Below are the main take-aways from Elder Bednars first
answer in his leadership training. If you would like to review his answer to this question you can watch or listen to it HERE starting at 8:10 and ending at 15:50 or you can read it HERE on pages 3-4.
Question 1: Why is it
so important that leaders develop others?
- Leadership
includes both what you do and what
you leave. - The
most important thing you can leave are people who have increased in capacity and confidence - Begin
now, training a multitude of men who
can replace you - What
can you do during your term of service that will prepare the way for the next people who follow you to be
successful? - How
will you help them know what you
know? - It’s a
false premise to think that you don’t
have time. All of us are less effective at delegating than we should
be because we don’t want to take the risk that someone will do it wrong. - You
have to take some inevitable hits
on the front end. And you’re invested in that and it’s kind of painful.
What I learned from these take-aways about myself as a
leader (maybe you can relate):
- I
haven’t given one thought to what I am leaving behind. I naturally want to
look successful in the present. - I am
very good at helping people feel loved and included but not capable and
confident (especially those in my presidency). - I have
done nothing to create an obvious choice for my replacement. - I
thought I knew how to delegate. But I simply delegate the easy activities
and make sure the important activities don’t fail. I’m afraid to look like
a weak leader.
Many times we hear inspiring instruction from our leaders
but fail to implement what we have learned. Regardless of what calling you have
these lessons can be applied in any aspect of life. Take the time to implement
this valuable instruction. For me, I am now more focused on giving my
assistants tasks that will make them more capable and confident rather than
making sure the ball doesn’t get dropped. It hurts but that just means I am
growing as a leader.
What did you learn from Elder Bednar’s thoughts on developing
others?
I loved the Elder Bednar conversation! I have probably read it at least a half dozen times now and have learned a ton from it. One thing I learned is that we need to take a chance on people. Instead of rotating the same 10 people around to different callings he reminds us that someone once took a chance on us and we need to be willing to do the same for others. So next time a calling needs to be made, instead of looking to one of those ten people who are the obvious choice due to age and experience, we need to consider taking a chance on someone perhaps younger or less expereinced. Only by doing so can we develop the talent in our stewardship.