I want to talk to you about the problem of the inertia of success in your leadership pipeline.
A leadership pipeline is not a linear progression straight up and to the right. It contains bends at key transition points. These represent a change in position within an organization. It’s a different level of leadership, a different level of complexity. The number one spot where people wash out in a pipeline? Is at these transition points.
Why? Because these turns involve a change in job requirements, new skills, the way the value their time, the way they apply their time. When someone is promoted in a leadership pipeline, they often continue to do the same strategies, they use the same tactics that led to their advancement. That’s what the inertia of success is. It pulls you in that direction. You say, “I’m good at this. It’s what made me successful in the first place. I need to continue to do these things.”
However, the inertia of success in a leadership pipeline is a problem, because it pulls you straight forward when a mindshift has to take place. You must redirect your actions, your emotion, your time, and values. For example, when a person moves from being a volunteer to a leader, they must shift from leading themselves and doing things well to ministering to others and equipping them to do those tasks. Without this mindshift that individual will fail or flounder.
As a church leader, we must create clarity in our leadership pipeline to insure that everyone knows where we’re going and where they fit in and be sure that all their next steps are easy, obvious, and strategic.
Now that you understand the problem of the inertia of success within your pipeline, what are you going to do about it?