It is that time of year where things slow down on the student ministry side of things but rationally it picks up like crazy with our leaders. There are a few times of the year where I get one-on-one with every single leader that we have. Let me tell you, I am so full and caffeinated as I have been meeting with leaders non-stop.

I do have to say, it’s one of my favorite times. All throughout the year we have online training through DYM University and I get to interact with everyone on Wednesday nights before and after services but I don’t get to sit down for an hour over a meal and coffee as much as I would like, especially since our team has been growing. But I do find it so important to get this time with them and it’s worth the gauntlet of meetings.

Every meeting hits the same questions. Over the years, I feel if we hit these questions, we can have a great conversation and it does what it needs to do. Here is the outline of our meetings:

How are you doing?

  • First and foremost, even though they serve with us I want to see how they are doing as a person. How are they doing in life, spiritually and emotionally. Where is God working in their life right now? Where is He showing up? I always say to them, if we get to the other questions, cool, but it’s also okay if we spend some time on this question. It’s one of my times of my job. I love hearing stories of our leaders and what is going on with them.

How are you doing on Wednesday nights?

  • How are you doing as a leader for us? Are you still excited to be a part of this thing? Where have you seen God moving in the lives of students that you are involved with? This is a great time where I encourage things I have seen them doing in which we love and want them to continue but also a good time to challenge and correct things in which we want them to do more of. If need be, these meetings are a great off-boarding opportunity for leaders who are not cutting it.

What can I do to make sure what you do is better?

  • I want to get better as a leader. If I am casting the vision of where we are going as a ministry and there is a gap between what I am saying versus what is actually happening with our leaders, I want to know and this questions allows for open conversation about this. This shows our leaders it’s not the Justin show but they has a voice and that is heard. Now the first couple of times you ask this question, be prepared to hear some feedback. Don’t be defensive, just take notes. Hopefully over time of you having meetings like this you will have less and less to chat about this last question. It just takes time and leaders love knowing they can speak and be heard.

It is pretty simple, but these 3 questions have sparked some great conversations with my leaders and allows for God to show up and share what is going on, allows to have correcting and affirming conversation to happen and allows and open line of communication for you to be better as a leader who leads leaders.

What other questions do you ask you leaders?

 

@justinknowles3