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How To Lead When You Don’t Know Where You’re Going

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / October 29, 2019 / 2 Comments

How do you lead an organization stuck between an ending and a new beginning—when the old way of doing things no longer works but a way forward is not yet clear? I call such in-between times liminal seasons—threshold times when the continuity of tradition disintegrates and uncertainty about the future fuels doubt and chaos. In a […]

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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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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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Put On Your Own Oxygen Mask First

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / December 5, 2014 / 0 Comments

On airplanes, adults are told to put their mask on before helping others so they will be fully conscious. In churches, adults need to attend to their own spiritual consciousness before they can ably assist children and youth with faith formation. Unfortunately, the way in which we structure our staff teams reinforces semi-conscious adult faith […]

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Building a Discerning Team

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / August 18, 2014 / 0 Comments

Most teams in congregational settings assume they are being Spirit-led.  They believe that God will be self-disclosing and guide the work of the team, so long as good people gather with good intent.  They expect that discernment will happen automatically in the context of good decision making. And so, they demonstrate little intentionality when it […]

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Is Our Busyness Masking Spiritual Boredom?

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / July 10, 2014 / 0 Comments

The large church is known for the quality and depth of its programming, and for the exhaustion of its staff team. It’s true, every one of my client congregations is functioning with a burned out staff team, and pastors on the brink of exhaustion. We assume that a growing and thriving church is always adding […]

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The Leader and the Vision

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / March 10, 2014 / 0 Comments

Part of my Lenten discipline this year is a study of the Rule of Benedict. I am seeking to integrate the teachings of this 6th century communal rule book with my understanding of leadership in present day congregational life. Sr. Joan Chittister at Monastery of the Heart is my guide on this Lenten journey. Here […]

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Free to Discern

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / February 6, 2014 / 0 Comments

“This is a congregation, not a business.” All too often, right after making this claim, leaders go on to conduct a committee or board meeting exactly as if the church were a business. Oh yes, someone begins by offering up a three minute devotion, followed by a prayer, but then it is business as usual. […]

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Tending the Soul of the Organization

By Susan Beaumont & Associates / January 17, 2014 / 0 Comments

Does an institution have a soul? For many years I assumed not. I work with congregations, denominations and faith based non-profits in the areas of organizational and leadership development. I know these institutions as living and breathing organisms, with active cultures and vibrant spiritualties. However, I admit to regarding institutions as soul free entities, believing […]

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