Kingdom At Work
Listen to a reading of this blog post here:
[The content of this post was inspired by the August 2026 Betenbough Companies internal Leader Summit.]
What if the greatest opportunity sitting in front of a leader isn’t the next project, goal, or problem to solve, but rather the people God has entrusted to their care?
As leaders, we can fall into the trap of only measuring growth by what we can see: promotions, titles, responsibilities, or performance. But the Lord reminds us that growth is about something deeper. It’s about who someone is becoming.
Some of the most meaningful growth may never show up on an organizational chart. It might look like receiving feedback without becoming defensive. Speaking with courage in a room that once felt intimidating. Learning to problem solve without immediately looking to a leader for the answer. Becoming more adaptable, more discerning, more teachable, or more confident.
And leaders have the privilege of helping cultivate that kind of growth. That’s where a Proactive Development Plan (PDP) can become so powerful.
A PDP isn’t simply a document to complete once a year. It’s an intentional way of asking: Who has God entrusted to my leadership, who are they becoming, and how can I help them take the next step?
Paul gives us a helpful picture in 1 Corinthians 3:6: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”
We don’t control another person’s growth. The team member has a role to play, and ultimately God is the One who transforms people. But as leaders, we are called to plant. We are called to water. We are called to encourage, challenge, create opportunities, give feedback, and walk alongside people as they grow.
So, what does that look like practically?
1. Pray: Ask God to Help You See
Proactive development starts before the plan. It starts with prayer. Instead of beginning with, What training should I send this person to? or What weakness do they need to fix?, begin by asking: Lord, what are You doing in this person? What am I missing that You want to show me? Who are You growing them to become? How can I partner with You? That changes the posture of development.
We aren’t simply trying to make someone more productive. We’re stewarding a soul God has placed under our care. And that requires intentionality because development rarely feels urgent.
The operational whirlwind will always give us something else to solve. There will always be another email, customer need, meeting, deadline, or fire. The whirlwind rarely tells us not to develop our people; it simply tells us we can do it later. But growth doesn’t happen accidentally.
Sometimes the most practical first step is simply putting time on the calendar to pray over team members by name, review PDPs, think ahead, or intentionally spend time shoulder-to-shoulder with someone. Slow down long enough to ask God for eyes to see.
2. See: Look Beyond Today’s Performance
Once we pray, we pay attention. What are you seeing while working shoulder-to-shoulder with this person? Where are they thriving? Where do they struggle? What are others noticing? What do they see in themselves? Most importantly: Can you see them for who they could become, not only for what they produce today?
Ask yourself these questions about your people: What would keep me from giving this person more responsibility today? If an opportunity opened tomorrow, what might keep me from confidently recommending them? Sometimes we already know the answer, and other times the answer will make itself clear.
Development doesn’t always require another assessment. Sometimes it requires the courage to give the final 10 percent of feedback we’ve been holding back because it feels uncomfortable.
But seeing someone fully also means looking beyond weaknesses. Maybe a team member already has a gift that needs to be deepened. Maybe they need greater confidence. Perhaps they need exposure to leadership, stronger discernment, spiritual growth, or an opportunity to exercise a capability they don’t yet recognize in themselves.
And don’t rely only on what you see. Ask other leaders. Talk to people who work alongside them. Listen to feedback from other departments or regions. Ask the team member what they are curious about and where they want to grow. The more angles we see from, the fuller the picture becomes.
3. Focus: Identify the Next Right Thing
When you genuinely know someone, finding development opportunities usually isn’t difficult. The harder task is deciding what matters most right now.
A PDP shouldn’t become a list of everything we’d like someone to improve. And it certainly shouldn’t become a place to hide corrective conversations that need to happen directly. Instead, identify one or two meaningful areas of growth.
Imagine if God showed us everything He wanted to change in us at once. We’d probably feel overwhelmed rather than encouraged. Good leaders understand that development works similarly. You don’t need to map someone’s next five years. Work changes. Life changes. People change. You simply need enough discernment to identify the next right step.
Ask: What could unlock this person’s growth right now? That may be professional, personal, spiritual, or leadership-related. It may prepare them for another role someday—or make them healthier and more effective in the role they already have.
Because growth and promotion are not synonyms.
Promotion can be an outcome of growth, but it isn’t the definition of growth. We should be preparing people for greater stewardship without promising them a particular position or timeline. Prepare them as though an opportunity will come. Trust God with what that opportunity ultimately looks like.
4. Plan: Build Growth Into the Work
Once you’ve identified the focus, the question becomes: How will we actually help this person grow? Think in these three categories: Do. Who. Learn.
Do: What experience could help them grow? A stretch assignment? Leading part of a meeting? Solving a problem independently? Covering a new responsibility? Cross-training in another role?
Who: Who could they learn from? A leader, mentor, peer, another department, or someone in another region who already demonstrates the capability they’re developing?
Learn: What resource might help? A book, podcast, training, conference, trip, or another formal learning experience? We often jump straight to the third category. Someone needs development, so we give them a book or send them to an event.
If someone needs confidence, they won’t develop it only by reading about confidence. Eventually, they need an opportunity to speak, decide, lead, solve, or try. Development doesn’t always mean sending someone somewhere. Sometimes it means giving them access.
5. Stretch: Ask Questions Instead of Rescuing
Building growth into the work also means resisting one of a leader’s strongest instincts: solving the problem. When someone brings us a challenge, experience often allows us to see the answer quickly. So we jump in. The problem gets solved, but the person doesn’t necessarily grow.
Sometimes the more developmental response is a question:
What do you think we should do?
What options have you considered?
What do you think will happen if we try that?
What would you do if I weren’t here?
Questions develop discernment. Constant rescue develops dependence.
That doesn’t mean leaders abandon people to figure everything out themselves. Proverbs 27:17 tells us that “iron sharpens iron.” Sharpening involves friction. Healthy development creates enough pressure to stretch someone while keeping enough support around them to help them learn.
That means there will be times when someone struggles. They may try something that doesn’t work. A project may fail. They may walk into a meeting they’re not completely comfortable leading. That’s not necessarily a failure of development. It may be development happening.
Our responsibility is to create an environment with both pressure and learning — stretching people without abandoning them.
6. Walk: Stay Engaged After the Plan Is Written
This may be the easiest part to overlook. We pray. We identify a development area. We create a thoughtful plan. Everyone leaves the conversation encouraged. And then the whirlwind returns. A PDP only becomes development when we continue walking with the person.
If someone is going to read a book, put the follow-up conversation(s) on the calendar. If they’re attending an event, talk beforehand about why they’re going and what you hope they’ll look for. If they’re spending time with another team, debrief afterward.
Three questions can go a long way: What did you learn? How will you apply it? What happens next?
You might also ask them to teach what they learned to someone else. Teaching forces us to process an experience differently than simply saying, “It was great.”
And continue praying. Continue watching. Continue asking questions. Continue creating opportunities.
The PDP isn’t the development. The relationship, intentionality, opportunities, feedback, and follow-through are the development.
Develop People Before You Need Them
There is a significant difference between reactive and proactive development. Reactive development waits until there’s an opening and asks: Who can we get ready? Proactive development looks at the people God has already entrusted to us and asks: Who are they becoming, and how can we start preparing them now?
That kind of leadership creates healthier teams. Cross-training allows people to truly disconnect when they’re away because someone else has developed the capability to step in. Stretch opportunities build confidence and discernment. Cross-pollination strengthens relationships and broadens perspective. And raising up capable people means the organization becomes less dependent on any one leader.
Ultimately, this is about much more than succession planning. It’s stewardship.
As leaders, we have been entrusted with people—not simply with their productivity, but with an opportunity to encourage and cultivate the gifts God has placed inside them. We plant. We water. And we trust God with the growth.
So look at the people God has placed under your care and ask: Who might God be growing them to become? Follow the steps outlined in this post. You may want to use our free PDP worksheet to begin this process for your team members!
And when the opportunity comes, perhaps you’ll discover that you don’t need to start preparing them. You’ve been preparing them all along.
Interested in learning more about leading your Kingdom business with purpose and excellence? Join us for the upcoming Kingdom Leadership Workshop in Lubbock, Texas!