Leadership Development: Engaging Leaders

I’ve done student leadership for almost fifteen years at this point and while building and developing my teams I’ve used the lenses of Engaging, Equipping, and Empowering. This next series of posts is all about developing leaders. Today, I’d like to spend some time unpacking these ideas starting with engaging.

You could look at this idea as recruiting leaders. What does it mean to engage those we lead in leadership ideas, principles, and eventually leadership itself? The best leaders are oftentimes able to see things in others that they may not even see themselves. That’s where it begins, with a conversation. Usually it goes something along the lines of,

“have you ever thought about _______________.”

That blank could be whatever you may see to draw out of that person, like drawing gold out of them. Oftentimes for me it’s, have you ever thought of “leading a small group, serving in this capacity, or attending this training.” It does require us as leaders to be intentional in knowing our teams and looking for the things in them that make them leaders and again, these may be things they don’t even see in themselves yet. From there, much of it is on the person on the receiving end of the conversation. We want to speak these things into them, draw the “gold’ that’s within them out, and encourage them to step out into the roles they’re meant for. The question then becomes, how do we continue engaging when they tell us they’re not ready for what you’re asking.

A friend of mine once told me that the idea of ready is a myth. It’s a lie that depends on ourselves. That we can truly never be ready for the leadership roles we’re called to and we can never be ready for the things God is calling us to. For many years now I’ve prescribed to the idea that leaders must be platforms for their people to launch from and a safety net when they don’t succeed the first time. I often “kick students out of the nest” earlier than they are ready and force them to fly. If they don’t, no problem, I coach and process, and then get them ready to launch again and again and as many times as needed for them to succeed.

Engaging our teams in leadership starts with a conversation of speaking something into them and inviting them on a journey of becoming and growing. Beyond that, it’s an ongoing conversation of trial and error, launching and relaunching, speaking into and drawing out of them for their growth.

This idea of engaging leaders works on any level and for any type of organization. I work with teenagers and speak these things into them as much as I can but in my times of serving in peer leadership or on boards I’ve been a part of, it remains true. My challenge for you is to ask who do you have around you that you can speak into them? What “gold” can you find in the people in your life? How can you engage them in these types of conversations?

In the next post we’re going to start looking at how do we equip them for the journey but for now, engage your people in leadership conversations.

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash