If you want perfect leaders you won't have any leaders

 

71min clip - Dave Snowden - How leaders change culture through small actions

Found via a regular friday email from Nick Shepherd. 

Text from youtube "Summer School 2016  - Chief Scientific Officer of Cognitive Edge and Director of the Centre for Applied Complexity at Bangor University @snowded 

His work is international in nature and covers government and industry looking at complex issues relating to strategy, organisational decision making and decision making. He has pioneered a science based approach to organisations drawing on anthropology, neuroscience and complex adaptive systems theory."

8min @wef clip - Great #Reset Dialogues | Six leaders discuss why we must reform the social contract after #COVID-19

text from youtube "In the latest Great Reset dialogue, John Kerry, Jan Vapaavuori, Hilary Cottam, Mohammad Jaafar, Bob Moritz, Geraldine Matchett, Dr Phillip Atiba Goff, discuss how to rebuild the ‘social contract’ in a world where millions of people have lost their jobs and faith in democracy is under extreme pressure.

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change."

a theology of #church #leadership in 10 points

the 10 points are summarised from this 2014 Faith & Order Commission document - Senior Church Leadership - a resource for refection

1) God calls & redeems people to become a kingdom of priests, a holy nation (Exodus 19.6) & a light to the nations (Isaiah 49.6)

2) and the gifts of the spirit are given to the whole church (1 Corinthians 12.27–30; Ephesians 4.11–12)

3) so the primary exercise of leadership in the church is God’s. (1 Corinthians 12.4–6)

4) but God does call individuals to exercise leadership in and for the people of God

5) as a participation in God’s leadership of the whole people.

6) So the Lord of the Church calls both the church and its leaders to his service 

7) Entrusting both to bring God’s word and pastoral care to a world in need

8) Note that God’s interactions with the world are not confined to the church

9) and that church leadership is both local and at a trans-local level (Hebrews 13.7, 17, 24, 1 Peter 5.1–5, Acts 20.17-35)

10) and that the ethos of leadership in the church is as stewards (1 Corinthians 4.1, Luke 12.41–48) and pastors/shepherds (Ephesians 4.11, Luke 15.3-7, Matthew 18.10–14, John 21.15–17)

leadership succession in new start or pioneer churches

some tips are listed below.  these are summarised and taken from an excellent  winter 2011/12 leadership succession research bulletin by the church army  - and in particular the contributions of Claire Dalpra, Tony Thompson, Stuart Murray-Williams, George Lings, Beth Keith in that.  this and other church army research bulletins may be found here 

funding and short termism and its effects

- short term funding often leads to short term thinking and last minute decision making as the end of the funding window looms. developing financial sustainability helps encourage longer term planning.
- identify at the start when the right time might be for a planting team primarily gifted at initiating new ventures (rather than sustaining and developing them) to move on, and what kind of leadership might be needed in the next phase.
- identify and explore the issues summarised in this post at the outset of a church planting initiative and try to agree then on how leadership succession will be addressed – even if only at the level of principals

highly contextual churches

- bringing in new leaders is more difficult the more contextual a church is (due to the uniqueness of faith and practice which such contextual churches have).

- so whatever stage of development your church is at  - try to articulate its values so others coming in can understand such.

- a monastic pattern of electing a new leader from within the existing church membership, who knows and lives the values of the community, may be the best solution.

- remember the goal of church planting is for the christian community that emerges to be deeply rooted in its local context and shaped by members of that locality.  this may mean the church turns out differently from what was envisioned, which can be a cause of tension.

- young churches too dependent on the ministry gifts, time and coordinating skills of a founding leader often find it hard to survive their departure,  for this reason planting teams are often preferable to lone pioneers.

the effect of traditions and denominations

- the assumption that leadership succession is one person handing over to another isn’t always the way forward.  a multiplying leadership model might be more appropriate with teams of mutually accountable publicly recognised leaders joined together in relationship, trust and friendship.

- leadership models that require leaders to gain experience and training elsewhere should be weighed versus the risk of indigenous leaders being lost in such as they are burdened with unreasonable expectations.

- in traditions or denominations in which certain activities are restricted to ordained and accredited leaders encourage reflection on the validity and missional impact of such restrictions.

indigenous leaders

- prioritise the identification, nurture and empowerment of potential indigenous leaders, devoting considerable time to this activity.  and don’t rush the process.

- think through when a new church should appoint its own indigenous leaders who are no longer under the supervision of the sending church or what will happen if mother church expectations change.

- leadership in the spare time of a few committed people creates in some cases a stable transition between leaders as it is n’t dependent on one paid leader and so does n’t go through such a big transition when the leader moves on.  in other cases because the spare time leadership is so demanding it can be very difficult to encourage new leaders.

church leadership

those of you who have been in management will know there are seemingly limitless approaches to answering the question of what good leadership is a post from andrea's  sacredspace.posterous.com which suggests that church leadership is about helping church members fulfil the vocation that God has for each one of them.


so to do this we need to find a way of encouraging church members to seek out what god's vocation is for them and then to engage in achieving such - or to put it another way to dream dreams


or as frank sang - to dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe, to bear with unbearable sorrow, to run where the brave dare not go, to right the unrightable wrong, to be better far than you are, to try when your arms are too weary, to reach the unreachable star, this is my quest, to follow that star, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far, to be willing to give when there's no more to give, to be willing to die so that honour and justice may live, and I know if I'll only be true to this glorious quest, that my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I'm laid to my rest, and the world will be better for this, that one man, scorned and covered with scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage, to reach the unreachable star

leaders losing their way

in an article by bill george (professor of management practice, henry b. arthur fellow of ethics, at harvard business school) he ponders why leaders known for integrity and leadership engage in unethical activities.  a summary of some of his thoughts ....

- when leaders focus on external gratification instead of inner satisfaction, they lose their grounding

- leaders can avoid these pitfalls by reframing their leadership from being heroes to being servants of the people they lead

- they should seek out people who influence them in profound ways and stay connected to them, rather than surrounding themselves with sycophants

found via the broadcast