Develop the whole person

“A young leader’s success will rise and fall on your ability to coach them.”
Kristin Miller, Co-Founder, Leadership Pathway

This one is for the leader between age 30 and 45 who looks at the 22-year-old on their team and thinks, “Nobody ever did this for me.”

This is for you.

Work used to stay at work. Now we know home doesn’t stay home either. And if you’re over 30, the emerging leaders around you can seem to be sending mixed signals. It’s on us to learn how to read them.

Here’s what the research says. A wide-reaching Deloitte study found that 86% of Gen Z want a mentor. They’re looking to us for guidance, coaching, support, and motivation. They want help setting healthy boundaries so they can one day step into leadership themselves.

But in that same study, their managers admitted most of their time goes to putting out fires and handling daily tasks.

Another study from the Workforce Institute at Kronos found the three things young workers want most from a manager are trust, support and care. And 75% said they’d rather get feedback in person, even though they grew up digital.

So they want your input. That’s good news, because as church leaders, we love to give it.

And yet boundaries and “work/life balance” keep showing up as friction points with churches we serve across the country:

“She won’t respond after hours.”

“He didn’t answer my email Saturday morning, so I texted, then Slacked, then DM’d, then called. Voicemail.”

Here’s the new rule if you hope to invest in this next generation: you develop the whole person. Relational, physical, emotional, spiritual. They want your input, and they’ll receive it on their schedule. This puts pressure on your Monday through Thursday like never before.

You can fight that. You can deny it. Or you can only hire unhealthy workaholics (they still exist). 

Or...you can learn new rules for leadership development moving forward and thrive.

If you do not, you’ll slowly age your staff and your church, and one day you’ll wake up somewhere you never set out to be: irrelevant. It's like that old church you are looking at, thinking we'll never be like them. Are you sure?