pastor as ceo(Page 1)

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The Purple Barn
Guest Presenter: Nathan Claunch, PhD forward e-mail to: nthclaunch@aol.com
The Pastor as CEO

Qualities of the Prototypical Pastor/CEO Fully accepts the calling. Accepts Harry Truman' s, "The buck stops here." Is willing to lead - to state his mission and the church's as he sees it. Warren Bennis in On Becoming a Leader states, "A leader imposes, in the most positive sense of the word, his or her philosophy on the organization, creating or re-creating its culture. The organization. then acts on that philosophy and carries out the mission." Peter Drucker adds, "Most organizations need somebody who can lead regardless of the weather," in Managing the Nonprofit Organization. Is himself or herself, unapologetically. Warren Bennis stresses that all of the 29 top leaders that he interviewed were fully themselves. There were many differences among them, but they had in common their willingness to be and to express who they were. In fact, Bennis found that the very process of self-expression strengthened their sense of identity and confidence. "Has a life" separate from the church. Takes time off to relate to family and/or to him/herself alone. Has friends with whom s/he can be totally real. Pastors from self-confidence and self-acceptance inspired by Grace. Believes that s/he is loved and accepted and forgiven by God and that s/he need not fret when "temporarily misunderstood as someone who is less than a child of God loved and forgiven through grace." Not defensive about his/her imperfections, short-comings, and sins. Can comfortably "plead guilty" to falling short - thereby relaxing self and disarming others. Has clean, comfortable, and assertive "boundaries." Can say NO, assertively, professionally, and diplomatically. "I wish I could, but I can't." "I can't talk more than another 5 minutes because I don't want... to be late for my meeting.... late getting home... spread too thin to write a good sermon... Can (imperfectly and with reflection) distinguish between others' valid feed-back versus invalid criticism that expresses the other's misunderstandings or distortions. Is open to learning, seeks feed-back to improve performance and impact on others; values self-development. "Self-development seems to me to mean both acquiring more capacity and also more weight as a person altogether. By focusing on accountability, people take a bigger view of themselves." (Drucker) Has a few "stress-busters:" both for short-term ("Oh well...") and long-term (vacations, regular time off) application. Doesn't sweat the small things so that s/he has peace of mind, energy, and passion for the things that really matter. Is guided by a personal/professional Mission congruent with the mission s/he offers the church. Puts the Mission first - ahead of personal aggrandizement or personal neurosis. Sees himself as a servant of the mission. Truly serving a mission outside oneself immediately makes the self less inclined to be arrogant or neurotic. Practices patience. Willing to repeat communications (e.g. the mission) frequently and patiently. Drucker in Nonprofit ...: "We never outgrow age three in that respect. You have to tell us again and again. And demonstrate what you mean." Is Loving. Able and inclined to listen to the heart of others' communications. Practices empathy/agape consistently and congruently. Comfortably practices agape/empathy/love. Knows that "The first duty of love is to listen." (Paul Tillich) Is Forgiving. Inclined to not judge but rather to accept own and others' errors/sins/defenses as part of the human condition. Understands "Re-framing," - that people generally have a "good reason" or "positive intention" underlying their behaviors, beliefs, and feelings and is able and inclined to seek out and relate to that underlying motivation rather than to get trapped by the unsavory/sinful nature of what is on the surface. Accepts her/his own and others' doubts, confusions, fears about the extent to which beliefs and practices are "orthodox." Sees God as secure enough, understanding enough, and loving enough to accept imperfect faith. [Tennyson's "There lives more faith in honest doubt than in half the creeds."] Educates his/her board and members, knowing that they are likely to not know much of what he does. Drucker in Nonprofit ...: "Far too many leaders believe that what they do and why they do it must be obvious to everyone in the organization. It never is. Far too many believe that when they announce things, everyone understands. No one does, as a rule." Is bold and willing to take creative risks.
*Mission of the Prototypical Pastor/CEO* The Mission is the Guiding Light(s) that determines all else. The Mission should be clear, specific, and heartily felt. It should be stated generally as well as specifically. At the Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington Illinois, where 16,000 attend week-end services and events, the Mission is: "To make the message of Jesus Christ meaningful to the common man. To apply the message of Jesus Christ to real people's daily lives." Member/volunteer participation in the creating and periodic re-visioning of the mission is essential to ensuring support. "Selling something new has to be built into the planning, and that means involving the operating people." - Peter Drucker in Nonprofit .... Drucker, again: "The goal must be clearly defined. Then that goal must be converted into specific results, specific targets." Thus the Mission can be made relevant to distinct needs. Drucker quotes Philip Kotler's Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Institutions: "Many organizations are very clear about the needs they would like to serve, but they often don't understand these needs from the perspective of the customers." (A customer may be defined as someone who can say no.) Drucker adds, "Marketing is a way to harmonize the needs and wants of the outside world with the purposes and the resdurces and the objectives of the institution." Drucker says that the "bottom line product of nonprofit organizations is 'a changed human being' and that a primary challenge is "to give community and common purpose." Drucker , again: "Work isn't being done by a magnificent statement of policy or a lovely plan. Work is only done when it's done. Done by people. By people with a deadline. By people who are trained. By people who are monitored and evaluated. By people who hold themselves responsible for results."
*Methods of the Prototypical Pastor/CEO* Encouragement of maximum member and/or volunteer worker participation in the development and review of the church's general mission statement and of each sub-goal relevant to each worker's job. This serves to increase commitment. Repetition of the organization's mission OVER & OVER & OVER and use of general and specific mission goals as a basis for the direction of everything that goes on in the church. There is regular periodic review of mission goals and sub-goals and of the extent to which measurable results are being obtained. "Things that were of primary importance may become secondary or even totally irrelevant. Watch this constantly or very soon you will become a museum piece," and "One weakness of nonprofit institutions is that they believe that they have to be infallible." (Drucker in Nonprofit...) Communication and feed-back are highly valued and encouraged. Drucker: "The church's CEO's relationships need to be two-way -with members and with board members and staff. The most important do is to build the organization around information and communication instead of around hierarchy. Everybody in the non-profit institution - all the way up and down - should be expected to take information responsibility. Everyone needs to ask two questions: What information do I need to do my job - from whom, when, how?And: What information do I owe others so that they can do their job, in what form, and when?" (Drucker, Nonprofit ...) TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING & TEACHING, TEACHING, TEACHING that empowers mission-directed skill-development in each church member, each volunteer, each staff member. The extreme importance of training workers is stressed in organization development literature as a critical activity for long-term growth and survival. Gustav Rath (Marketing for Congregations) says "Willow Creek underscores a dramatic movement afoot in religious organizations across the country - the birth of the 'teaching church.'" Every member is encouraged to attend a Core Training course and to repeat it at least every two years. Bill Hybels: "We've been successful because when people experience life change, their enthusiasm becomes contagious." Volunteer selection, management, and development are given top priority. Drucker: "In the high-performing [nonprofit] they expect volunteers to put in very hard work," and (quoting Max Dupree, author of Leadership Is an Art) "I think it is better to err on the side of being more demanding of a person than being less demanding." Utilization of existing worker skills and motivations is achieved in part by asking and listening. Further listening can resolve apparent impasses. If person A wants to do activity B but their skills match activity C, continue asking and listening until an underlying motivation can be found that might make C appealing. Doesn't always work, but often does. This is an example of extended "re-framing," in which a part of a person that is responsible for doing X is asked to find 2 or 3 alternative ways to accomplish the same outcome or payoff that doing X would accomplish. Volunteering is viewed and presented as an "opportunity for self-realization, for being part of a social body that is attractive and rewarding. Opportunity for doing work which will help me to reach my potential. Opportunity to be involved with something that's meaningful. Opportunity to be an integral part of something. We do not develop vital surviving organizations unless we take into account these needs for meaningful work, for a chance at reaching our potential for good social relationships." (Dupree in Drucker) Delegation and acceptance of responsibilities and appraisal of results. "Once goals and standards are clearly established, appraisal becomes possible... With clear goals and standards, the people who do the work can appraise themselves." (Drucker in Nonprofit ...) Teams are formed and trained. "Good leaders know that their job is to make the team function." (Drucker in Nonprofit ...) Change is viewed as an opportunity for innovation, not as a threat. "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten." HOW-TO is a major focus of every preaching and teaching activity so that people learn HOW to practice love, hope, & faith and are not simply exhorted to do so without any skill training. For example, training in listening skills, conflict-resolution skills, and other "practical love" skills. Reflective/active/empathic listening is central to agape, and it is a skill that can be taught and practiced. It is my experience and that of most of the therapists I know and/or supervise that loving concern is an almost inevitable result or "by-product" of empathic listening. Also, non-attacking self-expression and win-win conflict resolution can both be learned and practiced. It seems to me that learning these kinds of skills should be a basic and strongly encouraged part of membership in any church based on the teachings of Jesus. Outreach/marketing/evangelism. "The nonprofit needs a marketing plan with specific objectives and goals. And it needs what I call marketing responsibility, which is to take ones customers seriously. Not saying we know what's good for them. But, what are their values, how do I reach them? "In 1975 Bill Hybels and 3 friends went door to door asking what people liked and disliked about church. Hybels himself grew up in a Kalamazoo Christian Reformed church. "The church was so encrusted with the trappings of traditions that any spiritual development was extinguished. I almost didn't survive the church of my youth." A Harvard university research team that studied Willow Creek: "What distinguished Willow Creek from other churches was that their target market was 'the unchurched.' Most churches target the already convinced, but Willow Creek's tremendous growth comes from persuading those who don't believe to do so." (Chicago Tribune, Sunday April 3, 1994) Willow Creek has 40 small groups for unchurched "Seekers," where they are invited to discuss questions and doubts. "Leaders must discipline themselves to do a lot of listening. We aim to gain their trust and then the right to be heard by drawing Seekers out patiently and accepting them right where they are." (Sounds a lot like Jesus, huh?) Conflict Resolution is welcomed and practiced. Getting To Yes, Getting Past No, and Getting Together are excellent resources. "About 70 years ago, an American political scientist, Mary Parker Follet, said that when you have dissent in an organization, you should never ask who is right. You should not even ask what is right. You must assume that each faction gives the right answer, but to a different question. Each sees a different reality. Trust requires that dissent come out into the open and that it be seen as honest disagreement." (Drucker)
The Pastor as CEO Bibliography Antagonists in the Church, Kenneth Haugk, Minneapolis, Auqsburg, 1968. A useful book to have handy for ideas and support when under attack Do I Have to Give Up Me To BE Loved By You, Jordan and Margaret Paul. Excellent presentation of the different consequences of being OPEN TO LEARNING or CLOSED AND PROTECTED. Portrays closed and protected as based on understandable "good reasons" but resulting in costly outcomes. Written for couples but more genearily applicable. Getting to Yes, Getting Past No, and Getting Together, 3 separate short books by Fisher, and/or Ury, both part of a Harvard Negotiation Project. Excellent clear explanations of a the value and methods of win-win negotiating. Their "going to the balcony" Inside the Mind of Unchurced Harry and Mary. Sold by the Willow Creek Association, 1-800-876-7335. Jesus CEO, Laurie Beth Jones, New York, Hyperion, 1995. Love and Profit, James Autry, New York, Avon Books, 1991. About loving management in business. Least impressive of this biblio. Managing for the Future, Peter Drucker Managing the Non-Profit Organization, Peter Drucker, New York, HarperCollins, 1990. Peter Drucker's material is always very clear and useful. Marketing for Congregations, Gustav Rath, Abbingdon Press. Quoted in Willow Creek Association material. Might be considered a secular version of transcendence Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Institutions, Philip Kotler. Well-Intentioned Dragons - Ministering To Problem People in the Church.