Newsletter Articles
Monographs on Leadership-Part 1
Rev. James YK Moy, Ph.D.
Editor’s note: In these articles, Jim lays out building blocks of good leadership and management. Within the framework of transformational leadership we acknowledge that God has an active and living investment in leading today, and that we can and should take our leadership directive from him. As you read this article, understand that as a given. Our human efforts at leadership and transformation within the church will never succeed unless we are following the lead of the Holy Spirit.
A Brief History on the Study of Leadership
The earliest research on leadership was begun in the late 40’s and early 50’s in the military and corporate world; the next group to follow in the 60’s was in education. Studies on church leadership did not materialize until the 70’s (Fuller Seminary – being a leader in this field). What I say is based on research in the United States.
Several years ago I saw a video produced by the Peter Drucker Foundation on the importance of Institutional Mission. There was a brief case history on how West Point developed their mission statement. Francis Hesselbein was interviewed on how the Girl Scouts developed a new logo to reflect their mission. The mission statement of West Point and the Harvard Business School clearly says they are there to produce leaders in the country. Graduate leadership programs in the universities began emerging in the 80’s. And more recently, in the late 90’s, Luther Seminary introduced the "leadership" word in its mission statement. They, too, finally, are there to produce leaders. So the topic is relevant for church leaders.
What do Leaders do?
The questions on leadership shifted from studying leader attributes and qualities to leadership performance, i.e., what do leaders do, how do they do it and what effects result from their leadership?
As a result of this shift Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson created a storm when they published their book on "One Minute Manager." The book has been on the Best Seller List of the New York Times for more than 15 years. It has been translated into 14 languages and its world wide, cross-cultural acceptance suggests that every church leader should read it.
It is not surprising that Ken got a pediatrician to co-author the book with him since so much of it is applicable in the parenting of children! Ken has followed up with another book titled, "Leadership and the One Minute Manager."
Shift from Attributes to Performance.
As a result of this shift from attributes to performance a new way of identifying pastoral leadership emerged. This is a important insight from studies in psychology and the behavioral sciences. I met Dr. Charles Ridley at Fuller Seminary who shared his insight with me as a former "Executive Head Hunter" for a Human Resources firm in Minneapolis. As a result of that experience he wrote a manual on "The Selection of Church Planters." He had arrived at the same conclusion that the SRI institute had in Lincoln, Nebraska, viz., that past performance is a predictor of future behavior. Dr. Ridley was instrumental in assisting the Division for Outreach ELCA in developing the "Structured Interview" currently being used in the selection of Pastor Developers. One critique I have is that because it focuses on behavior the approach leaves out the individual's personal belief system and theology.
The latest shift in leadership studies has to deal with Servant Leadership and the Ethical and Moral Responsibilities of leaders. The criminal trials of executive leadership in the business world and the pedophile arrests of clergy and resignations of bishops for inappropriate sexual behavior highlight the importance these days on the moral character of leaders. So one needs to be careful in selecting leaders in ministry and recognize that perception, beliefs and values are also important criteria in the selection of applicants and candidates for ordained leadership.
There is much to learn from our experience in studying church leadership and in determining how one can be an effective leader.
Personhood of Pastor As Others Are Empowered
How do we empower others? This is an important topic. Some think our presiding bishop has too much power; some think he doesn’t have enough. There is misunderstanding on how much power a synod bishop has and there are misunderstandings on the powers of a pastor. We assign prestige to people with power and we love to be associated with them.
Power can be defined so many ways. People with information have power; people with special gifts and knowledge have power, and people "will give" power to a pastor because it is expected. Culture and history has bestowed certain powers to clergy whether deserved or not. Age is bestowed power by some cultures. So the topic is complicated.
I value the insights from Amitai Etzioni, a sociologist who have devoted much of his career on the analysis and use of power by people. If we can understand and appreciate the following distinctions we can avoid a lot of misunderstanding, heartache, disappointment, conflict in our congregations and loss of sleep in our parsonages.
Position Power and Personal Power.
There are two "kinds" of power available to us. The one is what Etzioni calls "position power;" the other is "personal power."
Position power is seen in the military and corporate world where the position of everyone is clearly defined and where tasks are achieved through rank hierarchical order. The rank ordering is less clear in the civilian world. Another arena where position powers are clearly defined is on a ship where captains have life and death powers over everyone on-board. We may not like the hierarchical ordering in these organizations but they are there. In the past rulers and emperors not only had earthly position power but they assumed divine powers as well. The Roman church emulated the pattern established with Constantine.
One of the characteristics in having position power is the organization’s ability to discipline those who breach this hierarchical ordering. In the military it may be a court martial or lowering of rank or – even execution. The Roman church practiced excommunication or even the burning at the stake for heresy and disobedience at one time in its history. This kind of power can be fearfully administered and the organization supports it.
Personal power is defined more in personal terms. It is based on personal relationships and trust and takes time to cultivate. Once having developed it one can "move mountains." Martin Luther King Jr. had charismatic personal power such that he was able to inspire an entire nation in a single speech with his dream and vision of a finer America. Gandhi’s vision and leadership freed his nation from British rule. Neither men had position power, i.e., they did not have to "fire" or "discipline" anyone to carry out their vision. Jesus exercised personal charisma and people have followed him for 2000 years.
Power in Church settings.
The military and corporate worlds are not democracies. Decisions are made in hierarchical order; not so today in the modern church. It has lost position power and is dependent on consensus and personal relationships. Try and order people around in your church today and they will leave it. Why do they have to put up with THAT kind of authority if they don’t have to? Or, why do they have to put up with that person at all? This is the dilemma church leaders find themselves in today. Church leaders need to understand the nature of ‘church as a voluntary organization’ and why people choose to join them. It is poor excuse to say they are not faithful in following Jesus when they no longer follow you! The nature of the church as an organization has rapidly changed.
All this raises the question as to why we are in ministry. Dr. Bertha Paulson at Gettysburg seminary always asked on the first day in her Sociology of Religion Course: "What are your power needs for entering the ministry? If you want to have authority over people you are in the wrong profession. Join the military." The remnants of hierarchical decision making process exists within the Roman tradition but it is changing as witnessed in the American Conference of Bishop’s inability to discipline and control its members today.
Developing Trust.
One of the most effective pastors I’ve known is Pastor Floyd Brause. In his career he successfully developed two congregations in Alaska. I met him in 1984; went fishing with him and spent many hours trying to figure out how he did it. I was interested in finding out what his leadership style was.
I was at Eagle River, AK when they honored him on his retirement. I was so impressed with the affectionate overtures, loving comments, joyful enthusiasm and love that were expressed for Floyd by people in both of the churches he had served. I observed how he treated people and listened to conversations he had with lay people. He looked at me once, smiled and said: "Jim. You just have to love them" -- to my question – "How did you do all this Floyd?" He knew the secret key to the real powers of a pastor. Floyd understood that to be effective he needed to cultivate strong relationships with people and he had a loving vision of the church that was captured by his parishioners.
This is the secret Floyd learned early in his career. He was true to his personhood and position as pastor. It takes time to develop trust, which comes when followers become aware the pastor is genuine, and not relying on position, or knowledge or information or expertise and/or artificial personality to persuade and to lead them. This is not to say that what the pastor knows is not important. For more on developing trust, see our article, Building Trust in the Body of Christ http://www.transformingchurch.com/resourcetoolbox/2005/10/trust_part_1_bu.php
Seminary education is important to provide pastors with knowledge and information about the faith but it is not a substitute for personhood and leadership. A plumber doesn’t need a relationship with people, but he has to know how to fix a leaking pipe. A diesel mechanic doesn’t need social skills but he needs to know how to fix an engine. Pastors need to know their theology and bible and they need relational skills in order to empower people effectively. This is what I mean by personhood. To be a genuine follower of Christ one does not need to rely on position. When pastors are "real" others will know and sense it --- they will capture his/ her vision and they will follow him or her "to the ends of the earth." This is what Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi had.
Empowering Others.
Empowering others mean we "give" power to people. We do that best by "stepping back" and turning them loose in the organization; not by controlling their behavior or outcome. There is a degree of risk, but it is a healthy risk if we want to develop mature Christians.
(I am not supporting a Laizze Faire approach in leader behavior. Proper supervision of volunteers is treated in the monograph to follow on Situational Leader Behavior)
We trust people to do their best who will return your love when they are helped to grow in becoming mature "children of God." When they exercise their spiritual gifts the Kingdom will grow within them and their lives will be a testimony to their faith. This is what it means to share grace with people.
Empowerment today calls for religious leaders to cultivate their personal powers and to know their followers. It takes time and patience. All this relates to pastor as leader. I hope this will stimulate conversation and some reactions here!
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Comments on this Entry:
A worthy read. However, the next chapter in this series might take up the theme of resistance to empowerment, especially for ministers who go into congregations accustomed for many years to centralized and hierarchical power through the office of pastor. Such is the case in my current call. The equipping part that needs to go along with the empowerment model is integral to the sucess of empowerment. But even there, you can't force "equipment" on people who don't want it...
Posted by: Pastor Mary Duerksen at April 6, 2006 05:35 PM
Thought I’d jump in here with a few reflections on Power and Empowerment.
In addition to considering types or sources of power (personal and positional, and I would propose that there are others as well, that may be variations but distinguishable nonetheless, say, derived, relational, etc.) we could spend some time discussing power itself –
Persons who have traditionally or systemically been oppressed often feel ambivalent toward power. Our experience of power has mainly been as "victims" or as "recipients" of others’ power. Power then takes on very negative connotations, even though power itself is a NEUTRAL.
This has been a growing edge for me, recognizing that, especially as a person of faith, I do have power, that power is a gift and a blessing from God. Each of us "have" (more on "having" power later) power FROM God, as a function of the Holy Spirit’s presence and activity, renewing and recreating us and creation through us!
Thus our empowerment and our empowering others, is not so much a matter of bestowing some limited resource that we possess, but is realized in liberating and exercising the life-giving Spirit that dwells within and among us.
Perhaps I am suggesting a third type of power, power that we as people of faith are compelled to exercise. It is the power inherent in those created in God’s generating image. Even if we lack position, even if we are not eloquent or charismatic (even if we lack what the "world" recognizes as power) we recognize that God is intimately involved in this world.
I think of this in very practical terms – even in societies where women, for example, have been severely restricted and oppressed (consider Afghanistan, other Asian cultures/sub-cultures) there have been those who have empowered one another by encouraging and inspiring one another to visions of life and purpose beyond the daily insults and grind. There is a woman running for President in Afghanistan – how did that come about? There has been empowerment happening. Hearing her speak about her convictions and aspirations as a leader, if elected to "positional power" as president, she clearly intends to empower others, other women and ethnic minorities in Afghanistan. She will do this by mobilizing the power that resides in them as human beings, not by bestowing stores of power herself. Certainly her newly gained "positional power" and whatever "personal power" she has will facilitate this empowerment but her own situation inspires others that there are other sources of power that cannot be commandeered by power mongers!
As people of Christian faith this is made explicit in the sacrament of Baptism. We acknowledge the mystery of "power perfected in weakness" and the life-transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
God CALLS and sends us to tell/remind others that we are precious, we do make a difference, we are of value to God and in God’s hopes for community and for all of creation.
Part of that image in which we are created is a CREATIVE urge, motivation, life-force (I wrestle with finding words for it because I do not want to sound trivial, or be accused of "new age" tendency). We are similar to God in being life-giving and creative. Not just creative in an artistic sense, creative of new life, of ideas, dreams, visions, stories, music, relations. Creation even from nothing, creations from the midst of suffering, death, failure and grief. THAT is the power, coming from God, that I believe that we as leaders (and who is a leader I will comment on when James writes THAT article) are compelled, called, beseeched by God to flourish in the world, for the sake of all creation.
Posted by: Stacy Kitahata at April 11, 2006 01:12 PM
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