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One of the challenges that leaders usually face, and it cuts across every sphere of leadership, is that of succession. We are often confronted with these thoughts and questions: who takes over from where I am stopping? Who is capable enough to continue with this vision, this idea, and these legacies that we have built? Who can maintain this trajectory of progress that we have made in our leadership journeys? Who is qualified enough to build on the progress that this organization have made over the years under our watch? These are silent questions that we are often confronted with in our leadership. However, one thing that I believe can help us to douse some of the anxieties that could come with these questions is embedded in us understanding the framework for raising the next generation of leaders. If we can understand this framework and apply them in our leadership, then succession would be the least of our worries in leadership.
Listen to Podcast: Understanding the Framework for Raising the next Generation of Leaders
Now, the first framework that we are going to be considering is what I have called the STRUCTURAL FRAMEWORK. Every leader must deliberately put in place a structural framework for grooming the next generation of leaders. This framework must be part and parcel of your leadership from the beginning, it is not something that is done towards the tail end of your leadership. Many leaders are preoccupied with so many things, but not with who takes over from where they would be stopping. In the structural framework, the leader is seen as a builder who deliberately pours himself into those that have been identified as potential successors. Let me show us something in Joshua 1:1-5 that would help us understand this Structural Framework some more.
“After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: 2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. 5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.”
The journey of who succeeds Moses did not start at the point that Moses died. It started long before the death of Moses, ever since God had commanded Moses to pick Joshua as his worthy assistant. Joshua had been undergoing leadership training with Moses for several decades before the Lord commanded him to take over from where Moses stopped. If you read Numbers 27:15-21, the Bible says:
“Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying: 16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, 17 who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” 18 And the Lord said to Moses: “Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; 19 set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and inaugurate him in their sight. 20 And you shall give some of your authority to him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. 21 He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the Lord for him by the judgment of the Urim. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, he and all the children of Israel with him—all the congregation.”
So, from this point forward, there was nothing that Moses does with regards to the things that pertain the children of Israel that Joshua was not aware of. Joshua was always following Moses everywhere, learning the act of leading the children of Israel from him. For example, in Exodus 24:13-14, the Bible says: “So, Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until ‘WE’ (talking about himself and Joshua) come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them.” Joshua was always going with him everywhere, even into certain places that Aaron, his spokesperson could not go. That is simply how to groom potential leaders in the making. In another place in Exodus 33:11, the Bible says: “so the LORD spoke to Moses; face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.”
So, what can we glean from all these that we have read and have been sharing with ourselves so far? As a leader, you must have a structure in place through which potential leaders like you can be raised because most of the times, the person who would succeed you would be picked from these set of people that you have poured yourself into and that you have groomed in the way and manner of your leadership. These people already know the organization, they know the vision, they know the goal and the manner of the organization and therefore, picking up the leadership assignment from where you are stopping as the leader wouldn’t be a challenge for them. But this cannot be the case unless you have in place a structure that would enable you to train these potential future leaders, and this is what takes place in your STRUCTURAL FRAMEWORK OF LEADERSHIP.
Alright, this is where we are going to be drawing the curtains on today’s episode of Leaderview, I believe you have learnt something that would help in your leadership going froward. Please, don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and people in your social circle and also, drop some comments for me in the comment section so that I can get to know your thoughts on what we have discussed with ourselves today. Till the next time on Leaderview, keep staying effective in your leadership.
[Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
