follow through | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts Great Leaders Are Great Followers: Part 1

This week we’re focusing on leadership—and conveniently each of the principles we’re sharing this month start with the letter “F.” Why, you ask? No reason, really.

Follow-Up
A parent mentions something to you in passing right before you walk on stage to give announcements. Later that afternoon, as you are dozing off on the couch while watching football, you suddenly, vaguely, remember something about a concerned parent. You have no recollection of what the parent wanted, or the level of concern in her voice. You shrug it off and decide that if it was something serious, she’ll be sure to track you down. Great leaders have ability and willingness to follow up when others would shrug it off; to take action steps others would have long forgotten. If you want to be a strong leader, accept nothing less than excellent follow-up to each interaction.

Practical ways to get better at following up: Flag emails that need your action. Always start with that folder first to knock some of those out right away. Get good at leaving yourself quick voice memos on your phone you can track down later. Use a Moleskin (real paper—gasp!) or the Stickies app to help you jot down quick thoughts you need to follow-up on later.

Follow the Leader
You serve Jesus…and the pastor He has called to lead your church. Too often youth workers get frustrated by their position on the church staff totem pole (somewhere below the janitor). God has called you to a church and he has called you to serve those “above you.” Until things change, you are to serve and honor them. Breaking the unity of the church is a rookie mistake—veteran leaders with longevity know how to follow the leader…even if it’s the church janitor.

Practical ways to get better at following the leader: Ask them out for lunch one day this week to help build your relational storehouse. Make sure your interactions go beyond crisis management or only meeting when problems arise. Send a thank you card or note to your leader. Appreciate the real weight of those leading your whole church.

This post was written by Josh Griffin and Kurt Johnston and originally appeared as part of Simply Youth Ministry Today free newsletter. Subscribe to SYM Today right here.

1 View Comments November 30, 2012

Geoff StewartMore Posts Guest Post: My Youth Leaders Just Don’t Get It!

Does this complaint sound familiar to you? It can be frustrating to try and lead a youth ministry, only to get thwarted by your youth leaders who just don’t seem to get it.

They don’t get that they’re expected to focus on building relationships with the students

They don’t get that they need to make an effort to stay up to date on teen culture

They don’t get that as a youth pastor, you don’t have the time to connect with every single student

They don’t get that they’re the best method to recruit new volunteers

They don’t get that they’re expected to show up at all events

They don’t get that even though you’re on staff, you can’t do it all and thus had to cancel the retreat

Your youth leaders just don’t get it. But do you?

Sometimes we forget what it’s like to be a volunteer, to do what we do besides a full time job. We forget that our youth leaders don’t have the same access we have to resources, that they don’t have the time to read up on youth ministry blogs, or to watch the latest video gone viral. We forget that we have been in youth ministry for a long time, that we have learned and know exactly what to do and where our priorities should be…but they may be new and don’t know what’s expected of them.

So if your youth leaders just don’t get it, look at yourself first and ask yourself some honest questions:

How well have you communicated your vision for the youth ministry? Do your youth leaders know it and support it?
Have you made your expectations clear, do they know what their task as youth leader entails?
Do you have any expectations that you have not communicated, that you consider ‘normal’ or ‘self-evident’?
Are your expectations realistic, given the amount of time they can dedicate to the youth ministry?
Have you given your leaders the training they need to do their task well?
Are you supplying them with the information and resources they need to excel in what they do?
Are you investing time and energy in team building and motivating your leaders?
Are you available to them when they need you, or is there someone else who they can go to with questions?
Are you communicating your decisions well enough, so they understand why you do things?

Let’s face it: when our youth leaders don’t get it, more often than not it’s our fault because we’re just not communicating well enough. If you want your youth leaders to ‘get it’, to excel in what they do in your youth ministry, you have to invest more time in them. Make training, coaching and motivating your leaders a priority and you’ll see that they will get it.

Rachel Blom is American at heart, Dutch in origin, but living in the south of Germany. She’s a youth ministry veteran who has the passion to help youth leaders worldwide serve better through her blog www.youthleaddersacademy.com. She’s a big fan of Twitter, where you can find her as @youthleadersac.

-Geoff

1 View Comments June 30, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Follow Up and Follow Through

Really enjoyed reading this post over on the Generation to Generation blog. They hit on two critical youth ministry concepts that you have to grasp early and often: follow up and follow though! Here’s a clip, head there for the whole article:

Sometimes one of my faults is not following up on things. I really need to write things down, keep things in my Outlook calendar to remind me to do something or to re-visit something I’ve started but not finished. Sometimes I get so busy with a new project that I forget to go back and make sure the old project I was working on is complete or if it needs some further attention. I need to do this with with my high school small group as well. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in presenting a new lesson or new scripture or a new life application that I forget to go back and see how my guys are doing with things we’ve already talked about.

I don’t forget about one of my guys who has been going through a tough time or dealing with a specific issue, I’m great at follow up with that, but sometimes I forget about the general topics we talk about. For instance a few weeks ago my guys asked if we could do a lesson on girls and dating and sex and what the Bible says about these things. We had a great lesson that night and I know I made them really think about how a relationship would look like and how to make sure that they put God in the center of all of their relationships. This past week I got a text from one of my guys asking some very specific questions about what the Bible says about an issue. That should have been my reminder that I need to follow up with all of them and see how they are doing with that topic. I need to build a reminder into each small group time to begin and ask questions about past topics and make sure everyone is still on task with prior topics.

Head over there for the rest of the thought!
JG