Unrelenting focus on a clear identity and an unwavering commitment to mission are the marks of a great institution. It is just good business. This dynamic reality of identity and mission explains why we do what we do, prioritizes what we do and shapes how we do what we do.
 
As Catholic institutions of health care and higher education, our motivation is to be faithful disciples of Jesus striving to assist in ushering in the reign of God, the realm of peace and justice that is God’s dream for humanity. 
 
At one time certain distinguishing characteristics of motivation and manner could be assumed as part of the culture of a Catholic school or hospital. That is no longer the case. While they are more important than ever, they also need to be more deliberate and intentional than ever.
 
This work entails three fundamental, continuous and inter-related tasks: 
 
Awareness. It is critical that people understand and articulate in a clear and concise manner exactly what the mission of the institution is. This is the statement of who we are and what we do. It is important that it be clear in the minds of the public whom we serve. It is equally important that those of us who belong to the organization are of one mind about our purpose and our values. 
 
Appreciation. How people feel about our mission will motivate them to seek out our services or inspire them to join us in delivering them to others. Obviously this presupposes that people are aware of and understand what our mission is. But understanding alone is not enough. How people respond—in an affective manner—to our mission and identity is the deciding factor. In inviting people to care about our mission, we must provide some firsthand experience of what we are about and share personal stories that engage our listeners.
 
Action. We want the public to act by choosing us to provide the services they need. Within our institutions, each individual must realize how he or she contributes to implementing the mission and promoting the identity of our school or hospital. In the ideal situation each person’s vocation or calling will be in harmony with the mission of the institution. 
 
While sometimes wearisome, questions about mission and identity cannot be avoided. They provide a marvelous opportunity for us to tell our story, to communicate our priorities and to share our passion with others. They deserve to be taken seriously and responded to in a deliberate and intentional manner.

Lucien Roy, Senior Consultant
The Reid Group

The month of January takes its name from the Roman god Janus, the god of doorways, transitions, endings and new beginnings. At this time of year, as we make the transition from one year to the next, leaders need to “make like Janus” and pay attention to both the endings and new beginnings happening in the life of their organizations.

It is tempting to give short shrift to the endings and forge ahead into the future with all our New Year’s-resolution-fueled energy. But seasoned leaders know that damage can result when the past is left unresolved.

As we navigate through these dark days of winter, take some time to consider what you need to let go of or say goodbye to:

• Are there unfinished tasks that are burdening you and the organization? Which of these are important to complete, and which need to be let go?
• In working relationships, are there residual hurts or dysfunctional behavior that burden the organization? Are these relationships important enough to resolve the conflicts, or do they need to be let go?

Once we deal with what is ending, we are free to dream, to be “10 times bolder” in our plans for our new beginnings. As one way to start that planning, begin with the end in mind: imagine you are at the end of 2010 and looking back. What are the accomplishments you are most proud of?

In a very real sense, organizations exist in a state of constant transition—something is always changing, ending or just getting started, and the effective leader will be attuned to the dynamics of those transitions all year long. These first days of January, however, offer a special opportunity to step back and gain some perspective on yourself as well as the major changes the organization has had and will experience as you move from 2009 to 2010. Spend some time affirming the good you helped your organization to accomplish and be gentle with yourself as you reflect on your struggles. In addition, take a few minutes to consult with yourself about your deepest hopes for 2010 and include these in the goals you set for the coming year.

When appropriate attention is paid both to what is ending and what is waiting to begin, you set the stage for a very Happy New Year.

John Reid, Senior Consultant
The Reid Group

Leaders today have the daunting responsibility of motivating their people to combine vision with action to produce dramatic, positive results for their organizations. One dimension of this task is performance evaluation. The purpose of these efforts over a given period of time is to learn what is already working well and to identify areas where individuals and teams (parish staff, school faculty, Board members, etc.) may be struggling.

Too often, leaders view performance evaluation as drudgery and avoid it at all costs. But effective leaders use evaluation opportunities as a way to improve performance. The Reid Group believes that performance evaluation over three- and six-month cycles is an invaluable tool for leaders to reinforce the positive and address the negative.

There are two approaches to organizational evaluation that we have found to be user-friendly:

1. Criteria, evidence, assessment
Identify a set of criteria for measuring performance and assemble evidence showing the degree to which each criterion has or has not been met. Based on the evidence, give performance in each area a rating, using a +3/-3 system:

+1 Performance meets criterion to a minimal degree.
+2 Performance meets criterion to an average degree.
+3 Performance meets criterion to a high degree.

-1 Performance meets criterion to a marginal degree.
-2 Performance did not meet criterion.
-3 Performance is having a negative impact.

2. Ask a series of questions
Conflict

• What is causing conflict, stress, or struggle in the organization?
• What is being done to reduce conflict?
• Which of those strategies is helping the situation, and which is hindering it?

Achievement

• Where are we achieving beyond our goals?
• Where are struggling to achieve our goals?
• What can we do to support success?
• What do we need to do to boost performance in areas that are struggling?

Managing change

• What are the major changes facing us now?
• How well are we managing those changes?
• What actions can we take in the future to be more effective in addressing change?

Regular, effective evaluations are not only a tool for effective leadership. They also enhance organizational learning, fostering greater focus on the mission and vision of the organization and enabling it to be more focused on the future.

John Reid, Consultant, Mediator, Coach
The Reid Group

When I was at the International Catholic Stewardship Council’s annual meeting in Dallas last month, I made note of some emerging trends in the work of Stewardship across the country.

I presented a workshop on “From Maintenance to Mission: Developing a Parish Strategic Plan” in a new track ICSC created for parish administrators and business managers. I was told to expect about 100 people—and 150 showed up! There were a number of comments along the lines of “It’s about time ICSC recognized our importance,” but the participants also expressed appreciation for ICSC’s efforts to bridge the gap between Stewardship and the business side of parish life.

Another emerging trend in the field of Stewardship is the growing emphasis on balancing Stewardship of Treasure with Stewardship of Time and Talent. The Gallup organization, which has a division focused on faith-based organizations, has adapted its StrengthsFinder assessment tool in an exciting development that is taking off in parishes across the country. StrengthsFinder helps parishes assess the level of engagement of their parishioners in the life of the parish. With this assessment, parishes can create strategies for increasing parishioners’ commitment of time and talent.

Have you noticed other new ideas and trends in Stewardship in your parish or diocese? Add to the dialogue by leaving a comment on this article.

Some Best Practices for Stewardship

A best practice for Stewardship Commissions is to do personal follow-ups with any parishioner who does not submit a stewardship renewal form during the normal fall renewal process. By following up in person, it lets the parishioner know:

• We noticed you did not participate and you have in years past.
• We are calling to make sure all is well with your household…Is there anything the parish can do if there has been a change in their financial status.
• We want to thank them for their support in the past.

Especially in this economy, a parish should never accept no response as acceptable.

What are some of the Best Practices used in your parish or diocese? Share them with all our readers–make a comment on this post.

Carol Guenther, Consultant, Mediator
The Reid Group

As the leaves change and the winds of November grow chillier, we are reminded that Thanksgiving is just around the corner.  It is a good thing to take time to give thanks for the leaders, people, events and good graces in our lives.

Leaders and organizations would do well to keep this in mind when beginning a planning process or dealing with change and transition.  It’s important for leaders to express thanks for the good people and experiences alive in the organizations they care about.  One specific way to do this is through an approach called Appreciative Inquiry.

This approach was pioneered by David Cooperrider and his colleagues at Case Western Reserve University in the early 1980s.  It invites leaders as well as planning consultants to appreciate what is working well, what is already bringing life to an organization.  It contrasts with more traditional approaches to planning processes that usually begin with a focus on the problems or struggles within an organization.

Appreciative Inquiry involves four steps of group reflection:

Discover - appreciate what is

Dream - imagine what might be

Design - determine what should be

Deliver - create what will be

In her book, Appreciative Inquiry in the Catholic Church, Susan Star Paddock illustrates the differences between traditional approaches to planning and change processes and Appreciative Inquiry:

Through using Appreciative Inquiry, leaders help to generate new energy, enthusiasm and passion.  They build on what’s working while exploring ways of creating new possibilities that have the capacity to bring more new life to organizations and the people who work in them.

In this season of Thanksgiving, we are grateful to all of our clients and e-letter readers for bringing new life to those of us who call The Reid Group home.

John Reid
The Reid Group

John Reid, Consultant, Mediator, Coach
The Reid Group

For people of faith, a central call of the Gospel is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus as “one who serves.” (Luke 22:27) When service is connected to faith, we call it ministry. One of the most important ministries within churches today—and an important responsibility in non-profit organizations—is quality leadership.

There is much to learn from Retired Bishop Vincent Warner of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia WA who defined nine values of servant leadership that are relevant in the 21st century for leaders in government, business, non-profit and faith-based organizations.

Values of Servant Leadership

1. Servant Leadership insists on collaboration rather than competition; it puts a premium on truthfulness and admitting mistakes.

2. Servant Leadership has the capacity to move to the other side, i.e., to feel with New Testament compassion.

3. Servant Leadership holds accountable, but never blames. Good leadership never blames—blaming is covering up. Accountability offers the possibility for growth.

4. Servant Leadership is willing to compromise with others when appropriate, and therefore, is not in need of always controlling the outcome.

5. Servant Leadership, by letting go of controlling and trusting and validating others, is then possible to be of good cheer—to be joyful. Joy and cheer come from not always having to do it right.

6. Servant Leadership seeks the enhancement of the individual or community as the outcome over productivity.

7. In Servant Leadership, power is for participation not for domination—power with, rather than power over.

8. Servant Leadership systems (local church/dioceses) succeed because they value and validate their members and tell the truth. Systems fail because they exploit the members and hide and conceal.

9. In Servant Leadership, being a servant means putting oneself at risk, with humility and clarity that is cruciformity.

Which of these values speaks to you? We invite you to identify one that you would like to develop more strongly in yourself, and share your thoughts in the comments to this blog.

by John Reid, Consultant, Mediator
The Reid Group

It’s generally accepted that effective teams accomplish more than Lone Rangers. And after all, even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. All of us do better when we combine our work with the good work of others.

Many examples come to mind illustrating the importance of teamwork. Symphonies create beautiful music together when they create a sound as a team that no single instrument could create alone. If only the drums or violin or trumpet plays, the music is not as powerful. In baseball, no team would be successful is everyone wanted to pitch, catch or play first base. A strong baseball team needs nine good hitters and nine fielders in different positions working in harmony to succeed.

There are a few “secret ingredients” to building effective teams. Here are The Reid Group’s top five:

1. A shared understanding that an effective team is more than a collection of individuals. Rather, a team is a group of people with shared purposes, clear roles and common, mutually-agreed-upon expectations.

2. One way to enhance the success of a team is by spending regular and consistent time focusing on the success of individual team members. This requires a “both/and” perspective: both how is the team doing overall in achieving its goals and how is the team helping individuals to achieve their personal goals.

3. As organizational consultant Peter Senge has said, “A fundamental characteristic of the relatively unaligned team is wasted energy.” Effective teams evaluate their alignment with the organization’s mission and values as well as with expressed roles and expectations on a regular basis to ensure alignment and minimize wasted energy.

4. In order to maximize the team’s success, it’s important to be mindful of Stephen Covey’s conviction that there are two bottom lines to success of any team: a) promoting and enhancing relationships and b) accomplishing results. Only by paying attention to both are teams successful.

5. As with any other worthwhile endeavor, effective teams require significant commitment to work through conflicts and respond well to the inevitable struggles the arise within the team. One way to address these struggles is to recognize that the best way to access the individual’s or team’s strengths is to try to meet some of their basic needs. A useful activity involves two or more people on the team sharing their best understanding of what they need more or less of in the team relationship to develop better outcomes.

At The Reid Group, we recently spent several days on retreat to examine some of our team dynamics in order to work together more effectively. What are some of the things you do to enhance your team dynamics? Post your comments here to join the discussion.

Life is full of paradoxes! At this time of the year, when the beauty and abundance of all creation is at its zenith in Washington State, I am reminded by National Geographic that by the year 2030, there will be no more ice that presently makes up the polar cap during the summer months due to global warming.

As I enjoy peaches, apples and berries in my own back yard, I am reminded that in Asian, African and Latin American countries alone, well over 500 million people are living in what the World Bank has called “absolute poverty.” The air is clean and refreshing as I sit on my deck and watch a pink Mount Rainier fade into the sunset, drawing me into a trance of wonder and awe. At the same time, I know that I am the citizen of a country with the dubious distinction as a leading emitters of greenhouse gases, which are poisoning our planet.

How can I enjoy such abundance when so many do not? How can there be so much lack in the midst of such plenty?

I have struggled with this question for years as a follower of Jesus and an advocate for stewardship as a way of life and I have come to several conclusions:

• I believe without question that God wants all people to experience the abundance that I enjoy each day.
• I believe that to those who have been given much, much is expected.
• I believe unwaveringly in God’s abundance; but, at times, I question the human capacity to share.
• I believe our world does not face a shortage of resources, but we do face an unjust distribution of those resources.
• I believe Jesus knew and lived this tension as well.

We have big issues to decide as a nation, as municipalities and as communities and many of them focus on ways to share the abundance in life with all in our care. Stewardship, grounded in Catholic Social Teaching, calls us to be faithful to receiving, developing, sharing and returning the abundance of this life at all levels of human design. We do not to sacrifice what we enjoy in order to live in right relationship; but we do need to remember that we are caretakers, not owners. We are recipients and not the source. May the abundance of your summer days overflow with the desire and commitment to appreciate, care and share all that God gives.

Carol Guenther, Consultant, Mediator
The Reid Group

Hiring the right person and achieving a good fit between the individual and the institution, the position and the work environment is not enough to ensure a successful search process. Once a qualified, excellent candidate is selected, organizations—to be successful—must spend time managing the transition processes of both the current leader and the newly-selected leader.

For current leaders, it is important that they not act—or be perceived—as a lame-duck, just filling in their time until their term is up. Rather, to really serve the organization, they need to act as leaders in transition, recognizing the many significant roles they have to play as they complete their time of service. Specifically, there are four tasks that current leaders need to tackle:

1. Help their successor get off to the best start by sharing information and perspectives, and responding to questions.
2. Put their own relationships in order. Effect appropriate closure with staff, Boards and donors, and give consideration to any people in those groups from whom they are alienated. Reconcile with those people or, if that can’t happen, recognize that now is not the time for reconciliation and let it go.
3. Finish the work that only they can do and make decisions about delegating other tasks to staff or to their successor.
4. Say thank you and goodbye. Leaders serve well when they say thanks, affirm the people and organization they have served, and say goodbye. This is important for themselves and also for those they leave behind—we have to say goodbye to what has been before we are free to move on to what will be.

Newly-selected leaders also have four responsibilities in this transition time:

1. Take time to learn from their predecessor as well as other leaders and governing bodies in the organization.
2. Prepare their own transition plan. Identify ways they want to enter into their new position.
3. Commit themselves to listen and learn for much of the first year in the position. Honor what has been and respect the ways the organization has functioned. This “listening time” may need to be adjusted, however, if the organization is experiencing significant crisis.
4. Plan to implement changes in ways that serve the organization’s needs and that respect those committed to the organization.

Too often, organizations stop their work in the search process with the hiring of a candidate, which can short-change the success of the process. This is why the last two steps of The Reid Group’s search process focus on transition and orientation in order to ensure a successful outcome for everyone involved.

What challenges does your organization face in finding qualified, excellent candidates for leadership positions?  What has been your experience with the transition process with new leadership?  We’d love to hear from you!

John Reid
The Reid Group
jreid@TheReidGroup.biz

It’s summertime and that always brings summer ‘projects’ around our house. Some involve routine maintenance that needs yearly attention, like cleaning out all the gutters on our sharply- pitched roof. But often we take on a new house project to improve the value and enjoyment of our home and this year’s choice could be the all-time winner- replacing a gravel driveway with cement pavers…4000 to be exact!

There is nothing like challenging manual labor to help one reflect upon the meaning and value of work. In Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response, the US Catholic Bishops write about the importance of work and its close connection to stewardship:

“Work is a fundamental aspect of the human vocation. It is necessary for human happiness and fulfillment. It is intrinsic to responsible stewardship of the world….. Life as a Christian steward also requires continued involvement in the human vocation to cultivate material creation. This productivity embraces art, scholarship, science and technology, as well as business and trade, physical labor, skilled work of all kinds and serving others.”

With so many in our country losing their jobs due to changes in the economy, the importance of how work defines us (beyond the paycheck) is even more clear. Meaningful work is a necessary component to a full and satisfying life.

So, here are a few lessons that I have learned from working of this summer’s family project:
#1. Physical labor reminds me that the human body is a magnificent, powerful and productive instrument for good. I thank God for the gift of my body each night as my aching muscles hit the mattress.
#2. It is incredibly fun and exciting to create something out of ‘nothing’ and see it take shape before your eyes. It draws me into reflection on the first act of creation and how much God wants us to experience the joy of creation in our own lives.
#3. Big work projects require planning, patience and team work. There are a variety of skills and expertise needed at different times in a project and it is far more difficult and much less satisfying to accomplish the task alone. In our case, even friends with physical limitations contributed in meaningful ways. I am reminded that the community that forms around a project is as important as the final outcome.
#4.  Attitude is everything! Hard work can be a drudgery or an adventure. I am reminded of what happened to the third servant in the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30). Fear, anger, laziness, selfishness and other negative human emotions can obstruct our ability to accept the invitation to collaborate with God in the ongoing work of creation.

Blessings on your summer projects, whatever they may be! We’d love to hear about then and how they reflect your understanding of stewardship. Please share your thoughts with us so that we can all continue to learn together.

Carol Guenther
Consultant, Mediator