7 steps to cultivate a leader-soaked ministry

Auxano's Leadership Pipeline co::LAB with Mac Lake from John Duncan on Vimeo.

Do you have enough leaders to sustain your growth and to keep you off the ministry treadmill? Do you have a leadership development strategy that you promote consistently? Are you using simple, strategic, and reproducible systems in developing leaders? Do all your departments use the same general leadership development process?

If your answer was "no" to any of these questions, you might benefit from an Auxano Leadership Pipeline co::LAB that is coming to Dayton, Ohio this fall, 2016.

How do you begin addressing your leadership development challenges?

Step #1: Think people development not just job placement 

Once we begin to see Leadership Development as people development, everything changes. Our people will not feel used, but served. Our goals must be to help them excel as leaders in the home, in the marketplace, as well as in the church. That's when we will get greater buy-in.

Step #2: Evaluate every ministry area in your church in light of Leadership Pipeline levels

When your primary ministry leaders do this together in the same room, you will have break-thru perspective.

Level one - LEAD SELF
Level two - LEAD OTHERS
Level three - LEAD LEADERS
Level four - LEAD A DEPARTMENT
Level five - LEAD THE ORGANIZATION

Step #3: Identify the core competencies for each level for each ministry in your church

As people move through the pipeline, new skills and abilities are needed. Start by defining the top 5-6 competencies for each level that will apply to each ministry level. 

Step #4: Create content to grow your people in the specific competencies

Once you have defined the competencies, you will have to create some training tools around the content. You can do that by following a prepare, equip, and inspire pathway. 

Step #5: Create a pathway for people to move through your Pipeline

Mancini says, "Once the structure itself is defined, you must ask the practical questions of “how?” Here is how it works. Imagine saying to a student pastor, 'I want you to show me how a 18-year old student comes to Christ and eventually becomes a student pastor some day. What would that process look like?' How many of your leaders actually have an answer to that question?"

Step #6: Identify your depth chart

Look at the people you currently have that populate each level. Leaders are among your church’s most precious resources. But many churches do not have list of who is involved and who is "next up" should something happen to a current leader. Middle school football coaches pay more attention to a depth chart than the average pastor. And for church leaders, the stakes are eternally higher!

Step #7: Invite your people into your process

Once your people know that you have a plan and that the plan includes helping them develop as a better leader in every area of their lives, then more folks than you think will want to dive into the process. 

These 7 basic steps are critical to building an effective Leadership Development Pipeline. If this simple overview is makes sense, you may want to consider getting outside coaching assistance in developing your own.

As Auxano's Will Mancini says, "We’d love to help you cultivate a leader-soaked ministry."

The process we will be going through has been designed and created over the last several years by Mac Lake, founder of the Multiply Group, who now works for NAMB and Auxano. It has been used across a myriad of churches of varying size, denominational backgrounds, and geographic location. I, along with Mac, will be at the helm of guiding the process for our six sessions.

There will be six total sessions in 2016, all on Thursdays: September 22, October 20, November 17, 2016 and January 19, February 23, March 16, 2017. The sessions will be from 10:00am - 3:00pm at First Baptist Church Vandalia, Ohio, 140 Elva Court, Vandalia, Ohio. Lunch will be provided. Each participating church may bring up to four participants. 

Since this will be a co::LAB, Auxano is able to keep the costs down. When a Lead Navigator from Auxano consults a church one-on-one, the cost is usually between $15,000 and $20,000. The cost for the co::LAB in Ohio is $2,500 for each participating church and is limited to the first twelve churches to register.

To help you determine your need and readiness for the co::LAB, I would encourage your church leadership to access the Leadership Pipeline Assessment which can be found here.

If you are interested in signing up to participate in the co::LAB, you can access the Auxano Consulting Services Agreement here. For more information, contact me, Rick Duncan, at rick@auxano.com.