Intentional Development
By David Drury
Most people want to be
developed. They want to learn. They desire mentors in their life. And all leaders have a part of them that
would like to develop other people.
We want to pass on what we’ve learned—we want to show others
the ropes. There seems to be a
desire to develop people and be developed out there. However, so few people really are
developing. Most people are pretty
much where they were last year.
They aren’t being intentionally developed. Even if they want to grow, and even if
people around them would like to help them grow, they aren’t. What’s the difference?
The difference is a leader
who chooses to intentionally develop their staff, leaders and volunteers. When we step up to develop others we
often find them to be willing, ready, thankful and responsive. Developing others works. You just have to work at it. Below are some questions I’m
asking myself to ensure I’m being intentional enough about developing
others. You can ask them of
yourself as well.
Have I set aside time with them? If I don’t ever have one-on-one time with them I’m not sure
I’ll ever help them develop.
If I don’t have a meeting or a lot of “bump-into-them”
time then they’ll lose development orbit with me. I’ll be out of the loop and so
will they. I’ve made the
mistake of assuming the development piece will “just happen”
naturally, but eventually I’ve realized that we have to prioritize the
time set aside to properly prioritize development and growth.
Have I clarified their role and encouraged their
purpose? Often times my leaders just don’t realize how
important they are to my team, and to the larger ministry. They think they have such a small role
that they eventually get drawn to other things, or they burn out because they
don’t see how it fits in.
Other times they don’t have a clear enough role and purpose. They need to know what I’m wanting
them to do, the limits to what they should do (so they don’t get too
broad) and what success looks like.
Have we put anything down in writing? Until some goals get down in writing, and some points of development are
spelled out, some things are just missed.
Some people need it spelled out on paper more than others—but in
some ways we all need it in black and white from time to time. This helps us with future
accountability. I’ve made the
mistake of putting correction in writing near the end instead of development
expectations in the beginning.
It’s much better to write it down first and talk it out
later. A job description or goals
or development plan are all examples of this.
Am I coaching the little things? Often times I just need to coach things along the way. The coaching doesn’t happen in a
sit-down meeting, it happens in a 2 minute hallway conversation. The little things should be noticed and
brought up in order to improve if they relate to an area one of my leaders
wants to develop in. I should find
out what they want me to coach them on—where they want to
improve—and then intentionally watch for opportunities to help.
Am I building vision for the big things? Too
often I view vision as a “from the stage” problem. I think of it as some kind of a
speech. Now I’ve come to
believe that vision may be best cast in conversation. A short envisioning conversation about
the most important things in my ministry with one of my leaders is perhaps the
best time spent in my week.
Am I available to them? Part of development is being available to my leaders when they have a
problem or a question—it’s being there to coach through the valley
or the details or the conflict. For
the 10 or so people I’m most directly developing I should be always
available.
Do I set challenges in front of them? Instead of just letting everyone coast into development, assuming
they’re fine, it’s my job to put development opportunities in front
of them. I need to push them to go
to conferences, encourage them to set goals, point out mountains for their team
to climb together. Challenges
develop us more than most anything else, and I should be leading them into the
challenges that are best for them at the time.
Do I double back to keep them accountable? It makes no sense for me to lead people into these challenges, however,
and not double back to see how they are doing and to keep them accountable on
their development and to celebrate their successes. If I don’t do this with what
we’ve written down and set out there as the preferred future—then
we’ll never get there.
Can I resource them better? I know of books, tapes and articles out there that are very helpful for
many areas of development.
It’s easy for me to assume my leaders know of these resources
too—but so often they do not.
It’s my role to resource them and help them learn the principles
so many others have said so well.
Can I support them better? They need to feel my support for what they’re doing and who they
are becoming. My leaders need my support
because it creates the climate for their development. Why should they work on developing if
they don’t feel like I support what they’re doing?
Can I dream for them more and share it? One of the best things I can do for those I’m developing is to
dream for them—to envision what they could become for God. I need to not only take time to think
through what God might be doing in each of my leaders, but to share my dreams
for them more. Their hearts will
grow because of it.
In asking these questions of
myself it’s clear that I have some more intentionality to focus on in the
coming months. If I don’t
keep on this then the development relationship will fade and become
ineffective—even if I’ve done it well here and there with this and
that person from time to time.
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© 2006 by David Drury
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