One of The Best Ways To Learn Leadership
So what’s the best way to learn leadership?
It’s not through reading books. This will help, of course. You’ll get ideas for broad principles that you can try to apply. But this will not do it.
It’s not through attending seminars or conferences. This will give you exposure to top level leaders, and will show you how they manage their time or something. Again, this can be very helpful, but mostly it’s just inspiring. So this will not do it.
So what’s the best way to learn? By being around leaders and getting mentoring from them.
Here are some steps on how to do that:
1. Select a leader in your field you’d like to learn from
This would be someone in your area that you can have access to, and that is successful in their given field. For pastors, this should not be difficult. Just look for a church that is growing and doing well in your area. That’s usually an indication that something is working well in the realm of leadership.
But keep in mind that you wouldn’t want to select someone that is years ahead of where you are. They are already dealing with issues that are far too removed from where you are, so they actually wouldn’t be that helpful. Instead, select someone that is about 50% ahead of you. They have just recently passed through the issues you’re dealing with, and everything is still fresh in their minds.
2. Offer to take them out for lunch (or breakfast)
Leaders are busy. They don’t really have time for you. Mentoring someone else is probably not at the top of their agenda. Running their organization is. But eating is something that everyone has to do. Offer to treat them at a restaurant that would be most convenient for them. And if that doesn’t work, offer to order a meal and have it delivered to their office. That way they don’t even have to budge and move a muscle. They can just receive you, munch, and not waste any time.
3. Let them know how much time you expect
Don’t just say I’d like to meet with you. Give them specific parameters so they can know what to expect and plan for the rest of their day. So ask if you can meet with them over lunch from 12:00-12:50pm, for example. If they don’t have much time, ask for half an hour. And respect their time. When you see that you have about 5-10 minutes left begin to close shop. It always takes a few minutes to do so.
4. Come prepared with questions
Don’t just show up and say, “ok, tell me what you know.” Or “ok, I’d like you to mentor me.” That doesn’t work. Leadership is very broad and can be quite specialized. And you want to make the experience as easy as possible for them. That usually happens when you’ve come prepared with specific questions that you’d like answers to.
Bob Franquiz gives some wonderful points on this:
“When I make an appointment with a leader I want to learn from, I prepare for the meeting. I write out a list of questions that I want to ask (usually more than I will be able to ask in a thirty to sixty minute meeting). I keep the follow-up questions in mind based upon their answers. I bring a notebook and a pen, so I can write down the answers to their questions because the old saying is true that the shortest pencil is better than the longest memory…my goal in meetings like this is to say as little as possible, so the person I’m meeting with can say as much as possible” (Zero to Sixty, p. 51).
Bring questions that you’re dealing with in your organization. Thing you don’t understand well. How to streamline a process. How to implement something.
5. Send a thank you card afterwards
They didn’t have to meet with you. They’re taking of their time out, so the least you could do is to have some professional courtesy and write them a hand-written thank you card. This just shows that you respect and appreciate their time.
6. Repeat on a regular basis with other leaders
Have in mind other leaders in your city that you can meet with. Make a list of them. Perhaps you can do a “leadership lunch” once a month. It’ll cost you about $20, but it’s well worth it.
I learned these principles through experience. I took out a pastor of a growing church nearby about two weeks ago. He planted his church about two years ago, and it’s now running about 650 in attendance over three services. I brought my questions with me. I had my notebook with me. And I even asked for his permission if I could record our conversation on my iPhone “memo” app.
I was blown away by the stuff he shared. Super inspirational. It was better than any book or conference I’ve attended on the subject. Why? Because I could stop and clarify and ask probing and specific questions that I’m dealing with. And he even said I could join him in one of his staff meetings to see how they do things! Quite excited about that.
After that encounter I made the commitment that I’m going to repeat the process every single month with a different leader in the area. I honestly think it’ll be the best $20 you’ve ever spent.
So what about you? What has been helpful to you in your leadership development? Have you ever taken a leader out to lunch? What was your experience like?
[image by rahul_tel 2]
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Did this with Randy Roberts (Pastor LLU), bot some great insights on preaching and sermon preparation!
Very nice! Sounds like it would make a great blog post
I'd love to hear about some of the biggest lessons that you learned.