Exam Guide Week 5 PDF

WEEK FIVE: From Leading the Congregation (15-Epilogue) 1. Identify descriptions of “wishing” “dreaming” “visionary” congregations. Refer to chapter 15, page 201 – 203 2. An important way the “Common” vision comes to a congregation is through its leadership. We also said discuss how...

WEEK FIVE: From Leading the Congregation (15-Epilogue) 1. Identify descriptions of “wishing” “dreaming” “visionary” congregations. Refer to chapter 15, page 201 – 203 2. An important way the “Common” vision comes to a congregation is through its leadership. We also said discuss how there may be other ways visions can happen (without competing with the “Common” vision or with others.) The "Common" vision in a congregation often arises through leadership, where leaders guide and articulate a shared direction that aligns with the congregation's mission, values, and spiritual identity. Leaders play a crucial role in fostering alignment, inspiring collaboration, and connecting individuals to a greater purpose Other Ways Visions Can Happen: 1. Spiritual Encounters: Members of the congregation may experience personal spiritual moments or divine inspiration that contribute to a broader collective vision. These encounters complement rather than compete with the shared vision 2. Blessed Hunger or Divine Impulse: A sense of spiritual yearning or calling may lead individuals or small groups to propose new ideas or ministries that align with the congregation’s mission and values 3. Recognizing Needs: Visions can emerge by observing unmet needs within the community or congregation. Members may feel called to address specific issues or serve in innovative ways 4. Collaborative Dreaming: Vision can also be shaped collectively through the aspirations and hopes of the congregation. By engaging members in open conversations, leaders can gather insights that enrich the “Common” vision 5. Planting Seeds for the Future: Individuals or groups may start initiatives or propose ideas that align with the overall mission, creating pathways for growth and transformation over time. These initiatives often reflect shared kingdom values The key is ensuring these diverse visions are harmonized and integrated into the overarching "Common" vision, fostering unity and preventing competition or fragmentation within the congregation. 3. Do you know what the “S” curve is? Refer to Chapter 16, page 217 – 220 Yes, the "S" curve described in the uploaded slides refers to the life cycle of organizations or initiatives, illustrating the phases of growth and decline. The curve represents: a. Birth: The starting point of an organization or initiative, characterized by energy and vision. b. Growth: A period of expansion, learning, and building. c. Maturity: Stability and optimization where the organization operates effectively at peak performance.  d. Decline: A phase where complacency, lack of innovation, or misalignment leads to reduced effectiveness and stagnation. e. Death: Without renewal or adaptation, the organization or initiative may cease to exist. The "S" curve highlights the importance of recognizing when an organization is at its peak (maturity) to prepare for renewal or transformation before decline sets in. Leaders are encouraged to innovate or pivot at the height of success to start a new growth cycle From Lectures/power point 1. Identify characteristics of the 3 major steps of Lewin’s model: unfreezing, movement, refreezing. 1. Unfreezing: Preparing the organization to accept that change is necessary by disrupting the status quo. This involves creating awareness of the need for change and reducing resistance. 2. Movement (Change): Transitioning from the current state to the desired state through planned interventions, learning new behaviors, and adopting new processes. 3. Refreezing: Reinforcing and stabilizing the change by embedding it into organizational culture, practices, and norms 2. Familiarize yourself with the personal change model with six stages. Why is there a danger zone? 1. Stage 1: Loss 2. Stage 2: Doubt 3. Stage 3: Discomfort (Danger Zone: individuals may revert to earlier stages if overwhelmed) 4. Stage 4: Discovery 5. Stage 5: Understanding 6. Stage 6: Integration Danger Zone: Occurs in the discomfort stage, where individuals struggle to assimilate change and may choose fear over progress, leading to resistance or regression 3. What are the four signs of “slow death?” 1. “Don’t rock the boat” mentality. 2. Violation of trust. 3. Thirst for vision. 4. Burnout among change advocates 4. What are the three barriers of middle management that lead to conformity – which gets in the say of deep change 1. Bureaucratic Culture: Multiple layers of approval and reactive patterns. 2. Embedded Conflict: Between functions, peers, or direct reports. 3. Personal Time Restraints: Overburdened roles leaving little room for creativity 5. What are 3 strategies for confronting “slow death?” 1. Recognizing the Need for Change: Acknowledging systemic issues. 2. Building Trust: Restoring faith in leadership and vision. 3. Providing Visionary Leadership: Inspiring hope and a clear direction 6. What’s the logic of task pursuit? 1. Pursuing tasks under stress without alignment leads to inefficiency. 2. The “tyranny of the in-basket” reflects busyness replacing meaningful progress. 3. Taking time for reflection (e.g., retreats) helps realign with organizational goals 7. Can you explain why resistance is important for leaders to recognize and deal with in change? 1. Resistance reveals underlying concerns and barriers to change. 2. Addressing resistance builds trust, ensures collaboration, and promotes sustainable change 8. Can you identify the “tell-tale signs” of resistance? Confusion, criticism, denial, malicious compliance, sabotage, easy agreement, deflection, silence, and overt criticism 9. Adaptive leadership – what’s the difference between technical and adaptive problems? 1. Technical Problems: Clear solutions with existing expertise or knowledge. 2. Adaptive Problems: Require changes in attitudes, behaviors, or culture and have no clear solutions 10. Adaptive leadership is a way to deal with complexity – problems where there are no known answers.... when you’re changing attitudes, behaviors, cultures, etc. Adaptive leadership deals with problems requiring cultural or behavioral change, often in the absence of predefined solutions 11. Can you identify a definition of the “productive zone of disequilibrium?” A balance between too much chaos (overwhelming the system) and too little challenge (no change), where constructive tension promotes learning and adaptation 12. What is the leader “going to the balcony?” This involves stepping back from the situation to observe dynamics objectively, identify patterns, and develop strategic responses 13. What is the “holding environment” in adaptive leadership? A psychological space where individuals feel safe to explore, experiment, and adapt to change while dealing with discomfort constructively 14. Can you identify the descriptors of prophet, priest, and king patterns of leadership in the OT? John Calvin argued that these patterns were inherent in the ministry of Jesus as, priest, and coming king. Jesus reframed kingly role as servant, shepherd,  and steward. Is there a way contemporary leaders can capture these patterns in contemporary ministry? 1. Prophet: Challenges the status quo with visionary leadership. 2. Priest: Provides soul care and fosters healing. 3. King (Reframed as Servant/Shepherd/Steward): Focuses on organizational stewardship, strategy, and alignment. Jesus embodied all three roles as Prophet, Priest, and King 15. Can you identify the contemporary roles of these patterns as prophetic/visionary, soul care leadership, and organizational leadership? 1. Prophetic Leadership: Visionary and value-driven, challenging injustice. 2. Soul Care Leadership: Nurturing, empathetic, and healing-oriented. 3. Organizational Leadership: Strategic and resource-focused 16. Leaders must know and understand the seasons individuals, families, and congregations experience. The pastor can bring to the congregation an understanding of how the Spirit leads congregations on a spiritual journey. Thus spirituality is a way, more than a station— a journey as much as a destination. But the journey is also a spiritual encounter and a process of moving closer to a land of promise that God prepares for God's people. Each congregation —and every individual— encounters a journey that takes its own twists and turns. Therefore God's call and presence relate to each congregation as unique and special to God, a journey that has been called the way of the heart. Might a biblical/theology metaphor of seasons help us fit human experiences with the leadership patterns of prophet, soul care, and org leadership? Indeed, the scriptures and the records of church history have left a witness that God leads each congregation with intentionality and purpose; some experiences are joyful and bright, others sorrowful and dark— but through each of them God leads to the land of promise. The Exodus story is a journey of God's leading the congregation of Israel into and out of slavery, through the wilderness wanderings, and finally into the Promised Land. The journey with God continues into the Gospels, where many who follow Jesus embark on their own journey of resistance, persecution, trial, and torture into and out of the wilderness of death— and finally into resurrection and new life. Be prepared to identify descriptors of the seasons. Also, see ch 13 in Leading the Congregation Over the centuries the church has recognized that its journey is much like the experiences of the congregation in the Old Testament and those who followed in the path of Jesus. It became clear that life could be understood as a people passing through certain seasons to celebrate the unfolding of the mystery of Christ; the church named these seasons: 1. Advent (coming of Christ) 2. Christmas (birth of Christ) 3. Epiphany (light to Gentiles) 4. Lent (journey toward death) 5. Easter (resurrection and new life) 6. Pentecost (power of the Holy Spirit) 7. Kingdomtide/Harvest Tide or Ordinary Time (God's renewing, sustaining presence)  Christian Leadership STRENGTHENING CHARACTER, COLLABORATION, AND ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS WEEK ONE Hour 1 – Leadership is profoundly contextual Hour 2 – Leaders doing theology Hour 3 – Leading from within – introduction and “best use of self” WEEK TWO Hour 1 – Life-long journey of being grounded in one’s call, vision, and mission of Christ Hour 2 – The leader’s “shadow work” Hour 3 – The leader and ”false self” dynamics -- becoming one’s true self in Christ! WEEK THREE Hour 1 – Team development & group dynamics Hour 2 – Followership Hour 3 – Conflict management WEEK FOUR Hour 1 Conflict intervention Hour 2 Becoming a self-differentiated leader in highly anxious systems. Hour 3 Spiritual leadership theory and marketplace spirituality promote organizational health Roger Heuser 1  WEEK FIVE Navigating and working with change: Leading toward transformation - continuing to grow into a spiritually and organizationally healthy organization: Hour 1 – Healthy organizations are missionally aligned -- moving toward a shared vision based on core values Hour 2 – Transformational change is key to organizational/spiritual health Hour 3 – Leading biblically through seasons of change SESSION FIVE Roger Heuser 2 … Christian organizations dare to dream God’s reconciling dream for the world Roger Heuser 3  LOCAL CHURCH IN A COMMUNITY THREATS OPPORTUNITIES in the in the Environment Environment THROUGHPUT boundaries mission spirit/ vision INPUT WEAKNESSES STRENGTHS OUTPUT (internal) (internal) org structure relationships Feedback Loop Roger Heuser 4  Organisation as an open system Origin System theory by von Bertalanffy, 1976 Organisation is an open system, constantly changing (context is Input a key reference point) What the organisation commits to put out in order to stay Output relevant There are important internal components (goals, tasks, technologies, structures, people, co-ordinating mechanisms, Throughput rewards, leadership and culture) The organisation is an open system constantly interacting with the environment, influencing it or being influenced by it, Interaction which in turn shapes the internal components in order to maintain its ability to produce the required output to stay viable Roger Heuser 5 Roger Heuser 6 Roger Heuser 7 Roger Heuser 8 Roger Heuser 9 Roger Heuser 10 Roger Heuser 11 Operating out of “Best Use of Self/True Self in Christ” vs “Unconscious Shadows/False Self” Roger Heuser 12 Roger Heuser 13  OUTSIDE NETWORKS ORGANIZATION Mission, Values, Structure, Culture, Change & Strategy… GROUP Team Development, Conflict Mgt, Group Process INTERPERSONAL Trust, Communication, Psychological Safety INTRAPERSONAL Divine Image-bearing (creative use of self) Human Brokenness (shadow work, false self) Roger Heuser 14 Different levels of systems work At the INDIVIDUAL level – ❖ Improve employees’ psychological (spiritual) health and motivation ❖ Increase employees’ participation and provide feedback ❖ Build strength, resourcefulness, resilience, emotional intelligence, and confidence to enhance the organizational health and effectiveness Roger Heuser 15 Different levels of systems work At the GROUP level – ❖ Build a relational culture, civility, decency, collective well-being, and positive interactions ❖ Improve employees’ psychological health and motivation ❖ Increase employees’ participation ❖ Build strength, resourcefulness, resilience, emotional intelligence, and confidence to enhance the organizational health and effectiveness Roger Heuser 16  Organization’s – widely used concept ❖ A state of convergence between strategy, management, operations, culture, and people. ❖ Management practices that prevent work-related stress while simultaneously promoting org effectiveness. ❖ The balance between organizational performance metrics and individual health index. ❖ It is more than just culture or employee engagement; it is the org’s ability to… ❑ align individuals, teams, programs around a common vision, ❑ execute against that vision effectively, and ❑ renew itself through spirituality, innovation, and creative thinking. Roger Heuser 17  Human needs and behaviours are foundational to all organisations’ functioning. Organisation Effective organizational functioning requires collaboration and co- operation among its members. Different groups moving cohesively and willingly towards the organization’s goals. Roger Heuser 18 A Clear and Compelling Mission - ch 14 See Leading the Congregation, ch 14 Roger Heuser 19  A Clear and Compelling Mission 3 Questions of Mission Clarity 1 - WHO ARE WE? 2 - TO WHAT PURPOSE HAS GOD CALLED US? ❖ Who do others say we are? ❖ Build on your strengths and giftings. ❖ Who do we want to be? ❖ Explore outside needs/opportunities ❖ Who does God want us to be? ❖ Determine what you really believe in – what do you imagine in light of missio Dei? 2 - HOW DO WE DECIDE ON RIGHT MISSION PRIORITIES AND GET THEM DONE? ❖ Church stands in the vortex of God’s eternal purposes and human needs. ❖ Who is our neighbor? How do we listen to them? ❖ How do we love and serve them? See Leading the Congregation, ch 14 Roger Heuser 20 Strategic leadership is a continuous process of… strengthening what works and abandoning what does not, making risk-taking decisions with the greatest knowledge of their potential effect, and seeing objectives, appraising performance and results through systematic feedback, and then making ongoing adjustments as conditions change. The immediate question that faces the organization is not what to do tomorrow. The question is, What must we do today to achieve results? Peter Drucker Roger Heuser 21 Peter F. Drucker  The Vision We Share 1 - DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VISION & MISSION ❖ Vision is a compelling image of a more desirable future, or the capacity to reframe present realities. ❖ Mission is the purpose – the “why” - we are actively engaged each day. 2- Three ways of Imagining the Future ❖ The “Wishing” Congregation ❖ The “Dreaming” Congregation ❖ The “Visionary Congregation – Alignment through shared vision, clear and compelling mission, and core values. 3- How visions may come to a congregation ❖ Spiritual Encounter (Spirituality is pre-requisite) ❖ Divine Impulse or Blessed Hung ❖ Seeing through a need ❖ Bring vision together with the hopes and dreams of the members See Leading the Congregation, ch 15 Roger Heuser 22  Break Out Sessions Personal journaling for 2-3 minutes – jot down some thoughts about the following questions: WHAT? (stands out for me? What interests me?) SO WHAT? (are the implications of the key points to what you are doing?) NOW WHAT? (may you consider doing or practicing? … etc) Roger Heuser 23  WEEK FIVE Navigating and working with change: Leading toward transformation - continuing to grow into a spiritually and organizationally healthy organization: Hour 1 – Healthy organizations are missionally aligned -- moving toward a shared vision based on core values Hour 2 – Transformational change is key to organizational/spiritual health Hour 3 – Leading biblically through seasons of change SESSION FIVE Roger Heuser 1  Transformational Change ❖Change is in the spiritual DNA of God’s people on a journey with God ❖ Orientation - depicts seasons of well-being that provoke gratitude, joy, celebration, coherence, and wonder in God’s providence. ❖ Disorientation, “The Pit” – depicts pain of some kind, dislocation, disconnection, anxiety, confusion, anger and/or fear. ❖ New Orientation – reveals new hope, energy, vision, and vitality springing up from the soil of grave’s death, discouragement, and despair. Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms Roger Heuser 2  Disorientation is not always an abrupt change … but more likely a gradual process of systems wearing down Slow Death vs Deep Change (Quinn) 1. ”Don’t rock the boat” Middle mgt barriers to change: 2. Violation of trust 1. Bureaucratic culture 3. Thirst for vision 2. Embedded conflict DISORIENTATION 3. Personal time restraints 4. Burn-out CONFORMITY Roger Heuser 3 What is your experience of “slow death” patterns: 1. “Don’t rock the boat” -- pockets of competent, well-intentioned people have opted out 2. Violation of trust -- decision-makers recognize change pressures but put their energy in other things 3. Thirst for vision – leaders keep secret the problems associate with the need for change 4. Burnout – those who have a good track record of change initiatives have little energy left because they don’t believe their efforts will make a difference How do you think middle managers in your org would assess these barriers to change? 1. Bureaucratic culture – getting permission “to do your job” through multiple layers/roadblocks, short-term/reactive patterns, absence of support from top leaders 2. Embedded conflict – between functions (silos), between peers competing for resources, and conflict among direct reports 3. Personal time restraints – working two jobs in one role, never enough time to do adequate job without personal sacrifice, little time for creativity and innovation Is it important to find out if others in your org are experiencing these patterns/barriers? If so, how might you find out a more complete picture? Roger Heuser 4  Logic of Task Pursuit 1. Metaphor: Cutting wood under pressure -- and not sharpening the saw. 2. Every organization has different systems – cultural, strategic, technical, political. During change, each of these systems, like the saw, tends to wear down. Alignment within/between the systems is lost. Thus, we find ourselves working harder than ever, and yet we benefit less and less from our efforts. 3. The pursuit of task under anxiety drives out any thought of taking a Sabbath, retreat, or time for reflection. Doing the right thing is driven out by the need to be busy. Checking off the boxes means we’ve had a successful day -- this is “tyranny of the in-basket” Roger Heuser Robert E. Quinn, Deep Change, 1996 5 Unpacking change strategies Developmental/Incremental (Technical) – Taking steps to improve what is already working with anticipated, specified outcomes. (Kaizen, feedback on course and exam) Transitional (Technical and Adaptive) -- A focus on how one’s missional focus can connect with more significant changes in the environment. (Design and conduct silence and solitude retreats at CHC) Transformational (Adaptive)--A change journey embarked by a radical shift in what currently is to a destination that is “unknowable.” You can only experiment, pay attention to immediate feedback, and make adjustments. (Covid impact) ”S” Curve - Looking for something new at the height of success and effectiveness. Roger Heuser 6 Developmental Change Roger Heuser 7 Transitional Change Roger Heuser 8 Transformational Change Roger Heuser 9 Life Cycle of Congregations Maturity Growth Why do we exist? Mission Birth Who is my Relation- How will we Structure organize neighbor? ships ourselves? Vision What is God dreaming in, for, and through us? Roger Heuser 10 Life Cycle of Congregations Maturity Denial Growth Decline Birth Death Roger Heuser 11 Life Cycle of Congregations S CURVE Maturity Growth Why do we exist? Mission Birth Who is my Relation- How will we Structure organize neighbor? ships ourselves? Vision What is God dreaming in, for, and through us? Roger Heuser 12  Robert Quinn’s Four Change Strategies – See Leading the Congregation, 290-292 LEVEL 1: TELLING STRATEGY Method: rational persuasion, emphasis on facts, expertise, analysis, rhetoric LEVEL 2: FORCING STRATEGY Method: leveraging behavior, emphasis on authority, performance/reward linkage, leverage/compliance LEVEL 3: PARTICIPATING STRATEGY Method: open dialogue, emphasis on relationships, human process, supportive communication, surfacing conflicts, collaboration, cohesiveness LEVEL 4: TRANSFORMING STRATEGY Method: transcend self, emphasis on emerging reality, envisioning productive community, looking first within, embracing hypocritical self, transcending fear, disturbing the system, entice through moral power Roger Heuser Robert E. Quinn, Change the World, 2000 13 “You don’t really know a system until you try to change it.” Kurt Lewin Roger Heuser 14  Lille R.Brock and Mary Ann Salerno, The Change Cycle: The Secret of Getting Change cycle Through Life’s Difficult Changes. Bridge Builder Media STAGE 1: LOSS STAGE 6: INTEGRATION You admit to yourself that regardless of By the time you reach Stage 6 you whether you perceive the change to be have integrated the challenges and good or bad, there will be a sense of loss -- positive outcomes of change into of what "was.” your life. STAGE 5: STAGE 2: DOUBT UNDERSTANDING In this stage, you doubt the facts, You can identify the benefits of doubt your doubts, and struggle to change and acknowledge its find information about the change usefulness. that you believe is valid. STAGE 4: DISCOVERY You see the "light at the end of the tunnel." You now see options STAGE 3: DISCOMFORT and possibilities that the change has presented – and you are What the change means has now become optimistic because you have clearer and you’re learning to assimilate this new information in a meaningful way. choices. DANGER ZONE Represents a pivotal place where you make the choice to discover the next stage opportunities or to choose fear and return to Stage 1. Roger Heuser 15 The Roller Coaster of Change Roger Heuser 16  C=DxVxF