Let me share a fable of two congregations.

Alpha Congregation has several corporate trainers who work in the not-for-profit world. Three of them were asked to serve on the newly-formed Leadership Development Team (LDT). They spent a couple of months designing a fabulous in-house training for potential leaders and a couple more months advertising the program and inviting members to participate. On the day of the event, they were a little disappointed about the low turnout. There were a couple of attendees who they thought might be good leaders, but several others were missing some key leadership qualities. When it became time to fill the slate for the board of trustees a few months later, the LDT asked Kris, one of the promising candidates, if Kris would like to be treasurer. "Oh I'm awful with finances!" exclaimed Kris. "What made you think that would be a good role for me?"

Delta Congregation has a couple of community organizers who were serving on their newly-formed LDT. They suggested that they use a One-to-One model of connecting. They spent their year connecting with those folk in the congregation who seemed to have a strong sense of belonging but were not in yet leadership roles; a manageable 20% of the people who attended church somewhat regularly. In these one-to-one conversations the LDT members shared about their own commitment and sense of passion toward the mission and vision of the congregation. Next, they inquired about the interviewee's values, passions and gifts. Then the LDT member just listened--deeply. After a couple of months of these interviews, this LDT compared notes and followed up with their interviewees, connecting about half of them into various leadership roles that everyone found were good fits.

Many of our UU congregations have been moving from having Nominating Committees (which meet for a few months out of the year to help fill the slate of board members and other key positions) to Leadership Development Teams (which work year-around on leadership development). This is meant to be a holistic approach to growing leaders in a congregational setting. There are different facets to leadership development, the "Five I's:"

• Identify (Pay attention to people who are involved in congregational activities and how they interact with others.)
• Invite (Help potential leaders discern their gifts.)
• Inform (Equip your potential leaders with training)
• Involve (Help potential leaders find a way to serve the ministry that best matches their gifts and calling)
• Inquire (Check in annually with leaders to assess how well they are serving and how the role is serving them)

It's tempting -- especially if you have expertise "in house" -- to put too much energy into training (i.e. "Inform"), at the expense of the relationship-building activities that--in the long run--results in committed leaders matched to fitting roles. There are many ways to collaborate to spread the tasks of offering trainings so that your congregation's Leadership Development Teams can concentrate on the relational one-to-one work that can have the most impact:

• Send potential leaders to one of the week-long Regional Leadership Schools or to the UU Leadership Institute.
• Collaborate with other nearby congregations and your regional staff to offer Harvest the Power, or other cooperative leadership raining.
• Help potential leaders connect with on-demand workshops and other webinars.