You’ve done the hard work of hiring great church leaders and have even gone the extra mile to equip them for success by providing the tools and resources they need to thrive. But your responsibilities as a head pastor don’t stop there!

Once you’ve laid a solid foundation, continue to hold leaders accountable for their work. Real knowledge of their performance will help you serve them and ensure their programming is as effective as possible.

The following four action items will help you in your quest of equipping leaders.

Affirm their identity and value

Unhappiness at work is one of the largest contributors to lack of accountability and poor performance. Are your leaders happy in their roles? Research shows that when people feel anonymous, unappreciated, ineffective, or irrelevant, their performance is likely to suffer. Regularly let your leaders know what they are doing well and remind them that you are there to lift them up and help them succeed.

Create a roadmap for success

Even though you value your leaders, you’ll always be able to identify areas of opportunity or that need improvement. If there’s a problem, work together to create an accurate picture of it. If it’s an exciting opportunity, identify some goals. Then create a roadmap together that details clear action steps and gives you and others on the leadership team roles to support the effort.

Invest in their personal development

What are their “whys” for working at your church? How do they want to grow and develop? Often, professional drives are closely linked to important personal motives. Actively respond when leaders tell you what’s important to them. Find ways to equip them to achieve those aspirations.

For example, if you have a leader who wants to become more tech savvy, this could be driven by a desire to connect with the children and youth he or she works with at church and cares for at home. Equip this person by enrolling him or her in a free online class to learn more about a certain digital tool or platform. Allot a few hours of work time to complete the training.

Continue to check-in

Is everything going well? Is there anything that the leaders in your church would like to see change? Maintain accountability through regular check-ins to ensure your team is aware of your active involvement as a leader. Follow up on any key dates and milestones that you established in earlier conversations. Creating an action plan doesn’t mean much if no one pays attention to it!

Ultimately, ensuring other leaders stay accountable to their jobs and success starts with you. By holding yourself accountable to continue to check-in with and equip your leaders, you’ll ultimately impact people at all levels of your congregation—for the better.

Want more of what you can do to ensure you are equipping leaders across your ministry? Check out the FREE e-book from Sparkhouse and theologian Will Willimon: Creating Leaders Across Your Ministry