Develop Your Bench

By Jon Nicol

January 5, 2012

Developing new techs and musicans takes time - especially when they’re complete novices. But the time is well invested. In one year, two years, three years, you’ll be happy you did. No. Downright ecstatic.

Developing the bench isn’t just for leaders. Musicians and techs should be on the lookout for people they can train, develop, raise up, etc. Here are some ideas to start building your bench:

Start a (or tap into the) youth band.
Hold a training instrument or voice seminar and make it open to anyone.
Encourage mentoring by experienced team members.
Hold an “open house” or “open rehearsal” for interested people to find out more.
If people tryout and aren’t ready, offer them a chance to be mentored and developed.
Use a farm-team system. If someone’s not ready for playing/singing on Sunday morning, but they have potential, create other avenues for them to play - kid’s worship, youth, small groups, etc. But be intentional about developing people on the ‘farm team.’ Don’t use it as a way to just get rid of people who don’t make the cut.

[This post is from the free ebook, 52 Tweaks to a Stronger Team. You can download that on the home page.]

Love to hear some some ways that you've been developing your bench - let us know in the comment box.

Post graphic: Dugout Bench – bradleypjohnson, Flickr, Creative Commons

Keywords: develop your team, growing your team, mentoring, recruiting musicians, training musicians

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