Coach Them Up

In searching for a coaching relationship in the Bible, it's hard to find a better one than that between the apostle Paul and his "true son in the faith", Timothy. Paul spends the better part of two separate letters coaching Timothy up.

In the sports world, a good coach consistently sends signals that they believe in their players, that they are willing to invest in them, and that they have high expectations for them.

To coach people up, you must explore the goals and values of those you are leading and help them understand and strengthen their leadership skills, gifts and personality traits. There are three key things every good coach/leader should continually strive to accomplish with his team members.

- Create a climate for continuous learning - You must ensure your leaders know that failure isn't fatal. It is just another opportunity to learn and nothing is pointless if you learn from it.

- Inspire leaders to develop themselves - Leaders best inspire their leadership when they themselves seek to learn. Remember your actions always speak louder than your words.

- Seek out opportunities to invest in those willing to be invested in - fish where there are fish! Seek out leaders that genuinely want to improve themselves. If individuals within your inner circle of leaders are showing no interest in growing as a leader, then it's possible the time has come to minimize your investment in them.

Be an extraordinary leader today by seeking out leaders who want to learn, grow, and develop, then help those leaders identify and close the gap between where they are (skills, gifts, talents, et cetera) and where they want to go.