The 4T Process: Developing Leaders Who Develop Leaders

One of the greatest challenges in leadership is moving beyond getting things done to developing people who can get things done without you.  As a Level 3 leader at Hope Church, you're responsible for more than leading a team. You're responsible for developing the leaders who lead those teams. That's an important distinction.

A Level 2 leader focuses on helping individual team members grow in their character, competence, and ability to contribute. A Level 3 leader takes that responsibility one step further by developing people who can lead and develop others.  Your success as a values-shaping leader isn't measured only by how effectively your teams function.  It's also measured by how effectively your leaders are growing as disciples and leaders.  But developing leaders doesn't happen automatically. It requires a reproducible process.

One of the simplest and most effective approaches is the 4T Process: Think, Try, Talk, and Train Others.

This is how Starbucks employees train the people they lead.

In his book Super Multiplier, Mac Lake describes a time at Starbucks when he waited to meet with a manager to see how they train employees.  While waiting, he noticed three baristas gathered around a table with a training binder.  One was leading the other two through a development conversation.  She asked what they'd learned from a training video, what they'd been practicing, what confused them, and where they needed help.  After about 45 minutes, the group moved behind the counter, where the trainees could observe their trainer and practice what they'd discussed.

Leadership development happened in real time.  Later, the store manager showed the pastor a training binder outlining specific competencies for each level of leadership.  Employees weren't simply given generic leadership information. They were intentionally developed for the responsibilities they would eventually carry.  There was a clear destination and a process for getting there.

Think about the implications for our leadership at Hope Church.

• We don't want to simply gather our leaders occasionally, share a few helpful ideas, and hope they become better leaders.
• We want to know what competencies they need, provide opportunities to develop those competencies, and help them become capable of developing others.

That's what the 4T Process helps us accomplish.

Leadership development begins by identifying a specific competency someone needs to develop.

For a Level 3 leader, this means evaluating the Level 2 leaders under your care.

• Perhaps one leader needs to grow in delegation. 
• Another needs to become more comfortable giving constructive feedback. 
• A third may need to learn how to recognize leadership potential in the people they serve alongside.

Each of those leaders has a different developmental need.

Don't make the mistake of giving every leader the same training and expecting the same results.  Instead, choose one competency that will help each leader take their next step. Then provide a focused learning opportunity: a short article, a book chapter, a video, a Scripture passage, or a conversation in which you explain and model the principle.

The goal is to give them something specific to understand and apply.

Leadership skills aren't developed simply by talking about them.  They develop through practice.

Once a leader understands a principle, create an opportunity to put it into action:

• If you're helping someone develop delegation skills, challenge them to entrust a meaningful responsibility to another team member rather than doing it themselves.
• If you're helping someone grow in coaching, ask them to have an intentional development conversation with someone on their team.
• If they need to improve their ability to cast vision, give them an opportunity to explain the why behind a team initiative.

These should be real assignments with real responsibility, not hypothetical exercises.  And don't expect perfection.  Part of your responsibility as a Level 3 leader is creating an environment where your leaders can practice, make mistakes, learn, and grow without feeling that every imperfection is a failure.

Experience alone doesn't produce growth. Evaluated experience does.

After your leader has practiced a competency, schedule time to discuss what happened.  Ask questions such as:

• What did you try, and why did you approach it that way?
• What went well?
• What was more difficult than you expected?
• How did the people you lead respond?
• What would you do differently next time?
• How can I help you grow in this area?

Whenever possible, observe your leaders in action so you can provide feedback based on what actually happened.  Be specific about what they did well. Be equally specific about opportunities for improvement.  For example, rather than saying, "You need to delegate more," you might say, "I noticed you stepped in and solved that problem yourself.  Who on your team could you have invited to take responsibility for it?"  That question does more than correct a behavior. It helps the leader begin thinking like a developer.

Your goal isn't to solve every leadership problem for your Level 2 leaders.  It's to increase their ability to solve problems and develop people themselves.

This final step is especially important for Level 3 leaders.  If your Level 2 leaders become more competent but never develop anyone else, you've improved your leadership team without creating multiplication.  We want more than that.

Once a leader begins demonstrating a competency, challenge them to teach it to someone else.  If they've learned to give effective feedback, ask them to help a team member learn that skill.  If they've grown in delegation, encourage them to identify someone who can start taking on more responsibility.

And importantly, teach your leaders to use the same 4T Process with their own people.  This creates a pattern of development that can continue without you personally training everyone.

Paul described this kind of multiplication in 2 Timothy 2:2 when he instructed Timothy to entrust what he'd learned to faithful people who would be able to teach others also.  That's four generations of leadership development! Paul (1) invested in Timothy (2), Timothy invested in faithful people (3), those people would teach others (4).  The goal is one generation of leaders developing the next.  We aren't simply developing leaders who can do more. We're developing leaders who can develop more leaders.

Think about the Level 2 leaders you're currently responsible for developing.

• Choose one or two who are ready for intentional investment.
• Identify a specific competency each needs to strengthen
• Begin walking them through the 4T Process.
  • Give them something to Think about. 
  • Create an opportunity to Try it. 
  • Make time to Talk about their experience. 
  • Then challenge them to Train Others.

You don't need to develop every competency at once, and you don't need to develop every leader at the same pace.  You do need to be intentional.

At Hope Church, we're not trying to build a ministry that depends on a handful of unusually capable people.  We're building a culture in which leaders consistently invest in others, helping them grow as disciples of Jesus and preparing them to do the same.  The ultimate measure of your leadership isn't simply what happens because you're there. It's what continues to happen because you've developed others.  vThat's how leadership becomes multiplication.