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Hoping for a Robust Return

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / September 7, 2022 / 0 Comments

There is good reason to be optimistic about the start of this program year. People are back from a summer of traveling and reconnecting with loved ones. Staff are rested and brimming with new ideas. Many children have been vaccinated, and a more predictable school year seems likely. We are coming out of pandemic mayhem. […]

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7 Ways to Inspire Confidence While Saying “I Don’t Know”

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / October 29, 2019 / 0 Comments

People look to leaders to fix organizational problems; a leader who fails to resolve a problem quickly may be labelled weak or ineffectual. However, it isn’t in anyone’s best interest for a leader to start fixing things when the way ahead isn’t clear. How does a leader say, “I don’t know what to do next,” […]

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Disappointed in Your Followers? Try Cultivating Awe!

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / July 18, 2017 / 2 Comments

Every leader has experienced this frustration. You put your best leadership vision and energy foreword but you are met with an uninspired response. You hope for a reaction that is lively, expansive, generous and creative. Instead, your followers are unimaginative, scarcity-minded and inwardly-focused. What’s a leader to do? Turning the tide might be easier than […]

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Making Space for Middle Ground

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / March 16, 2017 / 4 Comments

We are a nation divided and those divisions are creeping into congregational life. It grows increasingly difficult to hold an ideological middle ground in politics, theology, or leadership. Pastors climb into pulpits fearful that a simple sermon topic will be interpreted as a political statement. Decision-making is heavy-laden with ideological spin, making it difficult to […]

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Remaining Non-Anxious in Anxious Time

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / November 17, 2016 / 14 Comments

I’ve been watching and listening to pastors these past few weeks. They are bone weary. I can hear it in their voices and see it behind their eyes. It is challenging to marshal a calm and steady presence in the midst of our national political turmoil. In the weeks ahead our leadership bodies will be […]

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Tending the Soul of the Institution

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / September 16, 2015 / 0 Comments

The human brain favors binary thinking. We are naturally drawn to the two-sidedness of the world, the fact that everything has an opposite, a polar complement. Light vs. dark, good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, yin-yang. Leaders of faith based institutions often embrace binary thinking in organizational leadership. We tend the spiritual needs of our […]

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The Problem With Meetings

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / July 27, 2015 / 2 Comments

The problem with meetings in congregation is that they focus on building and sharing knowledge. What if we focused on cultivating collective wisdom instead? Think about the agenda in your typical church meeting. Staff meetings, board meetings, and committee meetings all incorporate the same elements. I tell you what I know, you tell me what […]

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Breaking Our Dependence on Praise

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / October 28, 2014 / 0 Comments

“You like me.  You really like me!”  Let’s face it. We are all guilty of defining our self-worth by what others think. When people praise us we feel successful.  Are we? Courageous and adaptive leadership requires leaning into our own incompetence, and pointing out the incompetence of our congregations.  Leading beyond our own competence will […]

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Acting on on Our Plans

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / September 16, 2014 / 0 Comments

In the world of congregations we are good at planning and doing. We enjoy thinking great thoughts and crafting lofty ministry ideals. We are fair at experimenting with our ideas, and taking tentative steps in the direction of our plans. We are great at running programs, running programs, and running more programs. However, we are […]

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How to Develop Wise Leaders

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / September 13, 2014 / 0 Comments

Consider the last slate of candidates nominated for leadership in your congregation. What attributes were sought when recruiting this group? Perhaps you looked for potential leaders who were: invested, good decision-makers, strategic, prayerful, respected, effective communicators, with strong personal boundaries. How did the actual list of nominees compare to your desired list of attributes? Did […]

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