How do you develop leaders when everyone is busy?
[00:20] Leadership Development Is Too Important to Skip
Everyone is busy.
That's one of the continual challenges we face in church leadership, particularly when we're already conscious of issues like burnout.
But what we can't afford to do is put leadership development in the too hard basket and decide:
"Nobody has time for it, so we're just not going to do it."
Leadership development is incredibly important.
And leadership isn't only relevant to people who hold formal leadership positions in church.
Think about Nehemiah.
He wasn't a prophet in the traditional sense and he wasn't a king. Yet, in that particular moment, he was called to lead.
There are people within our churches who have leadership capacity that can be developed—and leadership is something many people are already interested in because they're encountering it in their workplaces and other areas of life.
The challenge is working out how to develop those people when everyone is already busy.
[02:00] People Make Space for What They Value
Mel has run a number of short-term groups over the years and has often found that those focused on leadership get some of the greatest engagement.
Leadership is interesting to people.
And when people are genuinely getting something out of leadership development, they tend to make space for it.
People make space for what they value.
So perhaps the question isn't simply whether people have enough time.
We also need to ask whether what we're offering is valuable enough for people to prioritise.
[02:40] Make Leadership Nights Thought-Provoking
One of the most common approaches churches take to leadership development is the leadership night.
And leadership nights can be fantastic.
But if we're asking busy people to give us their limited time and attention, we need to use that time well.
Firstly, leadership development needs to be thought-provoking.
People are more interested in something when they're curious about it.
If a leadership night simply becomes another preach, we may be missing an opportunity to actually engage people in thinking about leadership.
Giving people something that makes them think also communicates that we take their development seriously.
[03:40] Give Leaders Practical Skills
Leadership development can also become very theoretical—or very spiritual—without necessarily giving people the practical skills they need to lead.
What does someone actually need to know when they're leading people?
How do you have a difficult conversation?
How do you correct someone?
How do you navigate the everyday challenges that come with leadership?
There is certainly a place for leadership theory and theology.
But people also need practical leadership skills they can actually use.
[04:20] Draw on the Leaders Around You
Church leaders don't necessarily need to provide all of the leadership development themselves.
There may be people sitting in our congregations who lead in workplaces and organisations every day.
Why not draw on their expertise?
People can also enjoy hearing from someone different to the person they hear preaching every Sunday.
That doesn't mean pastors have nothing valuable to contribute.
But if the same person is leading the leadership development, it needs to offer something different from what people already receive on Sundays.
There may also be a wealth of leadership experience sitting within the congregation that we haven't yet tapped into.
[05:00] Don't Forget the Follow-Up
One of the problems with leadership nights is that there can be very little follow-up.
We gather everyone together.
We communicate something.
Then everyone disperses.
And perhaps we don't talk about it again until the next leadership night.
But what if someone followed up afterwards?
"What have you been thinking about since we talked about that?"
"Have you had an opportunity to try it?"
"How did it go?"
Leadership development isn't simply telling people what to do.
Like discipleship, it's relational.
We draw people alongside us, let them have a go, hear about what happened and help them reflect on what went well and what didn't.
[06:20] Preparation Shows
If you're asking busy people to give you their time, preparation matters.
And preparation shows.
It shows when you've researched different leadership theories or philosophies, thought carefully about what you're teaching, found a useful book or created an activity with a clear purpose.
But a lack of preparation shows too.
People can tell when they're participating in activities that don't seem to go anywhere.
And they're left wondering:
"Why did we even do that?"
If we want people to value leadership development, we need to demonstrate that we value it too.
[07:00] Make Space in the Calendar
Sometimes a leadership night has been scheduled well in advance, but by the time it arrives there are two or three other church activities happening in the same week.
Then we're surprised when people struggle to attend.
If leadership development is important, soften the calendar around it.
Perhaps something else needs to come out.
Don't continually force people to choose between multiple things the church wants them to attend.
Create enough space that people can actually prioritise the thing you want them to prioritise.
[08:00] Keep Leadership Development Simple
Leadership development doesn't always need another event.
It can be as simple as reading a book together.
Create a group chat.
Someone shares a quote.
Someone else asks a question.
People can contribute throughout the day as they're thinking about what they're reading.
And with audiobooks, people who aren't naturally readers can still participate.
You could then occasionally catch up over a meal to talk about what you're learning.
Everyone has to eat.
It doesn't need to become another heavily organised event.
[09:10] Use Video—But Keep the Conversation Going
Video can be another simple way to develop leaders.
Send a short video to key leaders with one practical or spiritual leadership idea.
But don't stop with the content.
Ask a follow-up question.
The follow-up matters because simply putting information in front of someone doesn't mean they've learned it.
A question gives people an opportunity to reflect on what they've heard and helps cement it in their memory.
It also keeps the conversation going.
And over time, you may begin to notice the people who are particularly interested in leadership and want to learn more.
[10:10] Give People Opportunities to Discover Their Passion
Sometimes people don't know they're passionate about leadership until somebody gives them an opportunity to explore it.
For Mel, one of those moments came when someone gave her a leadership book called Fruit That Will Last by Tim Hawkins.
It became one of her favourite leadership books.
And reading it helped her recognise:
"I'm actually really passionate about leadership."
If we don't give people opportunities to explore leadership, they may never discover that it's something they're passionate about.
[10:50] Use Training Platforms
There are also training platforms specifically designed to help churches develop people without requiring everyone to be in the same room at the same time.
Mel gives the example of TrainedUp.
Leaders can watch training videos in their own time, answer questions and provide feedback.
The person overseeing their development can then see that they've completed the training and use their answers as a starting point for further conversation.
If someone's response raises a concern or shows that they've misunderstood something, a leader can follow it up individually.
It creates a fuller learning cycle:
Teach. Reflect. Respond. Follow up.
[12:00] You Don't Have to Be the Expert
There is also something valuable about using good material created by other people.
Church leaders don't need to be the source of all knowledge.
You might watch something from the Global Leadership Summit or use another high-quality leadership resource and simply say:
"I found this really interesting. Let's look at it together."
That creates a different kind of learning environment.
Instead of the leader positioning themselves as the person who knows everything, everyone can explore the material together.
What resonates?
What doesn't?
What would work in our context?
What might we need to change?
There's humility in learning alongside the people we lead.
[13:00] Don't Reinvent the Wheel
Especially in smaller churches with limited resources, there's no need to create everything yourself.
Don't reinvent the wheel.
When Mel was looking at alternatives for training around 150 Connect Group leaders, an online training platform made sense because it allowed training to happen at scale.
It also gave people flexibility.
They didn't have to attend at the particular time the church had chosen.
If 3am on a Saturday happened to suit someone's routine, they could do the training then.
That's particularly important when we're thinking about busyness.
Instead of continually asking:
"How can we get people to adapt to us?"
Perhaps we should ask:
"How can we adapt to them?"
[14:30] Use What Already Exists
Sometimes the solution can be incredibly simple.
At one church, a pastor wanted to create more opportunities for staff to develop as leaders.
So at lunchtime, he'd put an episode of Craig Groeschel's leadership podcast on the television in an open area.
Anyone who wanted to participate could come.
It might only take around 20 minutes.
People could eat lunch while they watched.
And because discussion questions were already provided, they could talk about it together afterwards.
That's an easy win.
You don't necessarily need to create another leadership curriculum when excellent resources already exist.
[15:30] Fit Leadership Development Into Existing Rhythms
Another option is to attach leadership development to something people are already attending.
Mel used to hold Connect Group leadership nights immediately before a term prayer meeting.
The leadership component was short and punchy.
People were given a meal, received the information they needed and then went straight into the prayer meeting.
They didn't have to rush home to organise dinner between commitments.
It worked because the development was designed around people's existing rhythms.
Try to fit into their space instead of continually asking them to fit into ours.
[16:10] Think Bite-Sized
Leadership development doesn't always need to be a day-long event.
Think bite-sized.
How can you communicate one useful leadership idea in 10 or 15 minutes?
Mel remembers hearing about a church where Connect Group leaders could pick up a CD from the information desk on Sunday containing a short leadership development session.
They could put it on in the car on the way to work.
Today we have even more ways of doing the same thing.
Podcasts.
Videos.
Audiobooks.
Group chats.
Short emails.
The format isn't the important thing.
The question is how we can make meaningful development accessible to busy people.
[17:00] Maybe Busyness Isn't the Real Problem
Our culture is undeniably busy.
And that level of busyness isn't necessarily healthy.
But sometimes people aren't actually too busy.
They're too busy for our thing.
If leadership development is difficult to access, hard to attend and isn't particularly constructive for someone's leadership journey, we shouldn't automatically blame their busyness when they don't engage.
Sometimes we're the ones making it unnecessarily difficult.
Instead of using busyness as the reason not to develop leaders, ask:
How can we make this work?
[18:00] Busyness Isn't the Problem—Meaningfulness Is
Most of us manage to find time for things we genuinely value.
Mel is busy—but somehow she still manages to watch the important Canberra Raiders games and the rugby league shows she wants to watch.
Busyness isn't the problem. Meaningfulness is.
And church leaders need to remember that we experience leadership differently from the people we lead.
A pastor or minister may be able to prioritise leadership development as part of their working week.
Most volunteer leaders can't.
They're not in the same boat.
So rather than expecting people to develop as leaders in the way that works for us, perhaps we need to get on their level.
Make it practical.
Make it accessible.
Make it worthwhile.
And find ways to develop leaders within the lives they're already living.