Replace Yourself

In the previous blog, I talked about HOW to apprentice by listing out the 5 steps of the apprenticeship process.  Today,  I want to focus on what we need to THINK about apprenticeship.

The inspiration for this article comes from the book "7 Practices of Effective Ministry" by Andy Stanley. REPLACE YOURSELF is "learning to hand off what you do."

We all have two choices regarding our roles.  

1. You can desperately hold on to your job until someone inevitably replaces you.
2. You can prepare someone to do what you do and strategically replace yourself.

If we lead anything, we must take an honest look at any barriers to the organization's growth that we placing because of our inability or refusal to apprentice.  Sometimes our greatest strength as a leader can actually build a leadership wall that hinders the development of future leaders.

The entrepreneurial leader specializes in taking risks and pioneering new territory, yet may see others' fresh ideas as threatening or in competition with his own.

The nurturing leader is patient and encouraging, but may lack the zeal to confront someone in areas that really need to change.

The charismatic leader can inspire the masses to follow a dream, yet may become jealous and defensive when the time comes for people to follow a new leader.

The innovative leader uses creativity to produce something relevant and original, but tends to get possessive when another artist tries to improve on what has been created.

The managing leader is excellent at coordinating staff and developing systems, yet may stubbornly resist those who question the process or want to experiment with doing things in a different way.

The high-performance leader can juggle an incredible workload and still be extremely productive, but his failure to delegate does not allow anyone else to really own a piece of the vision.

Identifying which of these is you is probably very easy.  In fact, I would guarantee that each person on your team could identify yours.

Replacing yourself demands that you face some personal tendencies that could be unhealthy for your organization.  Most people's spoken or unspoken push-back to apprenticeship is rooted in the concept of job security.  But really, this job security mindset should really be called job "insecurity".

Does your organization champion "replace yourself"?  If not, you will be erecting leadership walls that will stifle your ability to raise up new leaders and grow the organization as a whole.

It is often our busyness or our insecurities that make us hesitant to teach someone how to do what we do.

Are you too busy doing stuff or are you making time to evaluate your weaknesses in this area? 

Are you conquering your insecurities so that you can apprentice?