Defining Your Leadership Pipeline

by: Mac Lake

When someone first steps into leadership what should they focus on learning?  There are dozens of possibilities.  As a mentor I don’t want to frustrate a new leader by having them focus on things that are too advanced or even too simple.  However, it’s important that I provide a Learning Pathway that makes sense and helps them progress in their ability to lead at the next level.  One of the exercises we did as a leadership team while I was at Seacoast was to identify the competencies we felt were most important at each level of our leadership pipeline.  Below you will find what we came up with.  Also if you click HERE (Leading Others Mentoring Guide) you can download a sample of one of the Leadership Greenhouse Guides we developed for our leaders to mentor their leaders.

The list for your organization will be different than ours, so I encourage you to gather your Lead team, identify the levels of your leadership pipeline and then define the competencies that are most important to you for each level.  This is a great exercise that will force your team to decide what leadership behaviors are most important in your origination.  You’ll also discover this list will provide a framework not only for training but for hiring, promoting and evaluating employees.  Just remember when you sit down to develop the list it will take more than one meeting.  Don’t rush it, going through the process is just as valuable as having the final list of core competencies.

LEADING YOURSELF

  • Managing Your Time
  • Setting Personal Goals
  • Improving Personal Communication
  • Managing Your Personal Resources
  • Dealing with Conflict
  • Leading with Your Strengths
  • Submitting to Authority

LEADING OTHERS

  • Casting Vision
  • Managing Others’ Goals
  • Recruiting Volunteers
  • Giving Soul Care
  • Practicing 360 Communication
  • Resolving Conflict
  • Aligning People

LEADING LEADERS

  • Evaluating
  • Motivating Others
  • Managing Budgets
  • Team Building
  • Decision Making
  • Leading Meetings
  • Applying Situational Leadership

LEADING DEPARTMENTS

  • Persevering in Difficulties
  • Evaluating Systems
  • Building Morale
  • Employee Engagement
  • Hiring, Firing and Repositioning Talent
  • Mentoring Leaders
  • Focusing

 LEADING ORGANIZATIONS

  • Establishing Organizational Value
  • Forecasting the Future
  • Managing the Leadership Pipeline
  • Taking Risks
  • Inspiring Others
  • Succession Planning
  • Practicing Execution

If you would like help in building a fully functional leadership pipeline at your church with Mac Lake, let us know.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mac Lake

Mac Lake

Mac is a pioneering influence in the church planting movement. In 1997, he planted Carolina Forest Community Church (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina). In 2004, he began serving as Leadership Development Pastor at Seacoast Church (Charleston, South Carolina) where he served for over six years. In July 2010, Mac Lake joined with West Ridge Church to become the Visionary Architect for the LAUNCH Network. In 2015 Mac begin working with Will Mancini and Auxano to develop the Leadership Pipeline process. He joined Auxano full time in 2018. Mac and his wife, Cindy, live in Charleston, South Carolina and have three children, Brandon, Jordan and Brianna.

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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
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comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
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comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
— Scott Michael Whitley
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