I want to talk to you about nine different types of leaders in your church and how to help them get to their next step in leadership development. We’re going to do this by examining the bench strength of your church using a nine-box assessment.
So, what is bench strength? You can’t have a strong leadership bench without a strong leadership pipeline. There is a direct correlation between the health and capacity of your leadership bench and the ability to implement any type of leadership development plan. Bench players are those a team relies upon to fill a position if a starting player is removed or suffers an injury. Sports announcers talk about back-up quarterbacks, relief pitchers, and so on. Every team must have a bench of players able to cover every position to remain competitive.
The church is no different. Your volunteers and leaders reveal the bench strength of your church and your ability to reproduce leaders.
So how does the nine-box help? The nine-box grid is an assessment tool to evaluate an individual’s current contribution to your church as well as their potential contribution to your church.
First, rate the individual’s performance in their current role as high, medium, or low. Next, rate the individual’s potential as high, average, or low. Once you have ranked the individual’s performance and potential, mark the box where the two overlap. This box represents the individual’s development potential in your leadership pipeline.
The closer the individual falls up and to the right within the box, the more likely the individual is fit for the next level of your leadership pipeline.
Often in the church, we only put time, energy, and effort into those who are most likely ready for advancement. While this investment is important, you must also equip and develop those throughout your leadership pipeline, regardless of their performance or potential.
In the following videos, I will explore the type of person represented in each nine box square and how to develop them.
Now that you know about bench strength and the nine-box assessment to develop your leaders, what are you going to do about it?
