The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
We're all about helping create a healthy, positive, and spiritually positive environment for church staff members and leadership teams.
The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
Bridging the Mentorship Gap in Church Leadership
What if the future of your church leadership depended on a robust mentorship program? Uncover the critical findings from our 2024 Church Staff Health Assessment that reveal a mentorship gap, particularly affecting our younger church staff. We discovered that many of these rising leaders are desperately seeking guidance and support. Join me, Todd Rhoades, as we navigate these important insights and explore the urgent need to prepare the next generation of church leaders amidst a wave of retirements.
Tune into this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast for practical steps to create impactful mentorship and leadership development programs. We discuss the necessity of structured initiatives that not only facilitate knowledge transfer but also ensure the personal growth of younger staff members. Strengthening your church’s leadership pipeline might seem daunting, but it’s essential for the longevity and health of your ministry. Get ready to gather actionable advice that will help you support and retain your younger staff, nurturing them into the leaders of tomorrow.
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Welcome to Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Hi everyone, my name is Todd Rhodes. I'm your host for today and also one of the co-founders of chemistrystaffingcom. Today we're wrapping up this series. It's been a two-week series. Hope it's been valuable to you. If you've missed any of them, just subscribe to the podcast. You can go back and listen to the last two weeks of podcasts.
Speaker 1:We've been talking about results that we've discovered from our 2024 Church Staff Health Assessment. Earlier this year we talked to about 1,200 church staff members and asked them a variety of questions. Today we're going to talk about what we learned about mentorship and leadership development, and here's some top level findings that we found. The assessment shows a significant need for more intentional mentorship and leadership development programs. Particularly, here's what we found younger staff members are looking for guidance and support as they navigate their roles. Okay, and then number two. So that's the mentorship gap. There needs to be better mentorship inside our churches. And then number two, the leadership pipeline. There's a growing concern about leadership pipeline within churches and, with many seasoned leaders nearing retirement, there's an urgent need to invest in developing leaders right now for the future. All right, so let's break that down. Sorry, I've got a little something going on with my throat today. Mentorship and leadership development, man. They are crucial for sustainability and growth in our churches, and when we invest in mentoring the next generation, we're not only preparing them for future leadership roles, but we're also strengthening the health of our current ministries. And the lack of solid leadership pipelines can lead to a leadership vacuum when seasoned leaders retire and move on, which can be detrimental to our church's future. So here's what we found Particularly the younger the people are on your staff, the more that they feel that they would appreciate being mentored more.
Speaker 1:Okay, and this is maybe kind of a key finding that we found Younger staff members want to learn and they want to be mentored. Okay, and many churches do not do this very well, okay, so how can we do better? Because, honestly, your younger staff members, if they don't feel valued, if they don't have somebody that can show them the ropes and help them grow in their staff leadership ability, they will probably not be at your church log. They will go seek out that atmosphere where they can learn and grow. We're finding this more and more with younger staff people. This is a value to them that maybe Back in in my generation it's we're different than my kids back in my generation, we just got hired to do something and we did it. There was maybe some peer-to-peer things here and there, but not much. But these days and and I think it's a good thing Young people want to be mentored, they want to learn from seasoned professionals, so it's just absolutely crucial. So how can you do that and how can you improve in the next year? And some of these are a little easier. Some of these are a little more involved, like the first one's a little bit more involved Establish a formal mentorship program.
Speaker 1:Create a structured mentorship program that pairs experienced leaders with younger staff and that approves, provides a platform for knowledge transfer and for skill development and for personal growth. Now, I think the thing that probably scares a lot of us here is when I say establish a formal mentorship program, it doesn't necessarily have to be formal mentorship program. It doesn't necessarily have to be formal, but it has to be a process. Okay, it has to be some type of a process that someone puts into place, that somebody thinks through and that somebody pairs the younger staff member with an older staff member so that and that those pairings actually work right. Not every young person is going to mix with somebody that's older. So you have to pair those up and really put some intentionality and thought into it.
Speaker 1:So I think that's where kind of the when I say formal mentorship program. It does need to be a process and it needs to be well thought out. But the reason we don't do that is because it just takes time. We know that. We know it'd be great. It's not that we don't want to build into our younger people, it's that how in the world do we do it? We don't have an existing program. You have to come up with something. Even if you start with one or two people on your one or two young people on your team and divvy them up with a couple of older, experienced, seasoned staff leaders doesn't even have to be in the same department. That could make a world of difference in their lives.
Speaker 1:So that's the first thing. The second is just, can you create that culture of learning? It's not just spending time with older people, but it's also on your staff and mentoring. It's also being able to foster an environment where learning and growth are valued. I'm telling you your younger staff members are longing for this. They want to be in an environment that fosters learning and growth. Most of them do so. Encourage your staff, particularly your younger staff, to seek out some of those newer experience and ask the questions and develop their skills. And then, lastly, encourage peer-to-peer mentorship. We already talked about maybe having a more formal and thought-out mentorship program, but encourage that peer-to-peer mentorship, just the one-offs among your staff, and this can help build relationships, it can enhance team collaboration and it can provide a support level for network at all staffs and at all levels.
Speaker 1:Okay, so here's the bottom line Investing in mentorship and leadership. Boy, I almost swore again A couple weeks ago. I almost swore on the podcast and boy, my team members took me to task for that. I guess I was too lazy to go edit it out, but I corrected myself and it wasn't anyway, go back and listen. It was a few episodes ago, you'll catch it. But investing in mentorship and leadership development, it's an investment in the future of your church and it's an investment in the young staff, people at your church. It's all about equipping and empowering the next generation to lead, and to lead with confidence and vision. So here's your call to action Identify one or two emerging leaders, people, young people, maybe their staff, maybe their key volunteers in your church that just really have a ton of potential and start a conversation about how you can support their growth and their development.
Speaker 1:Ask them where they want to be in a couple years. How can we help you get there? Whether it's through a formal kind of that mentorship program that we talked about, maybe it's some training opportunities, maybe it's just simply you and this person, or you introducing them to another person, to just simply spend some time together and in some kind of unintentional mentoring. It's going to happen if they're together. Just by doing that you're going to make a world of difference, small steps at a time, into raising up new leaders and getting really strong leaders as they get to be more and more involved on your staff and in your church. Okay, I hope that was helpful to you on mentorship and leadership development in your church.
Speaker 1:I would love for you if you have not already downloaded the 2024 Church Staff Assessment Report. It's 84 pages, a PDF. You can download it right now. It's absolutely free, no strings attached. I absolutely promise you you can go catch that at chemistrystaffingcom slash staff health and if there's any way that I can assist you in my role at chemistry staffing with your church with any kind of staff or staff health related issues that you've got going on. I would love to start a conversation with you, see if there's any way I can come alongside you and help. You can reach out to me anytime at podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. All right, I thank you and if you're listening on Friday, I hope you have a great weekend. We will be back here on Monday for a brand new episode, brand new topic here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Have a great weekend.
