According to George Ehusani success without successor is failure in disguise. In my previous article, I wrote about choosing your successor, giving tips on how to identify and select your next-in-line. Once we have recognized who is to follow us to take up our mantle, it is mandatory we give time and take efforts to groom them to fit the bill. Our work doesn’t end with zeroing in on who our potential successor is, but it extends to and continues on to prepare them to be ready when the responsibility is thrust on them. Not fitting your replacement and equipping them with all skills that you have or other than what you have, is setting them up to falter and fail!
If you are a path-breaker or a pioneer, instructing and educating your disciple or apprentice is crucial so that what you began doesn’t end or stop with you. If you are the head of any organization, a leader or mentor, it is of utmost importance that you ensure your team member or mentee learns from you, constantly and consistently. If you are a parent or guardian, you need to pass on your values and principles to your progeny so that your work grows and matures to the next level, bearing fruit for generations!
So, how do you train your heir apparent and with what must you equip your scion for the role to follow?
The Model Way
To answer these questions, I would like to take a look the greatest of all Teachers and the One Who revolutionized human race as a whole, Jesus Christ. He mentored and groomed 12 intimately, as well as 70 others, totally 120 in all who changed the world. It was through the first 11, since one fell away, that He impacted and changed the whole world, bringing in redemption, emancipation and resurrection hope!
His teachings and person have influenced the rich and poor, erudite and illiterate, male and female, young and old, prince and pauper, east and west, equally and extensively. His ideology set up kingdoms and governments, overthrew tyranny and despotism, boosted justice and fairness, eradicated caste and creed, and gave birth to true oneness and brotherhood!
Let’s see how He discipled and disciplined His adherents to bring about this colossal outcome:
1. Jesus chose them to be with Him always: He gave access to them and allowed them to be close to Him (Mk 3:14). They lived with Him, traveled with Him and He shared life with them. For three plus years, they saw Him at close quarters and constantly observed all that He did. Human interaction and relationship is powerful tool of communication which the sages of old, both eastern and western knew, and so lived with their followers in candid openness. Leaders today keep their people at arms length and don’t allow them to come near for fear of being known for who they really are!
2. Jesus was an open book to them and He never hid from them: They saw His life, in and out, and impressed enough, asked Him to teach them how to pray. Such a contrast to leaders and mentors today, who will camouflage their true nature and not allow mentees or followers close enough to watch them live their life. Impartation is the basis of mentoring and if you are not able to be open, then you will never be able to prepare your pupil to be up to your standards or even go beyond you!
3. Jesus taught them everything He knew and never held back anything from them: He gave them space to come to Him with their queries and questions, doubts and distress. In fact, Jesus declared that He taught His disciples all that He knew and gave them all His Father gave Him. He didn’t teach them half truths or deny them knowledge, but taught them fully. Most often than not, leaders and others do not communicate fully with their inheritors, but hold something back to ensure control and dependency!
4. Jesus trained them by delegating and giving them space to practice: He not only taught them all that He knew, but sent them out on practice sessions where they experimented with power and authority. He made them His emissaries to go out before Him to prepare places for Him to come, giving specific instructions on what to do and not do. Directors and bosses do not delegate or give experiential attempts for their trainees to venture out. Those whom we select to follow us must be allowed to make mistakes and commit errors within the safety of our overseeing, before they are entrusted with the role. This will enable them to gain confidence and acquire acumen that will stand them in good stead once they are given the position they have been chosen for!
5. Jesus defended them from those who would challenge them: One of the aspects of His relationship with His disciples whom He chose to be with Him, I really love is that He always stepped in to protect them from those who would question them, especially with regards to Him or His teachings. In one instance when the pharisees tried to find fault with them for eating with unwashed hands, Jesus retorts by saying that what comes out of a person will defile, and not what goes in! Another time they question why His disciples didn’t fast and He gives them a fitting reply! It is a rare thing these days for a leader or a head to stand up for his or her people. In their endeavor to be politically correct, many throw their subordinates or even their own children to the dogs of public opinion, in an effort to save themselves. That is why followers do not really rise up and go beyond their own heads!
6. Jesus corrected them, both publicly and privately: Even though Jesus defended His disciples in case of a controversy or dispute with others, He did take them to task, both publicly and privately. Witness the instance when His disciples failed to cast out a demon from a boy at the request of his father. When Jesus heard this, He rebuked them sharply. Another time they were disputing on the way about who is greatest among them, and when they came into the house, Jesus took them to task about this aspect of seeking glory for themselves. Today, many trainees resent being rebuked publicly or privately and many leaders do not correct and guide their trainees in a constructive manner. A true mentor will not hesitate to help his subordinates in the right manner for their own improvement!
7. Jesus never gave up on them and never lost anyone that was given to Him: Jesus disciples were not perfect but full of flaws, yet He continued working with them till the last. He gave them multiple chances to rectify and realign, forgiving their mistakes. Jesus was not a butterfly that jumps from flower to flower and running after better looking options, but stuck with those He chose to be with Him, even though one of them was a traitor and a cheat. He took care and time to choose the twelve, then gave Himself wholeheartedly to molding them to be who He wanted them to be. Any leader worth his or her salt must have loyalty and commitment to their own, sticking with them until they come through to maturity!
8. Jesus believed in them enough to empower and entrust His enterprise with them, releasing them to do it: Jesus only chose twelve and even when one of them failed, He committed His mission to them. When the time came to leave them, He deputed and deputized them to do His work. Leaders tend to hang on to their posts and positions, not willing to let go and step back. They do not trust their inheritors and keep butting in, giving their advice unsoliticedly. Their own insecurities hamper them and their successors. Even if they hand over, they keep control and won’t allow independent decision making. Result is that their successors often may not succeed because they haven’t been trained or released properly!
It is one thing to zoom in on your potential inheritor, and another thing to enable them to rise to the occasion, when the time comes.
Paramount for success to be true and sustaining is to ensure your protégé is trained, tested and transitioned into the new role. He or she will not be able to do it, unless and until you work out a plan of training, have a routine of tests and experiments, and teach as well as correct.
For a successor to succeed you need a game plan so that they are fitted and outfitted enough to step into your role.
Do not be slack in this, if you wish your work and success to be sustained and sustaining!
Do not emasculate your follower by restrictions, but rejoice and take pride in their achievements which may surprisingly be better than yours, if youhave done your job well!
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