by Dave Miller

Leadership Pathway helps churches and non-profits launch leadership residency to help build a sustainable pipeline of young leaders for their future team. In this day and age, we all know we must “grow our own” so to speak. Leadership residency program is a great way to do this.

While we get asked to do summer-long or year-long engagements, we have chosen to let those go and focus on two years. We get asked by churches as well as candidates about the two-year thing.

Here’s why:
1. Day 366. We could find a more academic way to say this, but something magical happens in that second year. We believe self-correction on both parties of the resident AND the employer is amplified in the second year after trust is built over time.

2. Two years with one boss. We hear consistently from staffing agencies that a young twenty something who has had the same boss/employer for two years has a much more valuable reference than a 10 month stay. Think of it in church leadership terms:
- the kid min resident who lives through TWO summers
- the worship/production resident who gets through TWO Christmases or Easter seasons
- the student ministry resident who can tell stories of watching the 10th graders eventually graduate…

And through ALL of these scenarios they didn’t quit, and they didn’t get fired.

3. Grit and Determination. To a senior leader “two years” sounds like a long weekend, but think back to when you were 22…what did two years sound like? Forever. That’s approximately 1/10 of a residents entire life. This will be a long walk. College is four years…but everyone knows that college is easy compared to a full time residency for two years on a dynamic staff!

It’s hard to develop grit and determination in less time.

4. The two-way street. Finally, I’d say that it takes most of us 9 months to learn how to coach. As I sat with a church leader yesterday reviewing his resident’s path he admitted that he was “never developed in his 20’s” and that this was “really difficult to do.”

And as always…I told him that I couldn’t agree more! It takes time for the boss & coach to learn how to do residency well.

It’s also good to remember that every time a resident is finished I hear statements like the time “flew by.” It’s all a matter of perspective.

If you’d like more information on the HOW to of a leadership residency better at your organization please REACH OUT and set up a phone call.