After nearly twenty years in business management, I have learned much about how to be successful in the cutthroat environment we call corporate America. I have also learned much about how to be unsuccessful. I have also spent much of my adult life in ministry leadership, and this requires a completely different approach in order to be effective. All my experiences in both of these arenas have taught me there is only one constant in management.

Leaders make leaders. It’s just that simple. To achieve long-term success, you must be able to multiply your efforts by raising up others who share your passion for leadership and drive to succeed. Otherwise, your potential is limited to what you alone can do.

The problem is that most good leaders have a natural talent to lead, and this can often limit their potential. Because they are successful without knowing why, they have a hard time helping others also be successful. They subconsciously assume that everyone they train possesses the same characteristics of leadership they do. So, unfortunately, they teach skills and not principles. They help others accomplish tasks, and make managers instead of leaders.
If I have just described you, then today is your lucky day! By using a mentoring model called Wash, Rinse, Repeat, you will have an organized approach to developing others and improving your own leadership abilities. It is a powerful tool based on the following acronym:

W: Who am I mentoring?
A: Analyze trends & results
S: Set goals
H: How do we get there?

R: Rally the troops
I: Implement the plan
N: Never say, “die!�
S: Share progress & results
E: Empower others
Repeat

Let’s look at each one individually.

W: Who am I mentoring? This step is first in the acronym because it is the question you should constantly be asking yourself. You should always be looking for individuals you can take under your wing, as well as evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, and progress of those whom you’re already mentoring. This step is somewhat unique, because it is the only one that applies to what you must do as the mentor. Throughout the rest of the process, each step will apply to what you will be teaching your protégés to do.

A: Analyze trends & results: All good leaders must know how to gather and interpret data. Where they’ve been (results) and what direction they’re heading (trends) will always give them the information they need to properly plan for the future. Your protégés must be able to assess their own organizations, especially in the areas of people, money, and time.

S: Set goals: There is only one purpose for analyzing the past: to affect the future. Your protégés can analyze all they want and have all the data in the world, but all that information is pretty worthless if it isn’t used to set goals or adjust the ones they’ve previously implemented. This is a basic principle for effective leadership and management. A significant amount of time and energy should be spent of honing your future leaders’ skills and consistency in this area.

H: How do we get there? We’ve all heard the saying, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.� I’m pretty certain the road-to-success people called the same paving company, because that’s all goals really are: good intentions. Without specific steps to reaching those goals, your protégés will plateau far below their potential. This step is the bridge between planning and execution.

R: Rally the troops: All good leaders are also good motivators. We have a knack for getting people moving in the right direction and keeping them from straying. However, teaching someone else how to motivate people is no easy task, so this is the first step in the application portion of the model.

I: Implement the plan: This is the execution and follow-up phase of the process. Your future leaders must learn to be consistent in their approaches to achieving the goals they’ve set for their organizations. This helps their teams understand the expectations and develop consistency as well.

N: Never say ,�die!�: It is my belief that persistence is the number one defining characteristic of all great leaders. There is a fine line between greatness and mediocrity, and often, that line can only be crossed through perseverance (see James 1:2-4). Each step in the Wash, Rinse, Repeat process is important, but it is vital that you teach your protégés how critical it is to stay the course in spite of trials and setbacks.

S: Share progress & results: People will be more productive and generally achieve better results when they are made to feel as though they play a role in the success of the ministry. When they are certain that what they do does make a difference, most people will take more pride in their roles and work even harder to improve their weaknesses. Regular feedback on progress helps ensure consistency in performance and makes reaching goals much easier. The same holds true for communicating whether or not the goals were reached, and this step becomes the bridge that leads back to the Analysis step in the Wash section.

E: Empower others: Your protégés will find that this step is almost a forgone conclusion, because they’ve been empowering others throughout the process. However, it cannot just be an incidental result of all the other phases. They must learn to make conscious decisions to help anyone and everyone reach their maximum potential. This is really what the entire cycle of Wash, Rinse, Repeat is all about. Each of the ten steps embodies this principle, because, quite simply, leaders make leaders!

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