Leadership Investment Rhythms

Intentional investments made over time into developing group leaders will empower them to create healthy environments where biblical community will grow. This requires meaningful touch-points in different ways with enough frequency that leaders feel known, loved, included, and challenged so they continue learning and growing.

Different leaders need different kinds of care. This care will look different for each leader depending on whether they are new or experienced in leading groups. There are repeatable investment rhythms you can easily put into motion that will build the relationships necessary for healthy leadership development. A group leader will fall somewhere on the spectrum of new to experienced, and for simplicity, we will only look at these two general categories:

• New leaders typically want time to interface with you in person and be connected with other leaders. They are helped by a higher frequency of touch-points that are more personalized. You want to love on these leaders and provide ample attention and direction, especially within the first few months as they get started.
• Experienced leaders typically prefer a lower frequency of touch-points that don’t require as much in-person meetings. They need to know you’re there and care, but they don’t need the same level of engagement as new leaders. Keep these people in the loop and show your appreciation for them.

NEW	EXPERIENCED
Pray for them regularly Call or text 1x/mo* Meet in person 1:1 or group format 1x/1-2 mos Send email or note 1-2x/mo Visit group twice in first 6-mos Be available as needed	Pray for them regularly Call or text 1x/mo Meet in person 1:1 or group format once per semester Send email or note 1x/mo Visit group 1x/yr Be available as needed

* Weekly frequency during their initial training & up through their first study

The concept of “span of care” applies as the scale of your group leadership grows. For example, let’s say you have eight group leaders. You’ve built relationships with them over time and have been able to provide the necessary care, but you want to do more. About this time, four new leaders emerge out of these groups who are eager to launch their own groups.

You quickly realize that you can’t maintain the same level of care with your first wave of leaders and also pour into the next wave. So you select one of your most capable and available leaders to function like a “coach” and invest into half of your experienced leaders (4) and half of the new leaders (2). Instead of your span of care becoming unmanageable at twelve, you equally divide the care of the whole group leadership between you and your new coach resulting in a 1:6 span of care.

Keep in mind that span of care is an elastic concept in practice. For example, coaches with greater margin and leadership competency can care for a greater number of leaders. The biggest factor can also be the greatest unknown, which is what level of care leaders will ultimately need because even experienced leaders face personal crises and challenges in their group life that will require greater investment.

Occasionally, you and your coaches should plan to substitute an in-person touch-point with a half-day retreat or conference that will develop your leadership community. Top-notch content is on-demand that you can use anytime, anywhere. Adding some variety into how you invest in your leaders will help guard against your investment rhythms turning into ruts.

The table above is meant to serve as a rule of thumb to help you determine what healthy investment rhythms should look like in your church considering the maturity and needs of your group leadership. It’s also important to remember that YOU need investment too! Point leaders like yourself are all around you and you can glean so many useful ideas and resources by joining a huddle through www.smallgroupnetwork.com.