Some Of What Nick Shock Is Thinking About

I was meeting with a group of new small group leaders in our church last week over breakfast at IHOP. Each new leader had varying experience with leadership in the church, but each of them had also been on my radar for a while to become group leaders. So, while it was no surprise that we were meeting as they were moving into leading, what surprised me was that despite the fact they had been regularly attending a small group for a significant period of time, they were not as equipped and ready to lead as I thought they would be. They had lack of clarity about vision, strategy, and even some practical how-to’s of leading the group. It made me think of this experience…Have you ever been a passenger in a car going to a destination, sometimes repeatedly, and although you are in the car, when it comes time for you to get behind the wheel, you are not exactly sure how to get there? You have been to the intended destination, you have watched the scenery go by, and all the while because you weren’t driving you weren’t fully prepared to successfully navigate. So how do we prepare passengers to move into the driver’s seat? First, we don’t assume they know as much as we think they do. It is always dangerous to think they are good to go without taking the time cast vision, clarify strategy, and coach them on practical tasks. This will take an intentional time to download information to them, and let them ask clarifying questions. Second, make sure your current leaders are sharing real responsibility with them before they launch out. Let them take their current team/group for a test drive while giving them helpful feedback before, during, and after. This includes letting them plan and execute and a meeting quasi on their own. Sometimes this may reveal they are not as ready as you thought to take on a new role and will allow for more development time. In addition it will give insight on what they are not clear on. Third, to help with the first two ideas, make sure you have clear written communication for them to read through and allow them to interact with. I have made far too many mistakes by not giving clear and concise information ahead of time, and as result had to pick up the pieces and salvage a leader who got thrown into the fire without good prep. Having it in print (digital is fine) allows them to come back to it as needed and you to be able to refer to it as needed. These are three simple ways that I have seen help in making these significant leadership transitions, but simple does not equate with insignificant!