Developing People

DEVELOPING PEOPLE

You cannot be a leader alone. Leadership is about influencing others toward a common mission together. It requires not just working together toward a common goal or for a common purpose, but aligning people and resources in order to accomplish it.

Often we think the greatest resources we need for vision achievement are financial. The truth is, our greatest asset is people, and their value does not lie in their number or their current capabilities—their value lies in the potential leadership capacity they have. In order to leverage your greatest resource, you must be able to increase the leadership capacity of the people in your organization or movement and to help them grow and move from potential to high effectiveness.

In his book, Developing the Leaders Around You, John Maxwell writes: “Leaders create and inspire new leaders by instilling faith in their leadership ability and helping them develop and hone leadership skills they don’t know they possess.”1

Who was a leader who took an interest in you and helped inspire you to grow and develop as a leader?

What were some of the things that leader did to bring out your leadership gifts?

How aware were you of your leadership potential when you began this process? How has that informed how you look at other potential leaders you work with?

ENCOUNTER

1 Corinthians 12:1-7 (MSG) “What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. Remember how you were when you didn’t know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It’s different in this life. God wants us

1 John Maxwell, Developing the Leaders Around You (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 11. to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say ‘Jesus be damned!’ Nor would anyone be inclined to say ‘Jesus is Master!’ without the insight of the Holy Spirit. God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!” The apostle Paul, in laying out the metaphor of the body, not only describes how the church is connected, but also how we function together—individually and corporately. We see how we have been given capacity to contribute to the work of God in the church and the world as we live under the influence and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

As people of God, we have been formed for this contribution. The apostle Paul shares three key qualities of members of the body of Christ who are developing. We are:

1. Informed and knowledgeable, seeking to understand

Understanding is foundational for people who are developing. This means helping people understand who they are in Jesus Christ, what the depth and value of their faith is, and how people committed to Jesus Christ contribute in fulfilling the mission that Christ has commissioned us to.

2. Gifted to serve in the church in the world

Each of us has been gifted to make our contribution. Helping develop others also means helping people discover their gifts and how those fit best in the body of the Christ. As people identify their gifts, they can then discern how best to use them to fill their unique places in the body and in the world. Helping people recognize how God has given them the capacity to contribute is part of the developmental process and is a key task of a caring and equipping leader.

3. Called to participate in passing on blessing and benefit

We recognize that our participation in the body of Christ is not solely for our own benefit. God has graced us so that we can be a blessing to others and can provide benefit for the whole body. A leader helps people hear the call of God, contribute their unique gifts, and see that contribution as a blessing to others. God has blessed you so that you can be a blessing to others. How have you effectively helped people in your ministry or organization identify their unique gifts and places of contribution? How has this process started with information and moved on to transformation in the life of others?

Tell about a time that you helped someone discover a gift or capacity he or she was unaware of, and about how, upon moving forward in faith, that person became a significant blessing in the church or in the world.

EXPRESSION

Luke 10:1-21 (MSG) “Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge:

‘What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.

‘On your way! But be careful—this is hazardous work. You’re like lambs in a wolf pack.

‘Travel light. Comb and toothbrush and no extra luggage.

‘Don’t loiter and make small talk with everyone you meet along the way.

‘When you enter a home, greet the family, “Peace.” If your greeting is received, then it’s a good place to stay. But if it’s not received, take it back and get out. Don’t impose yourself.

‘Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals. Don’t move from house to house, looking for the best cook in town.

‘When you enter a town and are received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tell them, “God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!”

‘When you enter a town and are not received, go out in the street and say, “The only thing we got from you is the dirt on our feet, and we’re giving it back. Did you have any idea that God’s kingdom was right on your doorstep?” Sodom will have it better on Judgment Day than the town that rejects you.

‘Doom, Chorazin! Doom, Bethsaida! If Tyre and Sidon had been given half the chances given you, they’d have been on their knees long ago, repenting and crying for mercy. Tyre and Sidon will have it easy on Judgment Day compared to you. ‘And you, Capernaum! Do you think you’re about to be promoted to heaven? Think again. You’re on a mudslide to hell.

‘The one who listens to you, listens to me. The one who rejects you, rejects me. And rejecting me is the same as rejecting God, who sent me.’

The seventy came back triumphant. ‘Master, even the demons danced to your tune!’

Jesus said, ‘I know. I saw Satan fall, a bolt of lightning out of the sky. See what I’ve given you? Safe passage as you walk on snakes and scorpions, and protection from every assault of the Enemy. No one can put a hand on you. All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God’s authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you—that’s the agenda for rejoicing.’

At that, Jesus rejoiced, exuberant in the Holy Spirit. ‘I thank you, Father, Master of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the know-it-alls and showed them to these innocent newcomers. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.’”

Read through this account of Jesus developing followers. What three observations do you make about a process of people-development that applies to your context?

How “triumphant” are leaders you invest in when they are given a task and come back to report on the process or on their effectiveness? How might you increase the “triumph” factor in your development process?

Jesus used the image of the harvest and described the value of the harvest hands before he sent his followers out. How do you frame the big picture as you prepare and equip potential leaders and influencers? How could you do this more specifically or effectively?

IMPACT

In Matthew 20 we find a mom seeking favor and position for her two sons, James and John. Her request for prominence was not based on their ability or capacity but on a mother’s dream and desire. Jesus used this experience as a developmental opportunity to teach that leadership and influence are based far more on submission than on position.

Notice how Jesus uses this as a growth opportunity:

Matthew 20:25-28 (NIV) “Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’”

1. Jesus models: Jesus uses this opportunity to share how the leadership he shows is servant leadership. He stresses the need to serve, not the need to be served, and illustrates it as life-giving.

2. Jesus mentors: Jesus not only helps shape the thinking of these growing leaders, but he also helps them see what is valued and how they can live into those values, just as he does. The phrase “not so with you” is a powerful declaration of difference that he reinforces for these followers.

3. Jesus clarifies his message: Jesus doesn’t set aside greatness as an unacceptable destination; instead, he redefines greatness, clarifying what it means and how it should be lived out for those who follow him. Position, prominence, authority, ruling, leading, and greatness all are understood differently in the kingdom of God.

An interesting takeaway from this experience is that Jesus doesn’t kick James and John out of his discipleship training process. It might be easy for us to see these two brothers as failing the process. We might choose to pull a Donald Trump, declare “You’re fired,” and bring two other potential candidates into the program. But Jesus stays with them, commits to their growth and development, and knows that they will make a significant impact for the kingdom in the future.

In his book 30 Days to Confident Leadership, ministry consultant Bobb Biehl provides insight into how we reflect on potential leaders and their effectiveness in the process when he asks these questions:

Do I really believe that…

 no one wants to fail?  people do what makes sense to them?  people who seem lazy really aren’t (they simply haven’t been properly motivated)?  everyone wants to grow personally?  everyone wants to make an important difference?2

I (Tom De Vries) have found these statements to be accurate and true. In my times of frustration or impatience, I often choose to withhold my belief in people, a reaction that is often found to be untrue or skewed.

2 Bobb Biehl, 30 Days to Confident Leadership (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 1998). What do you look for in potential future leaders, and how do you verify that someone has those qualities or growth potential?

How do you continue to believe in people, think the best of people, and invest in them, even when impatient or frustrated?

What do you hope to pass on or to see developed in the lives of people who you are modeling for, molding, and mentoring as future leaders?

REFLECT

Bobb Biehl goes on to say, “The greatest satisfaction in leadership—the feeling of accomplishment that means the most when you look back on it after 10 or 20 or 50 years—is the satisfaction of building people…You can use people to accomplish your goals, but the feeling of satisfaction will be nothing compared to the deep fulfillment that comes from building up people as you accomplish your goals.”

This statement leads him to ask the following question—one you may reflect on and respond to:

“Am I truly building people—or merely building my own dream and using people to do it?”

Take a few moments of genuine, honest reflection and share you answer with your coaching partner.

Then ask yourself, “Have I ever been guilty of using a person to just get the job done, or do I see it as an opportunity to build into that person’s life?”

“People want to be appreciated, not impressed. They want to be regarded as human beings, not as sounding boards for other people’s egos. They want to be treated as an end in themselves, not as a means toward the gratification of another’s vanity.” —Sydney J. Harris3

3 Sydney J. Harris, quoted in Biehl, 30 Days to Confident Leadership.