The column "Leadership Whiteboard" provides a short visual leadership coaching moment. It introduces and explains a new sketch in each issue, provides leadership coaching for further development, and shares a leadership quote and recommended book.

The Leader Pipeline

What's the hype about leadership pipelines? Many books, blogs, and videos shed light on why a pipeline produces stronger organizations. There’s a reason this application is catching so much attention right now; it combines proven leadership theories and application into one process.

Militaries have long practiced this, with privates, sergeants, and lieutenants all training and being trained to become greater leaders like colonels and generals. As you begin to understand the leadership pipeline, note the steps of the process. Sustaining effective leadership cannot be random, accidental, or haphazard. Do you have a development process in your church?

When you read about leadership, always apply it to wherever you are in your job, career, or church. If you are a volunteer, teacher, greeter, or staff member at church, the leadership pipeline helps develop you right now, where you are. Everyone should be somewhere in the pipeline developing simultaneously.

While people describe the pipeline in different ways, the basic concept prepares each person for the next step of leading while creating effectiveness in current areas. Just like sergeants prepare privates, teachers should cultivate more teachers. You are either developing or just floating! As you refine skills, knowledge, and interaction with others, you will find opportunities to influence others, with or without a title. After leading others, especially people of diverse backgrounds and opinions, then you can lead other leaders. Everyone in the pipeline is learning, growing, and gaining more responsibility. When you can lead diverse leaders (people who do not always agree with others or you), then you can lead the organization.

Leadership pipelines provide a process for developing people. Ministry leaders for children, students, adults, and other areas want to develop people's passions and talents in one of their ministries. The pastor cultivates leaders to cultivate every other person in the ministry pipeline, which should be all people in the church. If you are not part of cultivating the flow of your leadership pipeline, you may have some “plumbing” issues.

About the Columnist: Ron Hunter Jr., Ph.D., is CEO of Randall House Publications.