The Banyan Tree or the Banana Plantation!

The Banyan Tree or the Banana Plantation!

Are we Building Successors?

Some leaders are like the banyan tree, larger than life presence, lot of spiritual and organizational authority, hero worshiped by the followers, communicate indispensability and they foster many followers who exercise leadership roles only under the shadow of their leader who acts as their godfather.  There is another picture of a leader like the banana plantation.  The banana plant reproduces not just one or two but multiplicity of plants along side and never under its shadow.  The new saplings just grow and as tall as the mother plant and continue to multiply.  There are two ways of building successors and we need to make a choice as to how we want our successors to be.  The most frequently asked question among leaders is when to start the process of identifying our successors.  The best answer given to me by a colleague was “The day you assume your office or leadership role, start the processes immediately.”  

Some leaders assume that successors will automatically emerge once the need arises. Some think it is a divine appointment and as humans we have no role in the process.  There are still others who abandon the responsibility to their board or executive committee and hope that like a magician they will pull out a surprise at the right time. Leaders who are stepping down must be involved at least in the process of consultation when the appointment of a new leader.  Developing successors is different from appointment of a successor which is the role of the Board.     Identifying  successors is a long drawn out process and never happens instantly.  Those in leadership positions should understand that no one is indispensable.   There could be unplanned events that will trigger the need for identifying a successor.  It may be a traffic accident, death, terminal / long term sickness, family crisis, spiritual crisis, leadership failure, political changes in the country, ……etc.  Expected events like completion of terms, retirement, sabbatical leave, organizational structure changes, change of geographical location……etc.  Some organizations name an interim leader or an acting leader for the position well in advance so that there is no ambiguity when an unexpected event occurs.  Others create a policy that specify how and who will be appointed as an interim leader in the event of a crisis situation.  These are some good practices that prevent uncertainty. 

Why do we build successors?

Many of today’s leadership in missions assumed leadership roles when they were much younger.  They were visionaries who pioneered ministries in many unknown areas.   They struggled to find acceptance among their peers specially when confronted with issues of denominationalism, doctrines, leadership styles and new vision. Yet they persevered and are now in their rightful positions. 

A crisis is looming in many mission agencies in the country as it seems that many young people of caliber are not ready to serve in the existing mission agencies.  They end up starting their own newer organizations.  This may be good for the future of missions in one sense but not necessarily the future of the existing missions unless there is a paradigm shift in the mindset of the existing leadership.

If you have not yet noticed, we are talking of building successors and not appointing successors.  The appointment of successors comes very much late in the entire process of building successors.  Successors have to be built one day at a time. 

As the senior leaders and founders begin to transit into newer roles as advisors and mentors, the younger successors will emerge from the shadows.  To make this a reality, we all need to learn how to mentor successors earlier than later.  We need to learn the art of letting go the emerging leaders to find their rightful place in the new leadership. We must consciously share leadership and decision making roles.

We must develop multiple leaders across genders, regions and ministries. We must make room for the new emerging leadership.  We have to understand that the new leaders will have a different style and ethos that is needed for the present times.  The senior leaders and founders have a responsibility to encourage the emerging younger leadership by bestowing their authority and approval through constant encouragement even though they may be different. 

Build a team of successors not one individual

Leroy Eims, former President of The Navigators, tells a story he heard while attending a Christian conference that illustrates how vital Jesus' men were to His mission. The conference speaker shared: "When the Lord Jesus returned to heaven after His resurrection, one of the angels asked Him a question: What plan do you have to continue the work you began on earth?’   “Without hesitation Jesus answered, ‘I left it in the hands of the apostles.’ Another angel asked, ‘What if they fail?’ Again there was no hesitation, ‘I have no other plan.’"  The speaker was quick to note this was only a story, but it got the point across—humanly speaking, the future of Christianity fell on the shoulders of these twelve men, the Lord’s first team of successors.

One of the thumb rules in building successors is never to put all your eggs in one basket.  We need to build a team of successors and not just one individual as a successor.  Jesus focused on the twelve as well as the group of three within them to mentor them in different ways as His successors.  Jesus never announced his beloved disciple as His successor. (Contrary to the present day practice of announcing the ‘heir’ both in politics and in some corporate areas) Jesus allowed for a successor to emerge from among the disciples with a consensus.  Initially Peter assumed leadership among the ‘eleven’ and later on James became one of the first martyrs among the apostles, there after to be followed by Peter’s martyrdom while John the beloved disciple influenced through his writings until a very ripe age.

Organizations when founded are often very small in size but they always grow.  As years pass, the context changes, the vision enlarges, ministries expand and the influence grows beyond the present.  It is always difficult to assume that one leader will be able to continue the work.  It is then that the role of the CEO leader changes where he intentionally begins to delegate most of his responsibilities to a team of leaders.  The CEO leader then becomes not a hands on person but more of an overseer of other leaders.  This concept of building team leadership and empowering them would enable the process of building a team of potential successors. 

We should always be careful not to indicate that when the time of the final appointment of the successor arises, the choice may not necessarily be from within the leadership team or second line leaders within the organization.  Some times a rank outsider may emerge as the most suitable successor. Godly leaders should have the kingdom mindset in mentoring not only leaders within the organization but also outside.  We should have a broad mind that in the event of the second line leaders who are being mentored are called to leadership roles in other organizations, they must be blessed and released to the glory of God.  We should be careful not to lay the guilt of betrayal on such individuals.  When this happens, it will create an open atmosphere for the best successor to emerge either from within the organization or even from outside.

The younger leaders are different

As I was completing this article, the media splashed the news that the young Indian Cricket team created history in winning the one day tri-series in Australia.  When the cricket team was announced several weeks ago there was a lot of criticism that experience was being overlooked and younger in-experienced players were included.  The ‘Youngistan’ as the Pepsi advertisement says proved themselves against all odds, backlashes and both mental and physical challenges.  The under 19 Indian cricket team won the world cup in Malaysia almost the same time beating several strong teams.

The economic boom in India was kick started by young entrepreneurs who ventured into software industry and made it big.  The call centers, BPOs, Medical transcription, tourism, airlines and all the allied service industry which is continuing to propel  the economy is dominated by young people.  

Enthusiasm, youthfulness, energy, spirit of learning, enquiry, openly confessing blunders, questioning, willingness to build trust and submit to one another were some of the characteristics of a gathering of younger mission organization CEOs at Hyderabad, India (April 2005).  The organizers had a taste of the future as they found this meeting to be very unique and different from all the other programs.   The whole scenario was in sharp contrast to the world’s media attention to the appointment of the newest CEO the 79 years old Pope Benedict XVI as the Head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Nearly fifty years of the missions’ movement in India is poised for a new era as the Gen Next is assuming their rightful role in the global missions’ scenario.   Many mission organizations have been recently facing leadership transition as the founding and senior leaders have stepped aside from their roles or passed into eternity.  The young leaders were well trained and exposed not just in missions but also in other spheres of life.  A few of these leaders inherited the role from their father who founded their ministries, which is not uncommon in the Indian scenario. The common issue for discussion during the gathering of the younger CEOs was the challenges of leadership transition.   As the new leaders assume their role they need a lot of encouragement and counsel from the senior leaders and statesmen of the Indian mission movement at the same time avoiding the creation of continued dependency.

These young leaders are often seen with mobile phones, laptops and leather briefcases.  They communicate easily through emails, mobile phones, SMS and power points presentations.  They seek creative ways of communicating the Gospel and discipling people to meet the modern day challenges. They are not afraid to experiment and fail. They constantly seek to build on the foundations laid by the visionary leaders before them.  They have seen the dollars before they entered missions and are more passionate to creatively raise finance from within the country or innovatively be supported by income generating projects.  They accept globalization of missions as a reality and think beyond the traditional roles of missions.  Their commitment to Jesus Christ and their sense of sacrifice is no lesser than that of the earlier generation of mission leaders.  They are only different. They are the younger CEOs within the Indian mission scenario.

The present day younger leaders face different challenges.   The first challenge is the difficulty of stepping into the shoes of their predecessors who were often charismatic visionaries.  The younger leaders are often better trained and exposed to a variety of contexts but lack the critical life experiences.  Therefore they look for varied opportunities to gain experience as they grow into leadership.  However, in many organizations leadership is simply confined to an age bracket or biased towards a particular regional background. This needs to change if younger leaders have to be given opportunities to exercise leadership roles and gain experience. Younger leaders often need space to experiment new ideas in the ministry.  This is often resented as earlier ideas have been successful and most want the same to continue.  Resistance to change is a very common challenge that younger leaders struggle to overcome.  Younger leaders need mentors who are willing to walk alongside but often find only god fathers who want to place them in leadership roles and control them.  

Building leadership beyond organizations

Many times we get pre-occupied in developing leadership within the organizational structures like the denominational churches or mission organizations.  We should expand our influence and develop leadership in several areas of the whole society.  Developing leadership only within an organization would not impact the rest of the world.  All Christian leaders must constantly develop leadership in the field of arts, sports, entertainment, business and economy, local community, educational field, mass media, family and governance of the nation.  (Adapted from the Seven mind molders model – Arts, Business, Church, Education, Dissemination of Information, Family & Government)  The contemporary mission challenge of serving the urban middle class, mega people groups and the growing mass media needs Christian leaders in every field.  We will be short sighted to assume that leadership development among the so called ‘full time workers’ will serve the purpose. Christian professionals and entrepreneurs have to be identified and trained to exercise servant leadership in the market places.  God is always concerned about what happens in the market and business world as much as within the church.  Servant leadership can be exercised even without any formal leadership designations and roles.  It only requires spiritual authority and influence which comes from a close walk with God.

Leadership succession does not end within an organizational structure and we need to see how we can transform individual lives and communities through leaders who will take their places according to God’s plan and purpose.  Dr. John Thannickal, a mission leader from Bangalore says that a leader is never successful unless his successor succeeds.  We as leaders must do all that is within our capacity to develop successors who will succeed in the next phase of missions.  The Indian mission movement now needs a new generation of energetic spirit filled youthful leaders who can take the baton and pass it on to the next generation.  How wonderful it will be to see this scenario emerging without much tension, stress or struggle! John Amalraj

Published in Indian Missions, Quarterly of India Missions Association, Hyderabad, July 2008