I hate internships! There, I said it. The word “intern” accidentally communicates low value. Interns should get ready to do the tasks no one else wants to do and make runs to Starbucks for the team. The worst part is interns never get let behind the proverbial curtain to learn how the organization functions. We need to catch a vision for something much deeper; apprenticeships.
I’ve been apprenticing hungry leaders in various capacities for the last nine years. Failure has been a generous teacher along the way, and I’ve stumbled into some victories too. People often reach out to me as they’re launching apprenticeships to get advice. I end up telling them the same seven things. I figured it was time to write them down.
Apprenticeship is ancient, but is desperately needed today, especially in churches. If you are headed the right direction you will end up doing some great leadership development. Start in the wrong direction, and you’ll find yourself leading interns who are paradoxically tired and bored.
Here are seven crucial practices for apprenticing leaders…
Teach using the apprentice model. Any apprenticeship worth its salt is a combination of relational, experiential and formal learning. All are necessary, but every week won’t be an equal concoction. Jesus taught the disciples utilizing all three of these realms. I’d say his apprenticeship worked; it launched a movement called the Church.
Carry at least 51% ownership. Apprenticeships are not for the organization; they are for hungry leaders. They are always a kingdom investment. Most apprentices won’t stick around and join your staff team. A few will. Many times churches call something an “internship” when they simply cannot afford to hire a staff member. Slave labor is not apprenticeship.
Include, include, include! Apprentices want to be invited into the room. Bring them along to audit meetings, trainings or discussions you are part of. Debrief the meeting with them afterwards.
Treat nearly everything as an experiment. You don’t actually know if something is going to work, so take some pressure off. Start everything by calling it an “experiment” or a “pilot” until you are confident it’s going to work. An apprenticeship is an ongoing human experiment.
Talk about money…a lot. Every apprenticeship has a different financial paradigm. Some are unpaid, some give a stipend, some pay well, some force you to raise support and some require you to get a side job. There are no rules here. Whatever their financial reality, apprentices get worn down, frustrated by empty bank accounts and wonder whether it’s worth it. Money, or the lack thereof, has a way of growing people up if you lean into the conversations.
Adapt constantly. Set the plans for the apprenticeship loosely. This isn’t a college course with a syllabus; it’s far less predictable. Conditions will change based on the apprentices or the seasons. If you lead an apprenticeship be ready to constantly reinvent how you are teaching.
Realize your best teaching is caught. You choose what you teach, but you can’t choose what apprentices learn. What do I mean? After years of teaching similar material I took a survey of the topics apprentices learned during their time. The top three were sabbath, conflict resolution and priority on family. I hadn’t actually taught on these three topics, but I had modeled them.
You will find a lot more depth to these practices in my book Guardrails. If you are leading an apprenticeship or dreaming about launching one I think you should. But I think you should do it carefully, slowly and release some pressure from it. Apprenticing leaders in any form is a selfless Kingdom act, and can shape people for the rest of their lives. Shoot me an email if you’d like to connect more about this.
What did I miss? Would you add anything?