Transforming Church

Organizations choose to be either autocratic or democratic in the way they structure themselves. Congregations in the Lutheran tradition have fallen along both sides of this continuum. Their Constitutions reflect that. Leadership tasks may be centralized or distributed and highly decentralized, so it is important to know what structure you are in.

Individuals need to know themselves in order to understand how they behave as leaders. I will speak to that in a future article someday on the importance of "Knowing One's Self."

I use the word "leader" generically. My focus is not necessarily on the pastor alone though he/she is the most visible person in the church organization. This information is applicable to all church leaders. Whether an organization is highly autocratic or democratic, centralized or decentralized is immaterial in understanding behaviors that are needed in order to be effective. Contexts change and a leader's behavior needs to respond appropriately.

Two Basic Concepts in the Situational Leadership Model.
Directive and Supportive behaviors have been associated with autocratic and democratic leadership. They are the cornerstones of situational leadership.

Most pastors find themselves tuned into Supportive behaviors naturally and almost automatically. We forget the importance of Directive behaviors. The two are not exclusive to one another; they are not either/or alternatives. We just need to know when to exercise one or the other. It will be helpful to define them at this point.

Directive Behavior is the extent to which a leader directs, controls, and closely supervises performance. The three key words for Directive Behavior are guide, control, and supervise. The leader tells others what, how, when, where, and with whom to accomplish a task; there are few explanations of "why."

Anytime a leader: sets goals or objectives, makes clear the role each person will play in the accomplishment of a task, plans work in advance to be accomplished by others, set time lines, organizes resources, communicates priorities, determines methods of evaluation and standards of performance, shows or tells others how to do a specific task and follows up to see if the work is done -- anytime this occurs is Directive Behavior. It can be characterized by One-way communication.

Supportive Behavior is the extent to which a leader supports, listens, and facilitates a person’s decision-making and problem-solving. The leader lets a person take responsibility for directing his/her own work. The three key words for Supportive Behavior are praise, listen and facilitate.

Anytime a leader: listens to the problems of the person (work or non-work related), praises the person for a task accomplishment, asks for suggestions or input on a job or project, encourages or reassures a person that they can do the job, communicates information about the church’s ministry, discloses information about himself or herself (job or non-job related), facilitates a person's problem-solving and decision-making and communicates and demonstrates appreciation for tasks well done -- anytime this occurs is Supportive Behavior. It can be characterized by Two-way communication.

Situational leadership calls for being able to use a variety of leadership styles comfortably – at times directing and/or closely supervising; at times offering support and encouragement; at times letting people run with the ball and leaving them alone.

So when we have a task at hand do we sit down with the person to talk about the task and to let them know when it needs to be done? Is there conversation on whether the volunteer is knowledgeable about the project? Are other topics introduced into the conversation by the leader and the volunteer? Are these topics pursued with appropriate curiosity? Is there time to talk about why the project is important and how it will contribute to the mission of the congregation? Does the volunteer have enough time to perform the task? If she doesn’t know how to do the job will you or anyone take the time to show her and watch (or) double check to make sure it is done correctly? Will a word of encouragement and praise for a job well done be said?

Of course we need to know if the volunteer/ or staff member has the skill or gifts to perform the task. We need to know how committed he or she is in completing the job on time. We need to find out what people can do! We realize that the Leader needs to understand the situation and be flexible in responding to people. This is an awesome task!

The Appropriate Leader Response is Driven by Others.
To put it another way -- Situational Leadership is follower driven and the task at hand is daunting. How much supportive behavior is needed? How much directive behavior is needed? A lot? Not much? A little? Hopefully, we can shed some light on what to do.

To sum up: The leader needs to be able to assess the task at hand, assess the time needed, assess the commitment and skill of the volunteer and be able to communicate effectively, develop trust, and win the support and confidence of the follower. A combination of directive and supportive behavior is needed for effective leadership. Four styles of leader behavior emerge from this mix. I will continue this discussion in my next monograph.