A critical challenge facing every organization today is choosing the right leaders for key positions. To find the right leader for each position requires a lot of hard work and a search process that yields three different kinds of “fit:”

• The fit between the candidate and the organization
• The fit between the candidate and the position
• The fit between the candidate and the work culture of the organization

To ensure a successful search, here are some tips:

Tip # 1: Establish a Search Committee made up of people with a variety of perspectives to evaluate the candidates. The Committee will be responsible for recommending a preferred candidate to the organization’s leadership, giving their reasons why this individual is the best person for the position.

Tip #2: Clarify expectations for the position. Include a clear statement of the qualities and qualifications as well as the major job responsibilities.

Tip #3: Present the organization’s story and its mission, values and history in a compelling and engaging way. Consider going beyond print to the use of other presentation resources such as video that can help candidates get a feel for the heart and soul of the organization and why someone would want to be join them.

Tip #4: Cast a wide net for potential candidates, both internally and externally. Use ads in appropriate publications and your organization’s social media and word of mouth networks as well as a direct invitation to internal candidates.

Tip #5: Assess the qualifications and “fit” of the candidates in light of the job description and desired qualifications and qualities stated earlier. Only those with all the required qualifications and most of the preferred qualifications should be considered as finalists for on-site interviews. Phone interviews of the strongest candidates and reference checks can help determine which candidates would be the most appropriate for on-site interviews.

Tip #6: Conduct on-site interviews that provide the opportunity for the candidates and the organization to mutually assess each other. Consider using behavioral interviewing where the principle is “the best predictor of future action is past behavior.” All interview questions are based on past performance rather than conjecture.

Tip #7: Develop an orientation process to help support the new leader in their first year and beyond.

The Reid Group helps organizations conduct successful searches for key leadership positions. For more information on our leadership search process, send us an e-mail at search@thereidgroup.biz , or go to our the Leadership Search section on our website.

John Reid, Senior Consultant
The Reid Group

“Life is change.  Change is growth.  Growth is painful.”

This was a favorite saying of my Mom’s, and her words have been ringing in my ears recently as we in The Reid Group work with religious communities seeking to plan for their futures, and with Catholic dioceses committed to the successful merging of parish and school communities.

Life is change.  As much as the status quo is familiar, it is not often a place where individuals or groups can stay for a long time.  The external environment is constantly changing while the internal dynamics of relationships and challenges also make change inevitable.  The key is to make that change constructive.

Change is growth.  There is no magic formula that automatically transforms change into growth.  We call the process of change, transition, and the magic of changing well for individuals, religious communities, parishes or schools involves lots of work and is accomplished through five crucial steps:

Remember and celebrate the past. 
For any new reality to take hold, there must first be a conscious, intentional honoring of the past—the milestones, traditions and important relationships that have shaped the individual, community or parish.  Storytelling and rituals of all kinds can be helpful in this stage.

Honor the present.
Any change takes place at a particular moment in time.  In order to maximize the present moment, leaders in religious communities, parishes, schools and dioceses must have the courage to identify the strengths in the organization as well as the key struggles it faces.  The path to growth and new life is found through the maximizing of strengths and honest confrontation of struggles.  This new path builds a bridge to a meaningful and exciting future.

Acknowledge hurts and losses.
The most meaningful transition processes are those in which leaders attend to past and present  hurts, help people grieve their losses, and facilitate moments of healing and new life.  These healing times are growth opportunities.  Just as in faith we say that death can lead to new life, so too can hurts lead to new growth.

Respect and learn from what is remaining or deepening.
The scariest time for merging communities is when they think that everything is changing and little or nothing is staying the same.  In fact, this is rarely the case.  For a religious community, most of its members will remain the same even though its ministries, living quarters or worship space may change.  For parishes and schools, a familiar building may change or a favorite pew or classroom might be lost but one’s faith in God and the commitment to live out that faith remains the same or can even deepen through the change process.

Live out new hopes and dreams.
As Scripture says, without vision the people perish.  In this stage, it is imperative for leaders and members to identify key hopes and dreams and combine them with plans for action to move from an uncertain present to a more life-giving future.

Growth is painful.  While my Mom states one reality that most growth experiences involve pain, there is also truth that they can also include some joy, especially when work is accomplished in all five steps mentioned above.  While I have listed these five steps in a particular order, in reality they may be experienced by different communities in very different sequences.  The order is not crucial, each step is.  All the steps matter, and organizations need to pay attention to them all to ensure a positive experience of change and transition.

John Reid, Senior Consultant
The Reid Group

“Scenario planning” is a creative approach to planning that produces excellent results for organizations as they plan for their future. This approach involves organizational leaders in a dynamic process of exploring proactive movement forward during uncertain and changing times.

The scenario planning process moves the organization through a series of steps from considering all their POSSIBLE futures to a shorter list of PROBABLE futures to their chosen or PREFERRED future:

From Possible futures . . .
Step 1: Each participant in the planning process is invited to brainstorm (every idea is a good idea) some “what-if” scenarios about the future of the organization. These what-ifs can range from maintaining the status quo to closing the organization or any other possible future that reflects the hopes and dreams of the planners.

Step 2: In small groups of four or five each individual shares his/her “what-ifs” with a brief rationale about the merits of each. (As each idea is brought forward, its proponent receives a round of applause to affirm that every idea is a good idea.)

Step 3: Each small group chooses no more than three priority scenarios and prepares a one-paragraph rationale to be shared with the larger group.

Step 4: The small groups present their scenarios to the larger group which welcomes all the scenarios as gifts for further consideration. Any duplicate scenarios are combined.

. . . to Probable futures . . .
Step 5: The large group discusses each possible future identified above is, and identifies pros and cons as well as intended and unintended consequences.

Step 6: Participants are invited to establish a priority of possible scenarios. One way to do this is to give each participant 25 “dollars” to spend on 10-15 possible futures, with no more than $10 spent on any one scenario.

Step 7: The results of the prioritizing exercise are tabulated and the top four to six scenarios are named as Probable futures.

. . . toward a Preferred future.
Step 8: Two-person teams are selected to be advocates for each probable scenario. The teams prepare a 10-15 minute presentation on why their scenario offers the more life-giving future for the organization, and they respond to questions or concerns raised by the larger group.

Step 9: The larger group enters into a period of individual and communal reflection focused on the organization’s needs and the scenarios presented.

Step 10: The participants select their Preferred future and identify the goals, objectives and action steps that will be a central part of a detailed and comprehensive transition plan to help the organization move consciously and confidently into its Preferred future.

The Reid Group has assisted many organizations choose their Preferred future through scenario planning. For a more detailed description of the process, see The Art of Change: Faith, Vision and Prophetic Planning by John Reid and Maureen Gallagher.

John Reid, Senior Consultant
The Reid Group

 Some people view planning as a boring or tedious process but at The Reid Group we believe that effective planning is vital for both leaders and organizations, and can be a creative and positive experience.

Organizational planning helps establish a preferred or favored direction for an organization in the face of many possible and probable directions. The proper end of a planning process is the state where clarity exists around answers to some key questions:

• What are we about?
• Where are we heading?
• Why are we doing what we are doing?
• How will we achieve our goals?
• Who will be involved?
• When will all the work take place?

The Reid Group approach to organizational planning has four major elements:

• Directional Planning (Mission, Value and Vision Statements)
• Strategic Planning (Goals and Priorities and Issues)
• Operational Planning (Objectives and Action Steps)
• Administrative Planning (Monitoring and Evaluating

In this article, we will focus on the three components of Directional Planning:

Mission statement
Why does the organization exist? What is its identity and purpose? What makes it unique or distinctive? A mission statement should be 30 words or less, memorizable by a 12-year-old (no jargon), and able to be recited from memory.

A mission statement can be drafted using this formula:

3 action verbs + core values + tribe (the people you serve)

For example: The Reid Group helps leaders and organizations transform challenges into opportunities to create a better world. Our creative, comprehensive and excellent services build teams, promote honest communication, and strengthen collaboration.
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Value statements
Values are important for a planning process because they provide guiding principles of conduct and name what an organization is willing to stand up for. These statements reflect the core values or key beliefs of the organization. They are often implicit within organizations, but are most helpful when made explicit. Values also help measure the correctness of a given plan. Will living out these values help us live out our mission and live into our vision?

One way to develop a set of value statements is to gather 10-15 people and start by asking them to brainstorm ten to twelve values the organization expresses in its internal and external work. These values can then be prioritized to a final list of six to eight organizational values. The top two or three value statements may be so important they could actually be incorporated into the organization’s new mission statement.

Vision statement
What will the organization look like once its mission is fully realized? A vision statement is longer than a mission statement (100-200 words or more), usually more poetic, and written in the present tense as if the vision has been accomplished.

These statements are most useful when they are the product of the collective wisdom of a group of people, rather than just a few individuals.

To create a vision statement, imagine it is five years from now and reflect on the life of the organization in that period. Begin your statement with “The last five years have been great because…” Identify at least four “becauses.” These “because” statements then become the foundation for a new organizational vision statement.

Far from being a boring exercise, a good planning process will build on the current strengths of the organization, clarify where it is going as it moves forward into the future and help all to speak confidently with one voice about their mission, values and vision. 

John Reid, Senior Consultant
The Reid Group

Workplace disputes are inevitable. Regrettably, many such conflicts end up in the courts for resolution. In addition to consuming incredible amounts of money, time and energy, lawsuits often ruin long-standing relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and shareholders.

It is common in most workplaces to find reluctance to confront a colleague about behavior that’s distracting, unprofessional, or just plain rude. But avoiding the problem can affect morale and productivity. Unresolved or mismanaged conflict is costly. Studies show that 24-60% of management time and energy is spent dealing with anger. There is no doubt that this leads to increased stress among employees, hampered performance and absenteeism, which, in the ends reflects in decreased productivity.

While it might be tempting to think that an employee’s skills and motivation are the main reasons for performance problems, researchers now estimate that strained relationships between employees have the most significant part of reason (65%).* Researchers agree that the reasons conflicts might appear into an organization are various. But a survey of thousands of US managers involved in some sort of workplace dispute documented the disturbing results on productivity:

• 48% decreased their work effort
• 47% decreased their time at work
• 38% decreased their work quality
• 66% said their performance declined
• 80% lost work time worrying about the incident
• 63% lost time avoiding the offender
• 78% said their commitment to the organization declined

Leaders in the workplace need to acknowledge not only the inevitability of conflict, but also its importance in the organization. When viewed as an opportunity for growth, disagreements in perspective, strategy, knowledge and competency can become crucibles in which creative solutions are developed and wise trade-offs among competing objectives are made. We believe that instead of trying simply to reduce disagreements, senior executives need to embrace conflict and, just as important, institutionalize mechanisms for managing it within their organization.

Our experience with groups across the country shows that periodic, facilitated conversations among work teams by a neutral third party can prevent existing differences from developing into conflict, while at the same time, helping to manage underlying conflicts that are often long-standing between individuals and departments. The discipline of clear, respectful communication is a cornerstone of this work, as well as a developed understanding of how change and the rate of change can contribute to workplace stress and conflict.

Our work in the area of workplace dispute resolution has produced proven results. As mediators committed to just, respectful and productive workplaces, we work in partnership with HR and organizational leaders to help create systems that openly name and embrace conflict in order to improve the quality of product and performance for all involved.

*”How Toxic Colleagues Corrode Performance,” Harvard Business Review (April 2009)
by Christine Porath and Christine Pearson

Carol Guenther, Senior Consultant and Mediator
The Reid Group

The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.
Frederick Buechner

When we talk with potential clients about their particular challenges and how we can help them transform those challenges, some of them will ask out loud what many of them are thinking: Why should we choose you? What sets you apart from all the other consultants out there?

Recently, The Reid Group team spent some time thinking about those questions. What follows is our sense of both why we do what we do and what distinguishes our approach from that of other consulting firms.

The deepest desire of both individuals and organizations is for meaning and purpose. For the individual, we understand this as living out one’s calling. For an organization, this is the pursuit of a corporate mission. We believe this too is a calling.

In the best of situations, these callings reinforce one another. The individual’s vocation contributes to and carries out the mission of the institution. The purpose of the institution is enhanced and promoted by the dedication of the individual.

At The Reid Group, we are dedicated to helping both individuals and organizations achieve this best-case scenario. This commitment sets our priorities, determines our approach, and shapes the way we act.

Our framework is comprehensive. We bring our expertise in the areas of Planning, Leadership Development, Leadership Search, Mediation and Fund Development to bear on the challenges you face. Whether we are working with you or with your organization and its members, we focus on the need for clear direction and strategy, effective sustained leadership, the skill to manage conflict and the capacity to fund the enterprise.

While we operate out of this holistic framework, we do not believe that “one size fits all.” We work with you to analyze your unique situation and to address your specific needs. We measure our success by the degree to which you achieve the results you desire.

In working with us, you and your organization will become more conscious of and committed to living out your calling, operating at your fullest capacity and contributing to a good beyond yourselves.

Every individual and organization must be adept at interpreting the changing environment and making the adjustments needed to stay on goal. We understand that despite every best effort, no one can avoid setbacks and failures. The key is to remain flexible, to recover your balance, to sustain energy and to maintain commitment.

Integration, adaptability and resilience are the marks of the effective individual and the successful organization. Each of these is a combination of knowledge, attitude and skill. You can acquire knowledge, develop attitudes, and perfect skills. The Reid Group is committed to helping you do all three.

Lucien Roy, Consultant
The Reid Group

Like journeys of spirit and faith, journeys of leadership are ongoing and ever forming. The Reid Group is committed to the work of walking alongside leaders to help them create stronger, more adaptive organizations. As we do so, we pose this question to you: “How are you sustaining yourself and your capacity to lead?”

Realities of leadership
Leadership is necessary and noble work—and risky. Leadership is fundamentally about purpose and possibility, which makes leadership an intimately human endeavor. Leaders are often left exposed, and most knowingly assume this risk for something more. Thus, “clarifying the values that orient your life and work and identifying larger purposes to which you might commit are courageous acts.” (The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, 2009)

Sustaining leadership
Sustainability refers to one’s capacity to add and create value in patterned ways over extended periods. Leaders who are sustained in wellness, spirit/faith, relationship, commitment, impact and performance are more nourished, fulfilled and effective. A leader’s tenure will be determined by a number of factors, both foreseen and unforeseen, such as culture and politics, institutional lifecycle and adaptability, and financial health. The question is whether the tenure ended because of a lack of sustainability. To what extent did one lose resilience, commitment, health, etc., to the point of no longer being able to lead effectively? To what extent was one unaware of one’s own internal operating system and derailed because he/she was unable to see and manage non-strength areas?

There are three core principles to consider in sustaining leadership:

Integration: Linking and bringing into agreement the various dimensions of a whole life with one’s values, strengths, beliefs and sense of purpose; aligning the interior life of leadership with the external demands and concerns of organizational leadership.

Adaptability: The capacity to maintain perspective, accurately assess reality and to clarify values and direction in the midst of that reality.

Resiliency: One’s ability and capacity to recover from adversity and to manage and regulate one’s energy and commitment for sustained productivity and performance.

Leadership is most effective when a leader is adaptive, when one is aware of and aligned with what one values and what one knows to be true about his/her sense of purpose, and when one can effectively recover from the demands and dangers of leadership.

While we have mastered the operational and technical aspects of leadership, we have a long way to go in helping people engage in personal transformation. Consequently, sustaining leadership in the future will depend on our ability to master the development of the interior aspects of leadership. Fundamentally, sustainable leadership is an ongoing conversation with the self and the enterprise so that the capacity of a leader and organization may continue to grow and adapt.

Sustaining heart in the leadership journey
It takes great heart to offer acts of leadership. The stresses of leadership can be severe because leaders are always failing somebody, shouldering the pains and aspirations of a community, and frustrating at least some people within it.

At the heart of sustaining your leadership, then, is preserving your sense of purpose. Commit the time, perhaps with the help of a professional executive coach, to understand the stresses of your particular leadership context. Remember to pace the work and respect the pains and loss of change. Know your tolerances, your triggers and your hungers. Be sure to distinguish your “self” from your role. Listen to yourself as data, and trust it. Have a sanctuary and use it. Lastly, surround yourself with allies and confidantes, and know the difference. (The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, 2009)

You and your leadership are valuable. If you care for yourself as you care for others, the gifts, strengths and talents you have been given will continue to be formed and sustained for the important work to which you have been called.

Steve Titus, Senior Consultant, Executive Coach
The Reid Group

The “mission leader” plays an increasingly important role in Catholic health care and higher education institutions today. As these institutions search for individuals to fill these positions, they must match the unique responsibilities of the job with equally distinctive qualifications of the candidate who will embody the “heart” and the “head” of the organization.

Effective mission leaders in higher education and health care have both knowledge of and passion for the high quality, purpose and integrity of their organizations. They typically are trained in ethical principles, have well-honed interpersonal skills, have more than adequate knowledge of either the health care ministry or higher education. In one sense they are like “renaissance” people—well schooled in many disciplines with a holistic approach to their jobs. They relate well to the CEO, CFO, housekeeping staff, receptionists, the senior vice presidents and provosts. They can engage benefactors in conversations which reflect their special interests in the organization.

As the “heart” and “head” of an organization with a passion for the very reason the organization exists, mission leaders focus their efforts in three areas:

1) They build genuine relationships with both internal leaders and community leaders, from the head of maintenance to the mayor of the city, from the student nurse to the major donors, from the lowest paid hourly wage earner to highest salaried staff. People are the most important factor for an organization’s success in fulfilling its mission. People in all kinds of jobs are the focus of the mission leader’s attention.

2) They are dedicated to transforming the organization by deepening its understanding of the implications of its mission. They ask the critical questions: Who is not here at the table or in the room? Who is not being served by the institution? Why aren’t they here? What do we need to do to get them here? Why is this important? In asking these kinds of questions the mission leader becomes a transformative person, empowering the organization to intensify its reason for existence. The responses to the questions can change a “pro-forma” department, unit or organization into one that is creative, challenging, and engaging. The mission leader does not have to have all the answers. But the leader must have the right questions and know when, where and how to ask them. The mission leader knows the reality of the “bottom line,” the essence of the mission and works with others to ensure that there is enough “margin” to splendidly achieve the mission.

3) They model and invite participation and cooperation among all segments of the organization. Mission leaders promote the sharing of meaningful information, explore diverse interpretations, and lift up collaborative approaches involving people across disciplines. They recognize a shared sense of injustice or a common, but under-defined dream and put it on the organization’s agendas at all levels for further discoveries. Increasing the health care institution’s or college’s capacity for change, dealing with loss and hurts, promoting the growth toward the vision of the organization are the paramount responsibilities of the mission leader.

The effective mission leader’s “heart” embraces the institution for all it is and all it can become. The “head” of the mission leader searches out ways to engage the organization in dialogue and planning for a more meaningful and deeper accomplishment of its mission.

Maureen Gallagher, Senior Consultant
The Reid Group

The Reid Group’s mission is to “help leaders and organizations transform challenges into opportunities to create a better world.” We promise transformation to our clients, and these are some of the ways we deliver on that promise: 

• We gain a solid understanding of our client’s background, situation and desired outcome at the beginning of the engagement.
• We create a team-based approach to each engagement, and involve a broad range of participants in the process.
• We build relationships of trust and respect and create an environment where people feel safe, empowered to take risks and encouraged to “think outside the box.”
• We identify action steps during the project and assist  our clients with implementation.
• We help our clients measure tangible results.

What does our promise of transformation look like to the clients of our core services? A few examples:

Prophetic Planning. A parish was transformed from a place where the Spanish-speaking members felt like “renters” to a place where the Spanish-speaking and English-speaking communities entered into a new partnership in faith. Through the tools of conversation and dialogue, the planning process uncovered both the pain of parishioners stemming from not knowing each other and the excitement and new energy generated when they discovered all they had in common.

Leadership Search. An organization that had several leaders in a short span of time used the opportunity of a planning process to clarify and renew their mission, vision and goals. This lead to a search for a leader who could help them be who they said they wanted to be—an organization with renewed spirit, energy and impact.

Leadership Development.  One of the most popular approaches to Leadership Development is Executive Coaching.  Many of our coaching clients are overwhelmed with the number of simultaneous crises they face and the complexity of the situations they face.  One of our coaching clients appreciated the way she was helped to identify each crisis on its own terms, to explore positive alternatives for action and to choose the most effective response that would transform the crisis into new opportunities for growth in her organization.

Mediation. A family experiencing a breakdown in communication and trust as they struggled with the best way to care for an elderly mother decided to try mediation. With our mediation services, they were able to articulate a shared set of goals—to care for their mother and to repair their own relationships  This led to greater harmony, a more secure future for their mother and more love in the family.

Fund Development. A religious community with aging members and expanding needs contracted with us for a capital campaign. Since they had never sought support from their friends before, they had pretty low expectations of the outcome. Although they launched their campaign rather hesitantly, they ended up raising more than three times their original goal and, just as importantly, unleashed a tremendous amount of goodwill among their friends they had served for so long.

John Reid, Senior Consultant
The Reid Group

Today many dioceses are embarking on or have completed diocesan wide pastoral planning efforts, often focused on reorganizing parishes because of the diminishing number of priests and/or other demographic and financial changes. At first blush, it might look like successful parish restructuring is good social science practice. While that may be true, it is much more than that. It is Catholic spirituality in action.

There are five key theological concepts that can influence diocesan pastoral planning:

Creation and Incarnation
Teilhard de Chardin’s statement, “By reason of creation and even more the incarnation, nothing is profane for those who know how to see,” applies to parish restructuring. It is a sacred process where the Spirit is engaging the community in helping to design its future. It is the deep respect for the dignity of the human person which is rooted in God’s creating humanity in the divine likeness that sets a planning process grounded in spirituality apart.

The empowerment given by the local bishop; the way the planning process is structured; the dialogue which happens; the accountability embodied in the methodology; and the prayer resources assembled are all based on the belief that all are made to the image and likeness of God and all have a share in the future of the Catholic community.

Trinity—God in Relationship
The mystery of the Trinity is significant to pastoral planning because it is the relationship within the Triune God that calls us to be in relationship with God and one another. Just as the persons of the Trinity share their life in relationship to each other, so we are shareholders in the life of God through the “body of Christ.”
As shareholders in the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ, we need to be involved in planning on how the mission and ministry will be carried out in the local Church. Planning provides a stellar opportunity for the whole body of Christ to work together.

Life-Death-Resurrection of Jesus Christ
At Baptism we are initiated into the life, death and resurrection of Christ. The poignancy of the life-death-resurrection mystery is felt in parish restructuring when people have to share a pastor, when church buildings close and communities are asked to merge and form something new. In the planning process, not to identify the “endings-wilderness-new beginnings” with the life-death-resurrection of Christ is to miss a wonderful, strong and effective way to assist people to develop a sense of direction, purpose and meaning as shareholders in the mission and ministry of the Risen Christ.

The Eucharist and Sacramentality
At Eucharist those who share in the life of Christ gather to hear the Word proclaimed—a Word that is living as it is proclaimed—a Word that fosters the conviction that when God speaks, something happens. Sacramentality refers to the belief that all reality is potentially a reflection of the presence of God and an instrument of God’s saving activity.

How does all this relate to planning? Planning in Catholic Communities is always done in the context of prayer. Rooted in scripture and faith-sharing, the gathered community situates itself in the presence of God and prays for guidance of the Spirit. As people plan and prepare for change, sharing the stories of the past, connecting them to the Scriptures and using the rituals of the Church can be part of any meeting. Prayer and ritual sharing prepares people for greater appreciation of the Eucharist and empowers the shareholders of the mission and ministry of Christ to discern the will of God for them in the future.

Stewardship and the Common Good
In many ways, this principle encompasses the heart of parish reorganization. Good stewardship of resources and promoting the common good are Catholic values which support pastoral planning.

When first encountered in a planning process, working for the common good may seem to conflict with parochial loyalties—”the way we do things here.” But one of the challenges in pastoral planning is moving away from such parochialism and toward what is good for all. The theological tool for achieving the common good is conversation. Kristin Heyer, Professor of Christian Ethics at Loyola Marymount, suggests using the lens of the common good, along with conversation to move from “I want…” to “what would be good for the community to which we belong.”

By incorporating “best practices” from the social sciences and rigorously integrating theological principles and spiritual practices, the challenges facing the Church related to restructuring parishes can be turned into transformative moments for both the hierarchy and the faithful. Along the journey we find many opportunities to grow in appreciation of who we are called to be as Church in the 21st Century in the United States.

Maureen Gallagher, Senior Consultant
The Reid Group