The Annual Succession Question Every Staff Member Should Answer

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, host Todd Rhoades discusses the importance of succession planning in ministry leadership. He emphasizes that the healthiest organizations prepare for leadership transitions by investing in others and creating sustainable systems that aren't reliant on one person. Todd challenges listeners to consider who could fulfill their responsibilities if they were suddenly unavailable and encourages leaders to train others to take over their roles, ensuring the ministry can thrive beyond their tenure.• Succession planning is about ministry growth, not just emergencies.• Avoid becoming irreplaceable in a detrimental way by training others.• Conduct an annual succession audit with key questions for leaders.• Identify tasks only you can do and begin training others.• The most successful leadership transitions are prepared in advance.

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Transcript

Redefining Succession As Growth

Territorial Thinking Called Out

The Four-Question Succession Audit

Preparing People, Culture, And Vision

Simple Next Steps And Invitation

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Your senior pastor just asked you a really simple question. Please take a simple question. If you had to leave tomorrow, who would take your role? And you're just sitting there like a deer in the headlights? Because honestly, you have no idea. You've been so busy doing the ministry that you never thought anything about replacing yourself or training anyone else to do what you do. That's what we're talking about today here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Hi there, my name is Todd Rhodes, and I'm your host for the podcast, also one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffing.com. Most staff think succession planning is about what happens after you die, or if you get hit by a bus, or if you take that dream job in another state. But succession planning is really about growth. It's about creating space for your ministry to expand beyond you. But that's where it gets a little bit uncomfortable because a lot of times we become very territorial without even realizing it. We protect our territory. Nobody else knows the youth like I do. Or I'm the only one who understands our worship culture around here. Or if I'm not here, everything falls apart. Felt yourself saying one of those things, or something like that? And somehow we think that makes us really valuable when really it makes us irreplaceable in every single wrong way that we can imagine. Now, listen, I get it. You love your ministry, you've poured your life into it, but making yourself irreplaceable is not job security. Can I be honest with you? It's really ministry malpractice. Here's your annual succession audit, okay? Question one. You ready? Little quiz here. Question one. Who could do 70% of your job if you left tomorrow? Who could do 70% of your job if you left tomorrow? If the answer is nobody, you're not leading, you're hoarding. Okay? I know that might sound harsh. Let's go on to question number two. Question number two. What would break if you weren't here for a month? Those broken things, those are the systems that you haven't built yet. Okay? Again, pretty tough. Question number three. You ready? Here we go. Question three. Who are you actively developing to surpass you? If you can't name somebody, you're just not thinking like a leader. This is a hard episode, isn't it? Oh my. Here we go. Question number four. What would you want your successor to do differently? Now this one's huge. Because it reveals what you know needs to change, but hasn't yet. Now look, I know you're overwhelmed. I know training somebody feels like one of the more what like one just one more thing on your next to impossible list of things to do. But here's what I've learned from almost 30 years watching staff and transition transitions. The ministries that thrive after leadership changes are the ones where the outgoing leader prepared the ground. They just didn't hand over a job description and a prayer list. They handed over a culture, they handed over a vision, and the people who followed could carry it forward. Here's the bottom line. The healthiest thing that you can do for your ministry is to work yourself out of being the only one that can do it. So this week, maybe you just start by writing down three specific things that only you know how to do in your job role. I've been doing this at chemistry staffing the last couple of years. Writing down things and trying to train others because the things that are in my head, if something happens to me, won't get done, and they're really important things. So pick one person that you can actually teach one of those things to and actually schedule that conversation. Don't just wait for the perfect moment, just start. Your ministry, friend, is bigger than you, and that's exactly how it should be. Thanks for listening. I hope this has been helpful to you. Maybe I stepped on some toes. You can reach out to me and tell me, Todd, that was highly offensive. Hopefully, I didn't offend you. But you can reach out to me anytime, or if there's any way that I can help your church, reach out to me. My website is todd.church. You can reach me there. There's a contact form, just put in your information and I will get it and respond back to you. Sounds good. We will talk to you again right here tomorrow on the Healthy Church Death Podcast. Have a great day.