HOW TO MANAGE GROWTH

Last week, we proudly announced the results of the ILI training last year. In 2017, our alumni conducted 828 training events around the world, equipping 31,616 men and women with the Eight Core Values of the most effective leaders. This number simply amazing and a significant growth from past years. In fact, the ILI training has been growing at an average of 13% for the last 5 years. We are celebrating God’s faithfulness and our team’s passion, but we are also asking a few important questions: How will we manage this much growth? In a couple years, how will we manage 1,000 conferences per year? Will we have the resources to lead 100 national teams of volunteers?

Success can Become a Burden

ILI is not the only growing organization. If you are a pastor and your church welcomed 100 new believers last year, do you have the capacity to lead and disciple those individuals? If your company acquired 100 new customers, do you have the infrastructure to adequately serve their needs?

Reactive or Proactive

There are two ways to approach the growth challenge. We can wait until we are overwhelmed by more work than we can handle, or we can plan for growth now, putting an infrastructure in place to manage future growth. This basically requires two action items:

1. Updated systems and processes. At ILI we are working on automation and efficiencies to handle the growth in training.
2. Bring new people on the team. In our case, this means building alumni teams and hiring new staff to ease the load on the existing team.

The People Issue

Systems and processes can be unique to each organization, but there are common best practices in building capacity in your team which apply to churches, non-profits, or business settings. Here are five ways to build a bigger and better team to pursue the vision God gave you and accomplish His purposes.

1. Hire from Within. Sometimes you need a specialized outsider, but it is often easier to train someone familiar with your culture. Great leaders engage people by creating a mobilization track that involves people with the vision at every level.
2. Identify Potential. Great leaders can identify high capacity and highly motivated individuals and invest further. There are also tools to help us get to know people better and recruit effectively. Some of these tools are even free to use.
3. Disciple, Coach, and Mentor. At ILI, we teach a three-step model for multiplying leaders. You can make these part of your organization’s culture and watch people grow and engage deeply with the vision.
4. Delegate Leadership. It is easier to just delegate tasks, but how about delegating the authority and decision power that comes with leadership?
5. Get Out of the Way. Even great leaders can fail by standing in the way of those on their team. Outstanding leaders empower people by stepping aside (even if temporarily) and giving room for people to shine.

Where do you expect your organization, church, or business to be five years from now? Start taking steps now to manage that reality effectively. We are in the business of transforming lives and building God’s Kingdom. The stakes could not be higher.