Good morning fellow leaders and influencers. I hope it is as fresh a day for you as it is for me!

I had the honour and pleasure of participating in an ordination yesterday afternoon. As we all applauded the newly vested clergy, I was thinking about how much work, courage and focus had gone into making this happen, not just for the ordinands, but for the people they served, their families and friends, in fact the whole community. I was reminded of the African Proverb, “it takes a village to raise of child.’’ It got me thinking, does it take a community to raise a leader? And if so, if we have a ‘bad’ leader, what is our role in his/her failings?

One of the lessons from my own journey to ordained life was how long it took. It took about 4.5 years from the first inklings that I might be an ordained leader, to my ordination. In those 4.5 years were the better part of 4 years of graduate education, and at the same time, a couple of small groups who met with me separately over the course of the first two years, as well as interview sessions with senior people, and  the careful guidance of mentors, both formally and informally. One of the interesting aspects of those 4.5 years was the number of points where there was what we called a “green light/red light” moment. The small groups for example, both had to write reports that said they either affirmed my journey or not. The same thing happened with the interviews and the mentors. The journey to leadership was one where the community, the other leaders and the people I serve all had a say. Even the ordination service itself had questions of the senior leaders, the community and the ordinands themselves; were we each affirming that these two individuals were now to be leaders in our community, and recognized worldwide by other similar communities as such.

That is not to say that the leadership development process used here is fool-proof, mistakes do happen, but it appears the mistakes were made when someone or a group of people had noticed an issue very early in the process and chose not to ask about it, or give a green light so as not to hurt the candidate’s feelings.

So for us as leaders and influencers right now, and for those of us tasked with the development of the next generation of leaders, what are the processes we are using not just to develop our academic and technical skills, but to ensure that the community (the organization) we serve is involved in the process of selection and learning as well.

There are a number of possible directions we can take to ensure more involvement from a broader base; 360 Feedback processes (as challenging as they can be), asking for feedback in person from the people we serve, including questions like what can I do more of to make this relationship work and what can I do less of to make this relationship work? These processes take a great deal of courage, but over time they are so beneficial for us and for the team. And if you’re looking to hire a new leader, a great tool I’ve seen used to great effect is called the ‘Receptionist Test’. Make sure that there is a receptionist in the waiting room for the candidates, and then ask him or her for their thoughts on each of the candidates. Receptionist like roles can be seen by many as “lower” level jobs and therefore can be treated sometimes rudely by people. Generally, the best leaders treat everyone them meet with interest, curiousity and respect. If the receptionist is treated that way by a candidate that can be an indicator that you have a great person in that candidate. If the receptionist is treated poorly by a candidate, that will be an indicator that they will not be a great people leader.

May this week be a week of courage and learning about how we are perceived by those whom we serve.