Blog
January is the month when many boards reform and begin the task of goal setting for a new year. Staff teams come together with new resolve to be more productive, collegial and collaborative. It’s the time of year when many of us make resolutions and set new goals for ourselves and our congregations. Congregations today […]
Read MoreIt’s that time of year again. While all of you are scrambling to create magnificent celebrations of Hanukkah and Christmas my consulting practice slows down considerably. I have time to breath, reflect and …yes, clean out my book shelves. Several years ago I made a commitment to myself (and my spouse) that I wouldn’t add […]
Read MoreUnder the best of circumstances, lay leadership and staff leadership in the large church seem to have a difficult time finding a workable approach to board oversight of the staff team. Board leaders often fluctuate between being too hands off (not paying any attention to the activity of the staff team) or being overly involved (stepping […]
Read MoreThis week, in honor of the blog launch, Alban is offering my book at a special 30 % discount. You can order your copy at the Alban online bookstore. Y6RZF327YZ2H
Read MorePart of my consulting practice consists of individualized coaching sessions with senior clergy leaders who are interested in shaping their leadership roles more effectively. At some point in every coaching relationship the question inevitably arises, “Am I spending my time the right way? How do other leaders of large congregations spend their time?” In response […]
Read MoreIn the past month I’ve been in three different congregations who are all grappling with some version of the following question; how do we keep track of where and when our clergy staff is working? Everyone becomes defensive when the question is raised. Clergy staff takes offense. In the posing of the question it seems that […]
Read MoreLast week I met with 43 pastors and rabbis and spent 3 days focused on the challenges of staffing and supervision in congregations. It was a marvelous time of mutual learning, conversation and experience sharing. I always walk away from these events with incredible respect for clergy leaders and the rich set of circumstances (code for challenges/messes) […]
Read MoreI’m working in a congregation that has one of the most remarkably collaborative staff teams that I have encountered. Every member of the team is eager, willing and able to help every other member of the team. There are no artificial boundaries between the important spiritual work of some staff members and the more mundane […]
Read MoreA client congregation is preparing for an upcoming pastoral transition. As part of that preparation we determined that it would be good to “tell the stories” of previous pastoral transitions, in the hopes of surfacing unstated assumptions and previous lessons learned in times of leadership transition. We began by recollecting the story of a pastoral […]
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