Helping Leaders in the Church

My wife, Kerry, and I have been helping religious leaders. Their work is very challenging with the demands on their time and attention, at all hours, and today’s world with the excessive busyness and negative news. Their devotion to their ministry goes well beyond religious services and communication of the teaching and principles of their faith; it also involves excellent relationships with the people in their parish and congregation, with their staff and volunteers, and if there is a school, with the students, parents and teachers – and also out in their community. Being well-respected and well-liked are significant factors in their overall leadership success.

It is important for religious leaders to have the humility to strive for continuous improvement. We all have strengths and areas of potential improvement, every one of us.

What to Expect

It is very beneficial to understand the principles of highly effective leadership, e.g.,

leadership is our relationships
relationships are developed with one-on-one conversations
understanding that conversations are the work of a leader, and
a short conversation is better than no conversation.

Striving for continuous improvement is the path to success, and it is a journey. This is where being a desire to assure we are at our best as a highly effective leader means so much, as well as being a lifelong learner.

Leadership assessments are often referred to as 360s. Essentially, people who work closely with a leader are asked questions about the person’s leadership strengths, areas of potential improvement, again which we all have, and advice they would like to offer the person.

Typically, leadership assessments are done via a series of online questions. We use a different approach which is way more effective. We speak directly with the people the religious leader has asked to help them assess their leadership. This is definitely the better way to understand the person’s perceptions.

It is essential that the people asked to participate in the assessment are thoughtful and honest, and they are assured that their answers are 100% confidential. A summary report is given to the leader, but not who had what to say.

The summary report is given to the leader only. There is no official or unofficial record of it. It is solely for the leader’s personal learning and growth.

In reviewing the summary report with the leader, we often hear “I expected that” when seeing how they might be even more effective. These are often 20, 30, 40 year habits, that have not changed. However, seeing this in writing from people who know you well and care about you, results in significant motivation to change. A typical example would be being conflict avoidant and not addressing problems or having the difficult conversations.

Also, many of us have blind spots and are unaware of how our everyday leadership affects some people, e.g., when we tend to rely on the same people.

We have the greatest respect for spiritual leaders, realize the challenges they face, and are thrilled when we are able to support them in their quest for the continuous growth of their leadership effectiveness.