Does this sound familiar? You have a very talented and skillful leader of a ministry. He/she leads that ministry with great effectiveness for several years until (s)he gets worn out and requests a break. Because the ministry has a reputation for effectiveness, it is difficult to recruit new leaders because they fear the task is too daunting.
If the Leadership replacement cycle had begun a year or two earlier, the ministry will be less likely to skip a beat, the retiring leader will have less anxiety about handing over the baton, and the new leader will have greater confidence to take risks.
Read below to gain the perspective of an emerging leader in a global missions organization.
One primary reason is that there is a misconception of what the next generation of leaders is looking for. They are not looking for power, control, leading alone, having the sole voice at the table, or taking away credit and credibility from those who have worked so hard before us.
Someone in a meeting used the following metaphor: It is time to hand over the keys to the next generation of leaders and get out of the way. I pushed back on this metaphor. I agreed that, as a representative of this next generation, I would like the opportunity to have the keys, but I don’t want that current leader out of the car. I want them in the passenger seat right next to me mentoring and coaching (not controlling or micromanaging), allowing me to make a wrong turn at times for the purpose of learning and refining.
Leading From the Sandbox: Raising up the next generation of leaders
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