Leadership Deficit – Follow Up

I spoke at the college’s chapel service yesterday. There were probably 200 people or so in attendance. The talk went really well. I handed out a flyer and invited people who wanted to know more about serving God in full time ministry to attend a meeting that took place tonight at 7:00 p.m.

The students were freshmen and sophomores . . . after the talk I could tell that everything pretty much went in one ear and out the other. No one came to the meeting tonight.

Even though we didn’t have a response this time around I’m going to continue developing the recruiting strategy.

Our leadership council met last Sunday night and we discussed the idea of reaching out to the college. We may have a pizza night, game night or something and try a different approach . . . an approach that would allow us to develop a relationship with the students.

If you have any ideas on college ministry I would love to hear ‘em.

Leadership Deficit?

Thomas J. Tierney has written a piece entitled, “Understanding the Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit.” He points out that even though America’s nonprofit sector is expanding rapidly; they are facing a crisis that could undermine all their good works – a leadership deficit.

A study of organizations with revenues greater than $250,000 a year indicated that those organizations would need to add more than 56,000 senior managers to their existing ranks. Cumulatively, over the decade from 2007 to 2016, they will need to attract and develop some 640,000 new senior leaders—or the equivalent of 2.4 times the number currently employed. To put this challenge in context, filling the gap would require recruiting more than 50 percent of every M.B.A. graduating class, at every university across the country, every year for the next decade. (The Leader of the Future 2 p.96)

So how does all this effect our organization? John Maxwell is famous for saying that “everything rises and falls on leadership.” A lack of leadership will have many repercussions -- low morale, a lack of accountability, poor performance and a culture of mediocrity are just a few.

I am presently working on a leadership recruiting strategy for the army. Next week I speak at a Methodist college in an effort to recruit potential leaders for our organization. The recruiting plan is simple. Go to a college, preach at a chapel service and invite those who want to learn about new ways to serve God to come to a meeting at The Salvation Army. At the meeting, I’ll tell them all about the opportunities that exist within the army. Those that are interested can start participating in Corps worship, leadership training classes as well as serving as they are ready and able. When they finish college, they could possibly be ready for Officer’s Training.

This is just one small way to meet the present and future demand for leaders. Got any other ideas? I would love to hear them.

What are your thoughts on this whole “Leadership Deficit” thing?