Alban at Duke Divinity School at Durham, North Carolina, United States for Monday, 23 October 2017 "PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS: Five boring problems you can and need to fix" - Alban Weekly
BEFORE TURNING TO ANYTHING NEW, THESE FIVE PROBLEMS NEED ATTENTION
Dan Wunderlich: Five Boring Problems You Can and Need to Fix by Nathan KirkpatrickLast fall, I counted down the days to the big MacBook Pro reveal, but now here I sit, typing away on my 5-year-old laptop.
While boasting of making the laptop millimeters thinner and ounces lighter, they loaded it with an old processor, and a battery so inconsistent that Consumer Reports withheld their recommendation of the model for the first time ever.
At the beginning of 2017, FastCo Design writer Mark Wilson put into words what many Apple fans are feeling:
Dear Apple, please fix boring problems this year. Stop trying to dazzle us. Just give us old-school great design that works.
As we begin new seasons in our ministries, we dream big dreams. We encourage our churches to be creative and think outside of the box. We launch new programs, start new groups, or re-brand our services.But what if we find ourselves in the same boat as Apple-casting big visions while neglecting the things that matter? Here are some boring problems you can and should fix:
1. Clean Up Your Website and Online PresenceThere is nothing less sexy than reading every sentence on your own website, Facebook page, and your church's page on the denominational website (like UMC's Find-A-Church). But there is also nothing more frustrating for a visitor than showing up at the wrong time for a service.
And there is nothing more disappointing than someone who would have connected with your church choosing not to visit because your website is inward-focused or your Facebook page looks dead.
Cement this statement in your brain: Your website is for visitors, not members. Make sure someone who has never been to your church can quickly and easily find every piece of information they need to feel comfortable about visiting. This includes information about where to park and where families with children should go.
And make bright, smiling photos of real people from your congregation the first thing people see when they get to your website. They will connect with that much more than your building, pastor, or current sermon series.
2. Clean Up Your Facilities (Especially Children’s Areas)You know those Febreeze commercials about being “nose blind” to smells we have gotten used to? The same thing happens with our church facilities—and with more than just smells.
We get comfortable with clutter. We ignore the shaggy bushes. We know that the stain on the carpet is just coffee. And the dust-caked air intake vent in the children’s wing? Doesn’t exist in our mental picture.
But those things 100% exist, and they can be both a turn-off as well as hazardous.
Cleaning and maintaining facilities is tedious and expensive. And if you don’t have the room in the budget to hire someone, you’re relying on volunteers, ministry staff, or even yourself. Things just don’t get done, they don’t get picked up, and they don’t get repaired.
You can argue that it gives the place a certain type of charm or that it feels like home, but remember: for a visitor, it is not home yet. And there is absolutely NOTHING charming about a dirty, cluttered children’s area.
3. Audit Your ServicesSimilar to the previous point, we can become “blind” to certain aspects of our services. We don’t notice that the greeters only talk to people they know because we are one of the people they know (or we don’t enter through the same door as everyone else). We accept music that isn’t as good as it could be because we know and love the music leader or choir director. We don’t notice awkward transitions or hiccups in the service anymore because they happen every week.
And we accept lackluster sermons because we know how hard we work and how many others things we have had to focus on lately…
This is where a “mystery worshiper” might come in handy. Like a mystery shopper who is sent into a store with fresh eyes to give honest feedback, find some people who don’t go to your church but are willing to evaluate it for you. Find both people who are familiar and unfamiliar with church, and ask them what their experience was like. What did they like? What turned them off? Where were they confused? What would have helped?
Before you buy that new piece of equipment or launch that new service, make sure that what you’re doing is working as well as it could.
4. Create an Intentional Guest Follow Up ProcedureThis is one of those steps that we all know we should do, but it often falls through the cracks. We will have bursts of motivation for it, sending thank you emails or taking people small gifts after the start of the new year or after a weekend like Easter. But it is a week-in-week-out necessity.
Create a clear, easy, and low-pressure way to collect contact information from visitors. Ask for as little information as you need, like a name and email address (you can get all the kids’ birthdays when they join the church later).
Then make a plan for what to do with the information. Does someone send them a personal email? Does it come from the pastor or a lay person? Do you create an email sequence that can be sent over a week or two that thanks them and introduces them to difference aspects of the church and its mission?
Once you have the system figured out, make sure someone is following up on it every week. Making contact after someone visits is a great way to let them know that their visit mattered and that your church cares.
5. Make Next Steps and the Discipleship Path ClearOk, great—you have a follow-up system in place and people are coming back. What now?
Well, you have new members class, Wednesday night dinner, small groups, Sunday school, the food pantry, youth group, a mission trip, a prayer circle, men’s ministry, women’s ministry, mom’s ministry, single’s ministry, and a thousand other options. Talk about decision paralysis!
Create a clear sequence of next steps that help people get plugged into the church. It doesn’t have to be a 3-year process, and you don’t have to keep visitors, new members, or transfers from knowing about and participating in your other ministries. However, you have an awesome opportunity to introduce people to your church, what it believes, and what it does in an intentional way.
Offer multiple on-ramps based on where someone is in their walk with Christ. Someone who is new to the faith might benefit from a “Christianity 101” class or beginner-level small group, but a family that just moved to town and was active in their previous church may only need an introduction to your church.
And what better way to make sure that everyone is on the same page and focused on the same mission than to offer a standard “on-boarding” process? When you implement it, ask current members to go through it too so that it becomes a shared experience and something they can recommend or explain to visitors they meet/bring.
None of these are particularly flashy or exciting, and they’re certainly not new. But they are the kind of foundational problems that will undermine the flashy, exciting things you are dreaming about. Like a thinner lap top with an unreliable battery, it defeats the purpose. So, maybe it’s time to fix the boring problems.
Dan Wunderlich is a United Methodist pastor and creator of Defining Grace, where this article first appeared. He also hosts the Art of the Sermon podcast, a podcast that serves preachers, teachers and other communicators of the Gospel. You can connect with him at dan@defininggrace.com.
Read more from Dan Wunderlich »
Dan Wunderlich is a United Methodist pastor and creator of Defining Grace, where this article first appeared. He also hosts the Art of the Sermon podcast, a podcast that serves preachers, teachers and other communicators of the Gospel. You can connect with him at dan@defininggrace.com.
IDEAS THAT IMPACT: FAITHFUL MANAGEMENT
Congregational management: a holy calling
Congregational Management: A Holy Calling by Ryn Nasser
Dan Wunderlich is a United Methodist pastor and creator of Defining Grace, where this article first appeared. He also hosts the Art of the Sermon podcast, a podcast that serves preachers, teachers and other communicators of the Gospel. You can connect with him at dan@defininggrace.com.
IDEAS THAT IMPACT: FAITHFUL MANAGEMENT
Congregational management: a holy calling
Congregational Management: A Holy Calling by Ryn Nasser
Managers in congregations need to pay close attention to the systemic inputs of people, facilities, and money that generate the kind of ministry outputs that God calls on congregations to produce. To that end, here are six key practices for effective congregational management.
Congregations are among the most fascinating systems anyone can be called to manage. Like all systems, they are filled with anxiety. Unlike most systems, they also are filled with a peace the world cannot give. Like most systems, they are guided by a vision. Unlike most systems, they are guided by a vision that has endured for two thousand years. As managers of these congregational systems, we make a mistake if we ignore the God-given vision and divinely implanted peace that has sustained the Christian church and congregational life for two millennia. They are strengths upon which we can build effective, growing ministries.
To fully maximize the vision and allow the peace of Christ to manifest itself in the lives of congregations, managers need to pay close attention to the systemic inputs of people, facilities, and money that generate the ministry outputs God calls on congregations to produce. To that end, there are six key practices for effective congregational management:
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Adapted from The Business of the Church: The Uncomfortable Truth that Faithful Ministry Requires Effective Management by John W. Wimberly, Jr., copyright © 2010 by the Alban Institute. All rights reserved.
Read more from John Wimberly »
Great committees
Great Committees by Ryn Nasser
Congregations are among the most fascinating systems anyone can be called to manage. Like all systems, they are filled with anxiety. Unlike most systems, they also are filled with a peace the world cannot give. Like most systems, they are guided by a vision. Unlike most systems, they are guided by a vision that has endured for two thousand years. As managers of these congregational systems, we make a mistake if we ignore the God-given vision and divinely implanted peace that has sustained the Christian church and congregational life for two millennia. They are strengths upon which we can build effective, growing ministries.
To fully maximize the vision and allow the peace of Christ to manifest itself in the lives of congregations, managers need to pay close attention to the systemic inputs of people, facilities, and money that generate the ministry outputs God calls on congregations to produce. To that end, there are six key practices for effective congregational management:
- Thinking Systemically. When managers of congregations deal solely with parts of the body of Christ rather than the whole, they become totally reactive. They fix the plumbing leak but never address an aging plumbing system that, over time, will deplete scarce financial resources that could have been used for mission. Reactive managing is more time-consuming than proactive attention to the system as a whole. When a major personnel, facilities, or financial subsystem malfunctions, it can bring the entire congregation to a grinding halt. It is far easier to keep a system maintained and running properly than to restore one that has failed. But such care requires that managers recognize and understand the systems of which they are stewards. To stay focused on the relationship of the parts and the whole, I recommend keeping Paul’s body of Christ imagery front and center. Comparing the body of Christ and it parts with the human body and its parts, Paul blends the idea of the whole with its parts in pure systems theory manner. Just as the human body needs ears as well as eyes, the body of Christ needs teachers, prophets, leaders, and managers. This is not only excellent theology. It is also excellent management theory.
- Understanding the Difference between Management and Leadership. Effective organizations are run by people who know when they are leading and when they are managing. The two require very different but complementary ways of thinking. Leadership thinks long-term, management short-term; leadership focuses on strategic issues, management on implementation; leadership inspires people, management brings people together into a cohesive, efficient group. When a pastor or layperson can differentiate between those occasions when she needs to lead and those when she needs to manage, she will be more effective and fulfilled.
- Lubricating the System. Managers “grease the gears” of a system to keep it running smoothly. Before friction (such as facilities issues, personnel problems, or financial surprises) reaches the point where it can limit ministry, managers apply the needed lubrication (usually involving more people, space, or money) to keep the parts running smoothly. If the system lacks effective management, the parts will begin to work against themselves in ways that damage the productivity of the whole. Paul advises that even the most nondescript parts of the body of Christ are significant. So it is in the life of a congregation.
- Maximizing the Possibilities of the Parts. When working with personnel, effective managers seek to bring out the best in those they manage while limiting the impact of an employee’s weaknesses on the system. With facilities, managers make the most of the limited space they manage, setting aside funds to pay for future capital costs. With finances, managers maximize dollars by ensuring that money is handled in a manner that discourages fraud, keeping utility and insurance costs as low as possible, and matching investments appropriately to the needs of the congregation.
- Limiting Risks. By the nature of their role in a system, congregational leaders are supposed to take appropriate risks. They may choose to start a program for which there is, initially, inadequate personnel and financial inputs. Fulfilling their role, congregational managers are supposed to identify and reduce risks. They ask the questions the dreamers sometimes ignore: “How are we going to pay for this?” or “Are we ready to make the repairs and renovations to our electrical and plumbing systems that will be needed to sustain this new program?”
- Aligning the Parts. Productive managers have a clear understanding of the vision and goals a congregation is attempting to implement. Ideally, this vision has been mapped out in a strategic plan that includes accompanying objectives, strategies, and performance measures. When the inputs of facilities, finance, and people are aligned with a well thought out strategic plan grounded in solid theology, a congregation can move mountains. However, it’s essential to have every part of the body aligned and invested in the plan. The organization’s “foot” needs to understand that it is as important as the “brain.” As Harvard Business School’s Kim Clark says, “You need to have everybody believe in the organization. You need everybody to think that they’re part of it, and they are being invested in, as well as being asked of.”
- The best managers learn as they manage. Sometimes, we learn more from our mistakes than our successes. However, learning what works and doesn’t work with our given inputs and our own individual strengths and weaknesses as managers is key to growing into the practice of management.
__________________________________________________________
Adapted from The Business of the Church: The Uncomfortable Truth that Faithful Ministry Requires Effective Management by John W. Wimberly, Jr., copyright © 2010 by the Alban Institute. All rights reserved.
Read more from John Wimberly »
Great committees
Great Committees by Ryn Nasser
Committee work is often cumbersome and tedious, and yet, some committees are able to accomplish a great deal -- managing existing programs, generating and evaluating new ideas, and making it possible for their parent body to make decisions more wisely. How do they do that? Dan Hotchkiss offers an explanation.
In an old cartoon by Charles Addams, a man and his son walk through a park and look at statues, each of which depicts a little clutch of people. “There are no great men, my boy,” the father says, “only great committees” (The New Yorker, May 5, 1975).
We laugh. A great committee—how absurd! For quite a while, the venerable committee has been out of style. Books on how to jazz up congregations scorn the committee as a time-wasting fossil of the pre-postmodern era.
And yet, some committees accomplish a great deal—managing existing programs, generating and evaluating new ideas, and making it possible for their parent body to make decisions more wisely. What makes it possible for a committee to be good, or even great?
Most standing committees in churches and synagogues are really not committees at all; they have charge of an activity. In effect, they function as department heads. If I ran the world, such committees would be called teams. In larger congregations, the paid staff would generally appoint their leaders, direct their work, and take responsibility for their performance.
But some committees really are committees: they don’t exist to manage operational work but to support decision-making by a parent body like the governing board or congregation.
This is the original idea of a committee as defined in parliamentary manuals like Robert’s Rules of Order, and it’s not a bad idea. Small groups can do things large groups can’t. It is often more efficient to create a committee to address a complex matter than for the parent body to take it on alone. Unfortunately, “the committee” has become an all-purpose organizing tool. Like the person with a hammer who sees only nails, we assign every kind of task to a committee.
Lots of committees do good work; a few are truly great. Good committees do what they’re told: pre-process a decision, come up with a recommended action, and make a case for it before the board. The board often does as its committee recommends—either because it is persuaded or perhaps simply because it thinks it should “trust the committees.”
Some boards refer business to committees in a more or less frank effort to evade responsibility. A board might, for example, create a committee to choose new carpet for the sanctuary. Such a committee’s job, of course, is mainly to take some of the heat for a decision that is guaranteed to be controversial. The board approves the recommended color (puce), piously intones its gratitude to the committee, and moves on to something else.
One wonders, in such cases, why the board doesn’t simply delegate authority to choose a carpet color. But by going through these motions, the board reassures itself that it is in the driver’s seat. Nothing is lost but a good chunk of everybody’s time, as each decision gets discussed three times or more.
Fine. But it’s not so fine when boards do the same thing with the annual budget, or the building plan—passing the buck to a committee on decisions that affect ministry priorities over months or years. Boards are especially keen to brush such matters off, not only because they are complex and time-consuming, but because to make them well, the board would have to understand and discuss subjects boards rarely talk about—like worship, education, music or social action.
A good committee accepts its charge, completes it, and relieves the board, as much as possible, from stress. But for critical decisions, the board needs a committee that is not just good, but great. A great committee scrutinizes its charge and demands more guidance if it needs it. Rather than relieving the board of its responsibilities, it sets the table for the board to face its most important questions and address them after full and open conversation.
Ideally, a board would never hand a matter to a committee without giving adequate guidance. This is not easy: it means saying up front everything the board has to say about the matter. What are the goals to be achieved and the criteria that must be met? Under what conditions would the board reject a course of action? This is a hard conversation, because it requires the board to rise above the particulars to be decided and address the matter more abstractly.
Great committees do not spare the board this work. Instead, they ask questions: What are the goals this budget must support? What are the principles that should underlie staff compensation? What difference do we mean to make in the lives of our young people through the behavior policies you want us to create? How many people and what kind of program does our new building need to accommodate?
These are hard conversations. Board members may say, “We don’t know what we want. That’s why we appointed a committee.” Really? The board has nothing to say about its underlying values, vision, and goals? Good committees accept this; great ones press on till the board has given them a proper charge.
Good committees produce recommendations and get them adopted; great committees set the table for important conversations. Great committees lead, not by getting their way, but by clarifying issues, gathering data, and posing questions that enable the board and the entire community to make its most important choices.
Good committees relieve others of responsibility. That can be a useful service, especially when the decision to be made is small. Big decisions require great committees, committees brave enough to require others—board, staff, congregation—to reflect more deeply and intelligently before making the decisions that matter in the long run.
Congregations, 2013-03-22
2013 Issue 1, Number 1
Read more »
Guidelines for leading meetingsGuidelines for Leading Meetings Ryn Nasser
In an old cartoon by Charles Addams, a man and his son walk through a park and look at statues, each of which depicts a little clutch of people. “There are no great men, my boy,” the father says, “only great committees” (The New Yorker, May 5, 1975).
We laugh. A great committee—how absurd! For quite a while, the venerable committee has been out of style. Books on how to jazz up congregations scorn the committee as a time-wasting fossil of the pre-postmodern era.
And yet, some committees accomplish a great deal—managing existing programs, generating and evaluating new ideas, and making it possible for their parent body to make decisions more wisely. What makes it possible for a committee to be good, or even great?
Most standing committees in churches and synagogues are really not committees at all; they have charge of an activity. In effect, they function as department heads. If I ran the world, such committees would be called teams. In larger congregations, the paid staff would generally appoint their leaders, direct their work, and take responsibility for their performance.
But some committees really are committees: they don’t exist to manage operational work but to support decision-making by a parent body like the governing board or congregation.
This is the original idea of a committee as defined in parliamentary manuals like Robert’s Rules of Order, and it’s not a bad idea. Small groups can do things large groups can’t. It is often more efficient to create a committee to address a complex matter than for the parent body to take it on alone. Unfortunately, “the committee” has become an all-purpose organizing tool. Like the person with a hammer who sees only nails, we assign every kind of task to a committee.
Lots of committees do good work; a few are truly great. Good committees do what they’re told: pre-process a decision, come up with a recommended action, and make a case for it before the board. The board often does as its committee recommends—either because it is persuaded or perhaps simply because it thinks it should “trust the committees.”
Some boards refer business to committees in a more or less frank effort to evade responsibility. A board might, for example, create a committee to choose new carpet for the sanctuary. Such a committee’s job, of course, is mainly to take some of the heat for a decision that is guaranteed to be controversial. The board approves the recommended color (puce), piously intones its gratitude to the committee, and moves on to something else.
One wonders, in such cases, why the board doesn’t simply delegate authority to choose a carpet color. But by going through these motions, the board reassures itself that it is in the driver’s seat. Nothing is lost but a good chunk of everybody’s time, as each decision gets discussed three times or more.
Fine. But it’s not so fine when boards do the same thing with the annual budget, or the building plan—passing the buck to a committee on decisions that affect ministry priorities over months or years. Boards are especially keen to brush such matters off, not only because they are complex and time-consuming, but because to make them well, the board would have to understand and discuss subjects boards rarely talk about—like worship, education, music or social action.
A good committee accepts its charge, completes it, and relieves the board, as much as possible, from stress. But for critical decisions, the board needs a committee that is not just good, but great. A great committee scrutinizes its charge and demands more guidance if it needs it. Rather than relieving the board of its responsibilities, it sets the table for the board to face its most important questions and address them after full and open conversation.
Ideally, a board would never hand a matter to a committee without giving adequate guidance. This is not easy: it means saying up front everything the board has to say about the matter. What are the goals to be achieved and the criteria that must be met? Under what conditions would the board reject a course of action? This is a hard conversation, because it requires the board to rise above the particulars to be decided and address the matter more abstractly.
Great committees do not spare the board this work. Instead, they ask questions: What are the goals this budget must support? What are the principles that should underlie staff compensation? What difference do we mean to make in the lives of our young people through the behavior policies you want us to create? How many people and what kind of program does our new building need to accommodate?
These are hard conversations. Board members may say, “We don’t know what we want. That’s why we appointed a committee.” Really? The board has nothing to say about its underlying values, vision, and goals? Good committees accept this; great ones press on till the board has given them a proper charge.
Good committees produce recommendations and get them adopted; great committees set the table for important conversations. Great committees lead, not by getting their way, but by clarifying issues, gathering data, and posing questions that enable the board and the entire community to make its most important choices.
Good committees relieve others of responsibility. That can be a useful service, especially when the decision to be made is small. Big decisions require great committees, committees brave enough to require others—board, staff, congregation—to reflect more deeply and intelligently before making the decisions that matter in the long run.
Congregations, 2013-03-22
2013 Issue 1, Number 1
Read more »
Guidelines for leading meetingsGuidelines for Leading Meetings Ryn Nasser
Perhaps negative impressions of committee meetings have less to do with inherent weaknesses or failures of group work per se than they do with specific dysfunctional group practices and behaviors. Here are eight simple guidelines that can go a long way to help people be more effective in how they lead meetings.
You may share the sentiment captured in Barnett Cock’s remark, “A committee is a cul-de-sc down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled.” This somewhat humorous, tongue-in-cheek analogy may have more than a grain of truth for members of many church councils, ministry teams, task forces, committees, and organizations. If you want a good idea to die or a creative action plan to be stillborn, then just give it to a committee, say sarcastic naysayers. Why do people put down, scorn, or speak critically about these pervasive, established, and, at times, effective staples in most churches?
Perhaps negative impressions of committee meetings have less to do with inherent weaknesses or failures of group work per se than they do with dysfunctional group practices and behaviors. Here are eight simple guidelines that can go a long way to help people be more effective in how they lead meetings.
1. How we view ourselves as group leaders matters.While leadership may emerge naturally, most church groups have a leader. Someone is usually designated to help the group accomplish its task and work as a team. Here’s how I view myself as a group leader: I am a member of the group designated to help the group go where it wants to go to the extent that such help is needed.
2. People enter a group with two primary questions: Why are we here? And how may I participate?Put clarity of group purpose and member participation at the top of your “to do” list early in group life. Most people want to know why they are meeting, and how they may participate. Create an overview of your group’s objectives, goals, purposes, and processes. Likewise, develop conversation guidelines that let members know what is expected of them as participants.
3. Groups usually need a balance of task-work and teamwork.Some people’s primary interest is the accomplishment of their group’s task. Other people are most interested in working together as a team. In reality, both task-work and teamwork are important. So, what’s needed is a balanced approach. While this understanding will seem intuitive to most people, nonetheless, patience with one another is often required. In most instances, both group productivity and group cohesion are achievable expectations.
4. Groups need leaders who are flexible and adaptable.In recent years, a new theory of leadership effectiveness has evolved: a flexible, adaptable approach. Rather than posses certain traits, develop certain styles, or focus on certain situational factors, here, it’s the behavior of leaders that matter. Specifically, we can help our leaders increase their behavioral flexibility so they can adapt to such situational factors as group structure, leader power, and leader-member relations.
Sometimes, there will be a greater demand for task-oriented behaviors. And other times, a greater emphasis on relationship-oriented behaviors is required. What we need are leaders who’ve learned how both to jettison ineffective leadership behaviors and to practice effective leadership behaviors.
5. Groups must learn how to deal with dysfunctional member behavior.Most groups will experience periodic difficulties in the way members interact with one another. Here are some common group problems you may encounter: aggressiveness, anxiety, avoidance of depth, backstabbing, cultural Insensitivity, defensiveness, disgruntlement or agitation, distrust, domination, fearfulness, inappropriate settings, inflexibility, judging, passivity, stubbornness, superficiality, and unfilled expectations.
While a daunting challenge, it is generally best to face dysfunctional behavior openly, directly, and creatively. Perhaps the best way for a group to deal directly with dysfunctional behavior is to build into group life regular periods of review. Have people name specific troublesome behaviors, describe how they experience such behavior, and then offer suggestions for changing the dysfunctional behavior.
6. Groups function properly when everyone contributes.Active participation of all small group members is imperative for healthy group discussion and quality decision-making. It’s okay that some people are talkative while others are quiet. What’s not okay is when people so dominate group discussion that opportunity for everyone to speak is sacrificed. Conversely, what isn’t okay is when people so withhold their contribution to group discussion and decision-making that valuable insight is forfeited.
Here are seven strategies for achieving full-group participation: round-robin sharing, breakout groups, open space meetings, Eric Law’s Mutual Invitation, Roberts Rules of Order, process observation, and cultivating curiosity.
7. Groups can profit from collaborative decision-making.Most groups have topics to explore, discussion to engage, problems to solve, and decisions to make. Normally, these activities require collaboration between leaders and member. For example, ownership and implementation of group decisions often require mutually agreeable decision-making. Traditional bureaucratic patterns of organizing and leadership often are hard-pressed to deliver these desired results.
In our post-modern, post-Christian, post-denominational era, there seems to be a greater receptivity, renewal, and practice of collaborative leadership than in previous generations. Nonetheless, the top-down, corporate model of directed leadership remains commonplace in many quarters. While some may resist this movement from bureaucratic to collaborative leadership, this shift will be particularly beneficial for leading meetings in churches.
8. A very simple agenda can lead to lively group discussion.I facilitate an adult education class. Often we view a 15-20 minute video presentation, then have 30-40 minutes of group discussion. Two factors are largely responsible for creating lively conversation: compelling content, and simple group direction. In fact, stimulating content seems to produce lively group discussion. Whereas most video resources provide questions for group discussion, I find that this simple, single question almost always results in lively, stimulating, productive group discussion: “what strikes you in the video?” I merely invite reflections, and then moderate the sharing of reactions to the video and to one another’s contributions. In short, I help us help each other learn. This experience is a classic demonstration of the adage the process is the product.
This article is adapted and excerpted from the Congregations magazine article, “Another Committee? You Must Be Crazy! – 8 Guidelines for Leading Meetings.”
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Read more from Tom Kirkpatrick »
FROM THE ALBAN LIBRARY
You may share the sentiment captured in Barnett Cock’s remark, “A committee is a cul-de-sc down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled.” This somewhat humorous, tongue-in-cheek analogy may have more than a grain of truth for members of many church councils, ministry teams, task forces, committees, and organizations. If you want a good idea to die or a creative action plan to be stillborn, then just give it to a committee, say sarcastic naysayers. Why do people put down, scorn, or speak critically about these pervasive, established, and, at times, effective staples in most churches?
Perhaps negative impressions of committee meetings have less to do with inherent weaknesses or failures of group work per se than they do with dysfunctional group practices and behaviors. Here are eight simple guidelines that can go a long way to help people be more effective in how they lead meetings.
1. How we view ourselves as group leaders matters.While leadership may emerge naturally, most church groups have a leader. Someone is usually designated to help the group accomplish its task and work as a team. Here’s how I view myself as a group leader: I am a member of the group designated to help the group go where it wants to go to the extent that such help is needed.
2. People enter a group with two primary questions: Why are we here? And how may I participate?Put clarity of group purpose and member participation at the top of your “to do” list early in group life. Most people want to know why they are meeting, and how they may participate. Create an overview of your group’s objectives, goals, purposes, and processes. Likewise, develop conversation guidelines that let members know what is expected of them as participants.
3. Groups usually need a balance of task-work and teamwork.Some people’s primary interest is the accomplishment of their group’s task. Other people are most interested in working together as a team. In reality, both task-work and teamwork are important. So, what’s needed is a balanced approach. While this understanding will seem intuitive to most people, nonetheless, patience with one another is often required. In most instances, both group productivity and group cohesion are achievable expectations.
4. Groups need leaders who are flexible and adaptable.In recent years, a new theory of leadership effectiveness has evolved: a flexible, adaptable approach. Rather than posses certain traits, develop certain styles, or focus on certain situational factors, here, it’s the behavior of leaders that matter. Specifically, we can help our leaders increase their behavioral flexibility so they can adapt to such situational factors as group structure, leader power, and leader-member relations.
Sometimes, there will be a greater demand for task-oriented behaviors. And other times, a greater emphasis on relationship-oriented behaviors is required. What we need are leaders who’ve learned how both to jettison ineffective leadership behaviors and to practice effective leadership behaviors.
5. Groups must learn how to deal with dysfunctional member behavior.Most groups will experience periodic difficulties in the way members interact with one another. Here are some common group problems you may encounter: aggressiveness, anxiety, avoidance of depth, backstabbing, cultural Insensitivity, defensiveness, disgruntlement or agitation, distrust, domination, fearfulness, inappropriate settings, inflexibility, judging, passivity, stubbornness, superficiality, and unfilled expectations.
While a daunting challenge, it is generally best to face dysfunctional behavior openly, directly, and creatively. Perhaps the best way for a group to deal directly with dysfunctional behavior is to build into group life regular periods of review. Have people name specific troublesome behaviors, describe how they experience such behavior, and then offer suggestions for changing the dysfunctional behavior.
6. Groups function properly when everyone contributes.Active participation of all small group members is imperative for healthy group discussion and quality decision-making. It’s okay that some people are talkative while others are quiet. What’s not okay is when people so dominate group discussion that opportunity for everyone to speak is sacrificed. Conversely, what isn’t okay is when people so withhold their contribution to group discussion and decision-making that valuable insight is forfeited.
Here are seven strategies for achieving full-group participation: round-robin sharing, breakout groups, open space meetings, Eric Law’s Mutual Invitation, Roberts Rules of Order, process observation, and cultivating curiosity.
7. Groups can profit from collaborative decision-making.Most groups have topics to explore, discussion to engage, problems to solve, and decisions to make. Normally, these activities require collaboration between leaders and member. For example, ownership and implementation of group decisions often require mutually agreeable decision-making. Traditional bureaucratic patterns of organizing and leadership often are hard-pressed to deliver these desired results.
In our post-modern, post-Christian, post-denominational era, there seems to be a greater receptivity, renewal, and practice of collaborative leadership than in previous generations. Nonetheless, the top-down, corporate model of directed leadership remains commonplace in many quarters. While some may resist this movement from bureaucratic to collaborative leadership, this shift will be particularly beneficial for leading meetings in churches.
8. A very simple agenda can lead to lively group discussion.I facilitate an adult education class. Often we view a 15-20 minute video presentation, then have 30-40 minutes of group discussion. Two factors are largely responsible for creating lively conversation: compelling content, and simple group direction. In fact, stimulating content seems to produce lively group discussion. Whereas most video resources provide questions for group discussion, I find that this simple, single question almost always results in lively, stimulating, productive group discussion: “what strikes you in the video?” I merely invite reflections, and then moderate the sharing of reactions to the video and to one another’s contributions. In short, I help us help each other learn. This experience is a classic demonstration of the adage the process is the product.
This article is adapted and excerpted from the Congregations magazine article, “Another Committee? You Must Be Crazy! – 8 Guidelines for Leading Meetings.”
Copyright © 2013, the Alban Institute. All rights reserved. We encourage you to share Alban Weekly articles with your congregation. We gladly allow permission to reprint articles from the Alban Weekly for one-time use by congregations and their leaders when the material is offered free of charge. All we ask is that you write to us at alban@div.duke.edu and let us know how Alban Weekly is making an impact in your congregation. If you would like to use any other Alban material, or if your intended use of Alban Weekly does not fall within this scope, please submit our reprint permission request form.
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FROM THE ALBAN LIBRARY
The Business of the Church: The Uncomfortable Truth that Faithful Ministry Requires Effective Management by John Wimberly, Jr.Pastors are called to be not only leaders with vision, but also managers of congregational systems, says John Wimberly in The Business of the Church. Drawing on his thirty-six years in ordained ministry, Wimberly weaves the realities of congregational dynamics and faith-centered purpose together with practical, proven approaches to business management.
A student and friend of Rabbi Friedman, Wimberly builds on Friedman's systems theory as he helps readers avoid common pitfalls and put into practice effective techniques of congregational management.
The book begins with a foundational discussion of how a systems approach helps congregational managers identify areas of dysfunction and effective solutions. Managing the critical 'inputs' of people, facilities, and finances has a direct bearing on the desired 'outputs' of proclamation, pastoral care, and mission. A strategic plan, through which a congregation sets its goals and identifies and prioritizes resources, is an essential management tool for both pastors and lay leaders.
The author's conversational writing style and many real-life examples make a seemingly complicated, mysterious topic for some an engaging and easily applicable read.
The Business of the Church
The Uncomfortable Truth that Faithful Ministry Requires Effective Management
JOHN W. WIMBERLY, JR.
Pastors are called to be not only leaders with vision, but also managers of congregational systems, says John Wimberly in The Business of the Church. Drawing on his thirty-six years in ordained ministry, Wimberly weaves the realities of congregational dynamics and faith-centered purpose together with practical, proven approaches to business management. A student and friend of Rabbi Edwin Friedman, Wimberly builds on Friedman's systems theory as he helps readers avoid common pitfalls and put into practice effective techniques of congregational management. The book begins with a foundational discussion of how a systems approach helps congregational managers identify areas of dysfunction and...
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Book Details Author Reviews
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Alban Books
Pages: 164 •
978-1-56699-404-0 • Paperback • May 2010 • $22.00 • (£14.95)
978-1-56699-649-5 • eBook • May 2010 • $20.50 • (£13.95)
Subjects:Religion / Christian Church / Administration
Book Details Author Reviews
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Alban Books
Pages: 164 •
978-1-56699-404-0 • Paperback • May 2010 • $22.00 • (£14.95)
978-1-56699-649-5 • eBook • May 2010 • $20.50 • (£13.95)
Subjects:Religion / Christian Church / Administration
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Alban at Duke Divinity School
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