7 must have ingredients for gen z leadership development

Dave Miller/LeadershipPathway.org  

We launched Leadership Pathway (Lp) in the fall of 2017 with a desire to come along side church leaders to help them find, support, and develop the next generation of leaders. We accomplish this through helping them architect a customized and intentional two-year residency by which a young leader’s supervisor is coached in how to develop them. We launched to combat the staffing crisis which has only grown more critical since.

Ask a leader, “do you do leadership development?” and you’ll get a variety of answers that typically begins with “yes…” Then you’ll hear about books, or community, or devotions, or even mentoring programs.

Yet, today’s 20 to 25-year-old is unique and a challenge that will require a different approach. Generation Z comes loaded with talent and desire to make their world a better place. I believe they’ll fix much of what my generation (Gen X) has left them. You must be ready for someone who may internally be wondering if they even need a boss in the first place…Dr Tim Elmore, author of the must-read for all leaders, “Generation Z Unfiltered,” speaks to this.

This generation has needs that are unique as well, and if your team hasn’t onboarded someone from this generation yet, you’ll need to prepare them and tool them properly. This is our focus. We coach the coaches.

At Lp, we’ve landed on 7 Key Ingredients that must be present for leadership development to be adequately happening. While our coaching curriculum focuses on 20 Core soft skills, our process ensures that all seven of these are present throughout a two-year Lp residency

EDUCATION. The churches we partner with vary in their approach when it comes to education. Some offer accredited undergrad and master level courses. Some simply reimburse education expenses at the resident’s college or seminary of their choosing. Some don’t do anything. It doesn’t really matter to us, but the value we want to instill early in a young leader is that of being a lifetime learner. Leaders are readers as the cliché go. Leadership development is more than reading a book together. It’s critical, but it goes well beyond this. Excellent biblical educational resources range from free to insanely expensive. Content is everywhere.

SPIRITUAL FORMATION. Churches not only excel at education but also have a strong ability to ensure spiritual formation takes place. Whether it’s through small group experiences or incorporating it within the staff, churches generally do this well. If we can get Gen Z involved and connected, they will naturally find community.

But being smart and being a disciple isn’t enough to form a leader, is it?

SOFT SKILL DEVELOPMENT. Some may choose to call this emotional intelligence, but the rubber really meets the road here. Topics like work ethic, initiative, and being personable are tough to have conversations around, but it’s critical that it happens. There are core skills that have nothing to do with education or spiritual formation that must be addressed if this generation is going to make it past year 2 with us.

These are the topics that frustrate older leaders and lead them to throw their hands up in frustration exclaiming, “kids these days!” And some of the leaders who are frustrated the most are only 31 years of age.

OWNERSHIP. Gone are the days when the school of hard knocks could throw100 college grads in the game and see how many are still doing well in 3 years. In all actuality, the school of hard knocks had a terrible graduation rate and worse attrition than any of us wanted to believe.

How many made it that far in ministry from your graduating class from a previous generation? The stats are worse today. Young leaders today have more options than ever and when the going gets difficult and if they are all alone then they’ll probably do something else even if they have verbalized a calling to ministry.

When an offensive line can’t protect the quarterback, or when a pro golfer is in a year slump, or when that baseball team under performs for a third straight year, what happens? Coaches and managers are changed. It’s on them.

Now, it’s true we’ll say to young leaders that “your development is on you…don’t wait…go get it.” BUT while a young leader is in residency it really is on the coach and supervisor. Are we going to lay back, be passive, let it work itself out or just pray about it? NO. We instruct coaches to close the gap of understanding. Take the initiative. Don’t wait.

BEST PRACTICES. We no longer communicate, do missions, sing songs, speak, market, or educate like it’s 1998. Today’s young leaders must be exposed to real time strategies and work while holding on to the Gospel Truth which never changes. Perhaps you have one area of your church that is up to speed, but another which isn’t. Put the resident in proximity to the best.

If your youngest person is thirty years old, a 22-year-old is going to bring digital-native thinking to your communication strategies. Listen to them and give them opportunities of influence and see what happens. They view your digital comms just like the people you are trying to reach.

MENTAL WELLNESS PLAN. You don’t need me to reference a library full of articles, news, and opinions on mental wellness for this generation. While you don’t need a counselor on staff, you will need a plan. What do you do if a teammate can’t get out of bed one day? Last week he was killing it, but this week not so much. Has this happened on your team? If not, it’s going to.

Does your pastor reference his or her counselor from the pulpit? Is having counseling or being in therapy an accepted practice for those on your team? This is the new reality. I am pretty sure I’m preaching to the choir here, but these are points we talk through as we pre-board a candidate.

DEVELOPMENTAL CONVERSATIONS. This is the big one. All six of the above ingredients hang on a developmental conversation. We get asked a lot how does this scale? Well, education scales right? Three hundred freshmen in a large classroom can be taught English 101. Even spiritual formation scales three or ten at a time. Leadership Development as described above? It seems to be one on one more than anything.

It's talking. It’s hashing it out. Kristin, our Director of Resident Development, says that a young leader’s success rises and falls on their supervisor’s ability to coach them. She takes insane amounts of notes when coaching (or you can have A.I. take them for you, but that’s a different article) and a powerful question is “did you do last week what you said you were going to do?”

It’s so simple it’s powerful. Let’s help ministry leaders learn how to coach their young direct reports. It’s a game-changer.

Here’s the deal…most of us who are 30 and older weren’t actually developed. We survived. The work developed us so to speak. We kept going and “the pain made us who we are today.” It wasn’t called coaching or residency 25 years ago. We didn’t need to. Today’s world is a new challenge on this front.

We made it. That’s good.

Now…question: How many in the past decade or two did not make it? We tell ourselves platitudes like she didn’t have IT, or I guess he just wasn’t CALLED to it. This has gone on for decades and it has brought us to the staffing crisis we are in today.

If you’re still reading, it means you really care about this topic. My challenge is this: how many of those who didn’t make it could have succeeded if they had started in a place that wanted more for them than from them, had even half of a plan, a little bit of breathing room, some intentionality, and a coach with the grit to ensure all seven of these elements were present in their life for two years between the ages of 20 and 25?

More.

The loss of potential from those who quit or get fired and never return to church work is hurting us deeply. We need to slow down and commit to more than just moving at a fast pace and cramming in as much as we can. When we’re doing coaching calls from the car on the way to the airport, we’re not truly investing in younger leaders — we’re just tolerating them to keep them working.

We can do better and the good news is we see it happening. I think there are several hundred churches trying, but that’s just a drop in the bucket when you consider the entire landscape of church leadership in the U.S.

We have launched over 130 residencies with local churches and our vision is to see a thousand new churches take up the mantle of leadership development through an intentional residency.

Perhaps this is you? Perhaps you’ll more intentionally walk the proven path and be a trusted guide for someone who is coming along behind you. 2,000 years ago Paul looked at Timothy and said “do it this way.” And he looked at Barnabas, John Mark and Luke and said “consider this…”

We don’t know what shape the Church will be in 2,000 years from now but we know that the older leaders will need to be showing, not just telling, the younger leader how to lead. Leadership has always been theorized in a classroom, but forged in the field of the leadership pathway.

…

LeadershipPathway.org works with churches and redemptive organizations coast to coast on mission to raise up a generation of leaders for the future. Want to read more? Here’s a free eBook on  FIVE CORE COMPETENCIES they believe are a must have in your next hire.