The 2-year College is offered in two ways: a full week in June, or four weekends in January, April, September, and November. This Friday, our weekend participants will study power and politics, words that sometimes make church folk uncomfortable. But we would do well to think about congregations as political organizations—from the root polis—made up of people who bring energy, insight, ideas, and yes, challenges in the ordinary, everyday functioning of a human organization.
We help all participants—lay and clergy alike—appreciate their role as leaders of these political organizations … leaders with power, and (at the same time) leaders in a system that distributes power to everyone, in ways big and small. You can see a power distribution on an org chart, but in our complex systems, power is often under the surface of awareness. Personalities and priorities will clash, subtle alliances will form, and sometimes the people who oppose what you’re trying to do end up helping you clarify your vision, and communicate it better to the whole group.
Through all of this, we continually come back to the need for leaders to be conscious of how they themselves function in the congregation, and with that consciousness, improve their ability to lead, and manage change. One of our models calls this “self-differentiated leadership,” and you can see below how the leader can improve her skills, self-awareness, and effectiveness.
See you this weekend!
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