Why you need to Baby your Leaders…Sometimes

As we all know, you can’t do ministry alone. You absolutely need others to come alongside of you as partners in ministry. These could be full-time or part-time staff, volunteer leaders or parents. All of these individuals can and should play a vital part in your ministry together.

But what happens when these individuals fail to meet the standards you have and agreed upon? What happens when they are struggling doing ministry and are not being effective anymore? What can you do with them to help them get back on track?

Maybe you should baby them…a little.

“Wait, what?!? Baby them? What does that mean and why would we baby them and not hold them to higher standards?”

This is a great question because, honestly, babying someone is the LAST thing I would think about doing. I’ve always been trained and taught that, in ministry, if you want fellow staffers, volunteer leaders or parents to really have an impact you have to demand more. And, while that may be best for most of the leaders, babying others may work just as much.

Here is what my boss had to say as we were talking about the development of a leader. He said,  “If you baby for 3 months and it doesn’t work out, then it’s bad on us and we lost 3 months. But if you baby for 3 months and he ends up winning then it’s a win/win for us all.”

So what does babying a leader look like?

• Let them recommend some goals they can do. This is a good task to do with all leaders but in particular those who you need to baby a little more. Have them share some ideas and goals they would like to achieve. That doesn’t mean you have to do all of them but it gives you a starting point from what you can work towards.
• Find low hanging fruit someone can do. If someone is having trouble making an impact or achieving goals, take a step back and look for some easy wins that the leader can achieve. What is something simple they can do to start winning?
• Put a date to it. This is another one that applies to all leaders but can be very helpful here as well. By putting a date for them to accomplish agreed upon goals, it provides you with an opportunity to follow up effectively with them.
• Encourage more than critique or challenge. Encouragement goes a long way no matter who it is, however here it is very effective. If someone isn’t meeting goals or feels like they are losing you have to turn on the encouragement all the more. Share with them positive things they are doing as you see it. The more they feel better about their performance the more likely that those loses they were feeling may turn into victories.

Here’s reality, babying a leader is not ideal. It can be very frustrating and it doesn’t feel like this is something that adults need. But, the bottom line is we want what is best for our leaders and we need to train and develop them in a variety of different ways. Some may respond to raising the bar and demanding more.  But some may respond better to being babied a little. Know this, babying a leader is not permanent. It is only meant to be temporary. As they build up confidence and start winning in areas the hope is that you can challenge them and call them to more. And when leaders step up, everyone wins.

What do you think? Do you baby leaders ever? If so, why and how? If not, why not?  Share your experiences below or on social media use my twitter handle @tapounder when you share. 

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