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Friends and Colleagues,
How are you leading your church's officers and/or other leaders to be more effective? What are some approaches that a coach uses that might help you and them be more effective?
Following is an article which describes how using a coaching approach might really help you lead. The resource section highlights a book I think is one of the best I've seen for training officers.
If you'd like some coaching regarding being a more effective leader or
how to deal with some challenges, give me a call. I'd love to explore possibilities.
If you know someone who might benefit from my thoughts here,
please use the "Forward to a Friend" button in the newsletter (that
way you'll avoid problems with spam filters).
Here's to clarity about how God is leading us!
Peace,
Bob
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A Coaching Approach to Leadership
"Bob, you oughta take the Georgetown Leadership
Coaching course that I took. You do this
stuff all the time!" urged Mark, a member of a church where I was the Interim Pastor. Curious, I looked into the notion of coaching and discovered a lot of what I and
many other effective leaders do can be called coaching.
So what's involved? What coaching might you already be doing? And what else might you
pick up as you lead your church or other organization?
For starters, coaching involves building a relationship
with the client. An effective leader
builds rapport and respect with followers.
They know you are interested in them as people, not just cogs in a
wheel.
You listen - actively - hearing not only the words, but
the emotion underlying what is said.
What is the person communicating non-verbally? What isn't being said? And you respond so that the other knows
you've heard and understand. Part of
this involves being really present to the person you're talking with; you can't
multi-task when you're listening effectively.
Effective coaches and leaders ask powerful, open-ended
questions. You're curious, exploring the
reasons for behaviors and customs.
"I wonder why we're getting resistance to this idea. Anything like this happen before?" "You have set a goal of increasing
worship attendance. What gets in the way
of that happening and what might you and your committee do to help make it
happen?" "What ideas do you
have about involving more people in hands-on mission activities?"
Effective leaders help followers/members reframe
issues. Rather than just seeing
problems, they lead colleagues to explore other possibilities. Rather than blaming, they ask what else might
be going on with a difficult person.
Just like a coach, an effective leader sometimes
confronts a person with their behavior and invites change and action. "I observe that you seem to need to
control everything and everyone. How is
that working for you? How might you
empower so and so to take more initiative?" "What are you going to commit yourself
to doing between now and next month?" "Leaders in this church seem to
have a norm of avoiding conflict. Am I
right? What is the consequence of this
practice?"
Effective leaders and coaches affirm the good stuff
they observe. "Give yourself credit
for handling a difficult situation! You
helped them navigate a very tricky set of rapids!" "I like the way you reframed the issue
so that they could see things from a different perspective." "I really appreciate how you got them
off their need for comfort and helped them explore what Christ is calling this
church to be and do."
The International Coach Federation has a list of
coaching competencies. You can read them
at the ICF website:http://www.coachfederation.org/research-education/icf-credentials/core-competencies/
I encourage you to review these competencies and
consider what you're already doing as a leader. In what areas might you grow? How might you be even more effective as a
leader if you used some of these approaches?
Interested in exploring how you might grow as a
leader? I'd love to coach you, using
some of what I described above. Please
email or call me to experience a taste of coaching. Or if you'd like to explore studying coaching, I can point you in helpful directions.
Know someone you think could benefit from this
newsletter or coaching? Please forward
this to them using the "Forward to a Friend" link here in the
newsletter.
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Resources - books and other resources that have been helpful
Rowboat
or Sailboat? Joan Gray's Spiritual
Leadership for Church Officers: A Handbook
"Are you a rowboat or sailboat church?" asks Gray, a former moderator of the
Presbyterian Church (USA). Leaders in a
rowboat church believe that a church's progress depends on their power to carry
out whatever they determine is God's will with the resources they have. On the other hand, leaders in a sailboat
church catch the wind in their sails, confident that "God can do more than
we can ask or imagine. Its leaders know
that what they have or lack in the way of human and material resources is not
the decisive factor in what they can accomplish as a church. Rather, they look on church as a continuing
adventure with a God who leads and empowers them to do more than they could
ever have dreamed."
in just over 100 pages she challenges leaders to catch
God's great vision for their church, sensing the way the wind of the Holy
Spirit is blowing and leading in that direction. She also deals with important nuts and bolts
of leading, dealing with disillusionment when church members behave like people
(even elders and deacons too!), overcoming needs for control or comfort, the
basics of faith, and continuing spiritual growth. She has an excellent section on understanding
the church as a system and how to deal with anxiety and uncertainty in the
system.
While this is clearly aimed at Presbyterian leaders, it
would be a useful book for leader training in other churches.
Spiritual Leadership for Church Officers: A Handbook by Joan Gray. Get it and use it!
If you'd like me to help with your officer training -
leading a retreat or other program, give me a call.
What books or resources have you found especially helpful? I'd be glad (with available space) to share your suggestions.
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Previous Newsletters
Here is a list of my previous newsletters. If you would like one or more newsletters, please email me and I'll be glad to give you links to them.
bob@bobharriscoaching.com
February 2010 - Discerning a Mission and Vision
January 2010 - Feedforward - a different kind of 360
December 2009 - Appraisals - Part 2
November 2009 - Appraisals - Part 1
October 2009 - Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Getting Results
September 2009 - Five Dysfunctions - Ownership and Accountability
August 2009 - Five Dysfunctions - Good Fights
July 2009 - Five Dysfunctions - Building Trust
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Future Issues (monthly)
- Dealing with Bullies and other Difficult People
- Stimulating Giving (and commitment)
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I hope you have found this newsletter informative and helpful. Please subscribe to continue receiving it (or unsubscribe to stop). If you'd like to explore coaching, please email or call me.
If you have found it helpful, please forward it to friends who you think would appreciate it. (And please use the forward button on the newsletter itself.) For every friend who subscribes to the newsletter, I'll give you 45 minutes of free phone coaching.
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Bob
Robert Harris
Harris Coaching and Consulting
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