with a woman in the church who was gifted in this area. In addition, he provided
support and encouragement, contacting them before and after their team meetings
for several months to help them prepare and then debrief.
Capable, But Cautious Performer. Persons at this stage will
have developed moderate to high levels of competency but don't fully trust their
ability. Their commitment level wavers with their confidence.
What persons in this stage need from you: Lots of support. Persons
at this point know what to do, they just need to strengthen that ability and
build confidence in themselves. As the months went by, Pastor Glenn continued
to check in with Joe and Nancy before and after each meeting. He stopped giving
them advice on what to do in certain situations though, and moved to supporting
them in finding their own answers. In addition, he asked the two of them to
prepare a segment for the fall new-leader training event on how to make meetings
a place for nurturing discipleship. It was a big step for them and they weren't
sure at all about their ability to do it. Pastor Glenn knew they had the skills
and believed that this stretch would solidify those skills and help Joe and
Nancy develop the confidence they needed.
Self-reliant Achiever. Persons at this stage have developed
a high level of competency and trust their ability. They are highly committed
and motivated to make a difference through their work. This is the result you're
aiming for when you invite someone to step into a leadership position or take
over a task.
What persons in this stage need from you: The freedom to fly! They
know what to do and how to do it. Trust them and let them do what you placed
them there to do. A year and a half later, Joe and Nancy have really grown into
their role as leaders of the outreach team. Pastor Glenn doesn't check in on
them the way he used to. They're doing a fine job and while he communicates
with them regularly he works with them in a delegating manner.
Perhaps your church, like many others, has new persons move into leadership
positions this January. They need certain things from you if they are to master
this role you've placed them in. The following questions will help you think
through what they need and how to provide it.
1. Make a list of the people stepping into new leadership roles or taking over
major tasks.
What is the direction each needs from you or from a designated other if they are to fully understand the scope of their role or task?
How will you make sure they get the direction they need?
Put on your calendar, right now, times when you will follow up with them.
2. Make a list of 2-5 people who are currently serving in leadership or staff
roles
Think about them through the lens of Blanchard's stages.
Where are they and what do they need from you if they are to move closer to becoming "self-reliant achievers"?
3. As you converse with your leaders this month, practice listening for the
cues that indicate their learning stage regarding whatever task they're working
on. Remember that a person can be at 4 different stages if they're working on
4 different projects!
4. Scope out Ken Blanchard's website to learn more. The site is packed with
helpful information and they offer a free newsletter and even the occasional
free web seminar.
Email us to subscribe to our free monthly newsletter on leadership and congregational development