January 2013    
Harris Coaching and Consulting            
Thoughts for Leadership and Life
    
In This Issue
Top Ten Reasons to Get a Coach
Resource - America and Its Guns
What is Coaching?

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Friends and Colleagues,


Why hire a coach?  Or, more specifically, why hire me as your coach?

My main article lists a top ten set of reasons for coaching.  You will notice that they don't involve fixing someone. 

A representative from a major government contractor addressed the Georgetown University Coach conference recently. She declared: "We don't provide coaches to managers who have emotional problems or aren't effective. We provide coaches to those who are doing well and want to do better."

 

There are professionals far better trained than I who offer therapy.  I'm interested in coaching you to be your best self!

The Rev. Jim Atwood's book on America's idolatry of guns is most timely in these months following the Newtown massacre.  I commend it to you as you reflect theologically with your church. 

If you know someone who might benefit from coaching and/or 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
  



 Top Ten Reasons to Hire Me as Your Coach

 

Sometimes people wonder why they might get a coach. Here's a top ten list for why you might hire me (with a few added).

 

You might hire me to :

 

10 - help you deal with serious issues before they escalate beyond repair - and please, call me sooner than later!  

 

9 - help you deal with emotionally immature and disruptive persons who are sometimes in a leadership position. The key here is to mobilize the healthy leaders to counter the destructive actions of the disruptive person.

 

8 - clarify top priorities that are based on the church's sense of who God is calling it to be at this time and place. Then you might develop an appraisal system that is based on these priorities.

 

7 - be a sounding board as you reflect on challenges you face and the various approaches you might take. Several clients have noted that the ministry is a rather lonely call at times and it really helps to have me to talk with.  I will ask penetrating questions and help you reframe challenges and opportunities you are dealing with so that you might deal with them more effectively. For example, the initial issue might seem to be a difficulty in making decisions when the challenge is actually mistrust or fear.

 

6 - provide you with tools to understand the church system you're in. This is especially important for pastors new to a church. You must understand the territory if you're going to thrive! I have developed an interview form that new pastors have found really helpful. Additionally, I have a number of other tools that I have culled from secular leadership literature that are very applicable to churches.

 

5 - help you build trust and teach people how to fight effectively. If folks don't trust one another, you're dead in the water!

 

4 - help you be acutely aware of how you interact with staff members and members of the church and how you might change behaviors that are counterproductive and improve those which are productive

 

3 - clarify your top priorities for leadership and personal growth, helping you incorporate whatever you've learned in continuing education courses or workshops or from your reading. I might help you manage your time more effectively, get clear feedback regarding your leadership, assess your strengths, determine where you need to grow, etc.

 

2 - raise your leadership to a higher level, helping you set new goals for yourself and hold you accountable to your best self. You might set some BHAG's - Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals that reflect your sense of where God is calling you.

 

1 - assess the arc of your ministry to date and to explore various narratives of where your life has been, where it might be, and identify next steps to take.

 

A mantra of coaching is that "I have the questions and you have the answers!" Unless you prove me wrong, I will assume that you either know what you need to do or you can figure it out. My job is to help you clarify what you will do (sometimes suggesting resources or approaches) and hold you to your commitments.

 

Additional services as a consultant or trainer

 

While I am most interested in coaching, I often act as a trainer/teacher and consultant.

 

As a consultant, I might suggest what I see as the best course of action. For example, I enjoy leading the New Consecration Sunday stewardship program in which I consult with leaders about how to strengthen the spiritual discipline of giving.

 

I readily share some of my experience with new pastors, knowing full well that it may not apply at all to their situations. Nonetheless, I have developed a terrific process for helping pastors enter a new church.

 

As a trainer or teacher, I help pastors and lay leaders understand their church, its mission, and how it functions. I have led several churches in doing depth mission studies. I enjoy teaching about what factors contribute to being a vital church and what makes for effective church leadership. I enjoy teaching governing boards and staff members how to build trust, deal with differences effectively, and become an effective team.

 

Coaching Groups - In addition to offering individual coaching, I am planning to form some coaching groups of 4-5 pastors in this new year. We would meet monthly for about two hours (either in person or over the phone). Participants would share what's going on in their situations. I would then lead them to explore approaches to challenges, invite them to make commitments to actions, and we would hold each other mutually accountable. These would be less expensive than 1:1 coaching. Groups would be formed according to mutual interest, e.g. pastors new to a church, pastors in changing cultural situations, heads of multiple staff churches.

 

I encourage you to consider coaching, either one on one or in a group. Most of my coaching is done by phone in order to minimize commuting, but I make exceptions.

 

If you find this article helpful and think it might be helpful to a friend, please forward my newsletter to that friend using the "Forward to a Friend" button.  

 

 

Resources - books and other resources that have been helpful

America and its Guns: A Theological Expose' by James E. Atwood 
 

651,697 Americans died from guns in an 18 year period (1979-1997).   650,858 Americans died in all the wars in which our nation has fought - from the Revolutionary War to the Persian Gulf Conflict! In just 18 years, more have died from gun violence domestically than in all the wars we have fought!

  

That's just one statistic that a friend and clergy colleague in Virginia, Jim Atwood cites in his new book on the idolatry of guns in the USA.

  

His book, especially germane in the aftermath of the massacre of the innocents in Newtown, CT, is a wake-up call to pastors and church leaders. He uniquely uses a theological framework to address the problem of gun violence, asserting that the NRA and its fanatic gun owners raise guns to a level with God. he quotes former MRA executive, Warren Cassidy "You would get a far better understanding of the NRA if you were approaching us as one of the great religions of the world." (p. 20)

  

Atwood decries the craven fear of politicians and pastors who cave in to the pressure of the NRA and refuse to address sensible legislation to limit high powered weapons like Adam Lanza used in Newtown. He notes that the NRA and its lobbyists have systematically gutted the ATF and stopped enforcement of laws designed to identify criminals. He identifies some fifty laws and policies that perpetuate murder and disorder. Some of these include:

  • in most states, a person can buy and own a gun without knowing how to use it and there are no requirements that gun owners be trained in the safe operation of guns.
  • The ATF keeps records of all gun sales through licensed dealers, but must destroy them after ninety days.
  • Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc. is able to advertise its Model 82A1 .50 caliber sniper rifle: "The cost-effectiveness of the Model 82A1 cannot be overemphasized when a round of ammunition purchased or less than $10.00 (U.S.) can be used to destroy or disable a modern jet aircraft.

If you want a resource to help you preach or teach about how to deal with gun violence this is the one to get. Atwood has so much packed into its 200 pages, including lots that will preach!

 

Bottom line: we have many idols in our world now. Ever powerful guns are a particularly dangerous category of idols. Which god - or God - do we follow? (now I'm preaching!)

  

There is a march in Washington to end gun violence on January 26.  Mary Helen and I and a number of friends are going to be there.  Here's the website with information: www.guncontrolmarch.com  

 

 What books or resources have you found

especially helpful?  I'd be glad (with available space) to share your reviews and/or suggestions.  
Future Issues (bi-monthly)

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Bob
Robert Harris, Professional Certified Coach
Harris Coaching and Consulting

703-470-9841