Volunteer Centered Leader: Develop Healthy Leaders

So, you get it – you need to develop leaders around you and become a leader of leaders, giving them a little more responsibility over time. Here are some tips on making sure your leaders remain energetic and spiritually healthy:

Give Them a Proper Send Off

One of the worst situations a new leader can be placed in is that of responsibility without authority. I have this happen to me in my professional career on occasion, and it is a tough situation. As a leader, you are required to achieve a certain milestone in a certain time, but you don’t have the proper authority to lead the people you have in the manner necessary to succeed. Give your leaders a send off with the team, ensuring that your team understands your belief in the new leader.

Bottom Line: Announce leadership promotions to your team and back them up when necessary.

Identify Their Strengths and Weaknesses

After some time, the new leader’s strengths and weaknesses will start to emerge. Spend time with them to help identify them and find ways to improve their weaknesses while playing to their strengths. The interesting thing comes when you find a weakness that should not be fixed, but rather avoided. This may happen when the weakness is a skill or talent that tends to come more naturally, or is harder to teach. Rather than forcing them to lead with known weakness, find something new for them by playing to their strengths. Be creative, allowing them to blend what they love with their strengths for a win-win situation for your church.

Bottom Line: Take inventory with your new leader and help them learn what they do well and where they may need to improve.

Hold Them Accountable to Grow

New leaders have a tendancy to focus solely on the team they lead and not the life they live. You must hold your leaders accountable to ensure they are spending the necessary time and effort to grow in their walk with Christ. They must also not forsake their family or their job but allowing their new leadership role to dominate their life.

Bottom Line: Your leaders need to stay balanced in the Word and with their family.

Pray For and With Them

Your leaders need your prayers during the week. But more than that, they need you to pray with them. Don’t allow your busy schedule (or theirs) disrupt the need for sincere time in prayer together. This not only helps develop a close fellowship between your leaders, but also prevents distancing which can allow unhealthy thoughts to creep in and disrupt the team.

Bottom Line: Spend time praying with your leaders on a group and individual basis.

Give Them Room To Dream

Leaders need freedom, not only to succeed and fail, but also to dream. As your leaders begin to mature, they may come to you with new ideas, some of which you may not agree on. Prayerfully consider their ideas by focusing on the root of their intent, not the method. This allows you and your leaders to focus on the same goals while allowing you to give them the freedom they need to realize their dreams rather than becoming “yes men.”

Bottom Line: Leaders need the freedom to know they won’t be shutdown if they propose a new idea or way of doing things.

By applying these 5 core principles, you can ensure that your leaders remain healthy in their spiritual walk and do not burn out. It will also prepare them for being a leader of leaders, just like you.

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