The Essence of Adventist Leadership : Taking Responsibility

1. The Essence of Adventist Leadership: Taking Responsibility BUC Ministerial Council 11 February 2008

2. Video Clip

3. I am a trustee My role is to be a trustee of what God entrusts to me during my lifetime. I have no ownership rights – only responsibilities.

4. God is the OWNER Psalms 24:1 – The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.

5. God is the PROVIDER James 1:17 - Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.

6. Outline • Who is a leader and what does leadership mean • Integrity • Responsible leadership within a church context • Board/committee good governance & process • Conflict of interest • Capital/Mission projects • Excellence in leadership

7. Who is a leader?What does leadership mean?

8. 3-minute group discussion

9. WHO IS A LEADER? • Pastors are leaders 20-30 per cent of the time – we are all leaders • Leadership is a gift….A calling…. A ministry • Leadership is a call for action – no ex-officio or honorary position • “Lead, follow, or get out of the way” • “You cannot be a leader if you are afraid of responsibility and accountability” • “The best way to avoid criticism is to say nothing, do nothing and be nothing” • “Leaders are to lead – initiate and take action”

10. So you think you know what leadership is…? “The art of getting people to do what they really don’t want to do and don’t feel equipped to do against a timeline they don’t believe in, with risks that scare them, to achieve an objective they believe at the beginning to be impossible.” Eric Gregory

11. Effective Leader The most effective leaders make no demands, they just define and communicate the course, provide resources, and get in front of the team.

12. NATURAL AND SERVANT LEADERSHIP NATURAL SERVANT • Self-confident • Makes own decisions • Ambitious • Originates own methods • Enjoys commanding others • Motivated by personal considerations • Independent • Confident in God • Seek God’s will • Finds God’s methods • Delights to obey God • Motivated by love for God and people • God dependent Oswald Sanders

13. Did you know? • “90 percent of all leadership failures are character failures”

14. An Effective Leader

15. Integrity - I • Synonyms – soundness, incorruptibility, completeness, honesty, unity • Engineers tell us that a triangle is one of the strongest geometric figures used in construction • Integrity is like a triangle in our characters. It has to do with • Our purpose – why we exist • Our principles – what we stand for • Our intentions – what we are up to

16. Integrity - II • There are some words we use to show lack of integrity: • Two-faced • Double-tongued According to Kriegbaum, integrity manifests itself • As authenticity – being who I claim to be and doing what I promise to do • As honesty, sincerity, forthrightness

17. Integrity - III • Research of 54,000 people – integrity is the number one quality needed in a leader (Covey) • 100 top executives of Fortune 500 companies – listed integrity as essential as corporate success (Allenbaugh). • Eisenhower – integrity is the supreme quality for leadership without which no success would be possible

18. Integrity - IV • We can identify integrity in our church by the following behaviours: • Ensure that appropriate policies and protocols are approved and implemented fairly and equally • Hold leaders accountable for fulfilling the organisation’s mission, implementing strategic plans, monitoring strategic plans, achieving sustainable quality programmes prudently handling all resources • Fully disclose real or potential conflict of interests

19. Integrity - V • We see integrity when everyone is treated with fairness and equality without favouritism or discrimination • We see integrity in our institutions and churches when rumours and gossip is confronted - and when/where - necessary investigated

20. A Word About Humility “People who are truly effective have the humility and reverence to recognize their own perceptual limitations and to appreciate the rich resources available through interaction with the hearts and minds of other human beings.” Stephen R. Covey

21. Leadership within a Church Context

22. LEADERSHIP REALITIES WITHIN A CHURCH CONTEXT - I • God is in control and takes initiative, church members submit themselves to the Lord, decision making is done under the guidance of the Holy Spirit • The SDA church is a volunteer organisation. • Authority is in the hands of the members delegated to key persons to lead according to specified policies & provisions. • Goals are set by the consensus of the members, the result of negotiation and joint effort. Richard Hutcheson and Harris W Lee

23. LEADERSHIP REALITIES WITHIN A CHURCH CONTEXT - II • Compliance is voluntary and is most often dependent upon the persuasiveness of the leaders – that is YOU! • The structure is democratic, providing for broad representation in decision making • Power that is available to leaders must be developed through activating and mobilising members Richard Hutcheson and Harris W Lee

24. Policies

25. LEADERSHIP THROUGH POLICIES • “Because policies enter and dominate all aspects of church life, they present the most powerful lever for the exercise of leadership.” (Peters & waterman) • Policies are there to be followed • Leverage and efficiency – with policy-focused leadership, the board can affect many issues with less effort – boards have only so much time available • Expertise – governing board members do not have all the skills required to operate - governing by policies require non of the specialties

26. BASIC RULES ABOUT DEVELOPING POLICIES • Explicitness – policies must exist in written form. • Currentness – up-to-date policies are the only ones that work. • Literalness – policies must mean what they say. If they do not, they should be amended or deleted. • Central availability – in one place and easily accessible. • Brevity – board policies that are too long and too many are enemies of good leadership. John Carver, Boards that Make a Difference

27. Board/Committee Governance

28. BOARD GOVERNANCE - I • Reality – we either are on boards, work for them, or are affected by their decision • There is one thing all boards have in common – they do not function (Drucker) • 95% of boards are not fully doing what they are legally, morally and ethically supposed to do (John Carver)

29. BOARD GOVERNANCE - II • 31% of the action points, they couldn’t remember what they meant or why they had come up with it • 48 % — nothing was done • 15 % were implemented but did not survive beyond the initial phase • 6% were successfully implemented and carried through John Carver

30. COMMON PROBLEMS WITH BOARDS - I • Do not follow a vision/mission – static • Do not stick to policy • Spend a lot of time on trivial items • Spend too much time on short-term items and ignore strategic ones (BIG picture) • React to church member initiatives rather than act proactively • Rubber-stamp documents & ideas

31. MORE PROBLEMS WITH BOARDS - II • Dysfunctional board — egos at war; big differences about mission or ambition; meetings going on and on well beyond the scheduled time. • Impossible to make decisions — slow and inconclusive; or decisions changed at a subsequent meeting because a strong personality missed the meeting when the first decision was made. • Devalued board — the work gets done outside the meeting between the elders and chair; the board is expected to be a rubber stamp. • Poor priorities - excessive amounts of material with no distinctions between important and minor. • Personal frustration — feeling excluded; sometimes never having been adequately inducted so always struggling to get the hang of the organisation, the environment within which it operates, or the member role; contributions not valued; no form of appraisal, or opportunities for individual feedback.

32. Board Process

33. BOARD PROCESS - I ‘The quality of a board chair can make or break a board. Good governance requires sound leadership and is inhibited by weak leadership. Although an excellent board chair does not guarantee superior governance, a poor or inadequate one nearly always ruins it.’

34. BOARD PROCESS - II A common governing board mistake is the desire to “know everything that is going on”. Because board members spend so much time in this impossible attempt, they never really know how their Church is doing.

35. “APPROVAL SYNDROME” – RUBBER-STAMPING • “It is severely detrimental to the quality of good governance” • Reactivity – document rubber-stamping place the governing board members in a reactive position. The governing board can often do little but approve what is being presented. This causes serious frustration among board members and raises questions in their minds about their added-value. • When sheer volume of material is approved, it is impossible to determine just what the governing board said! Did the board say everything because it now owned the document or it said nothing because it merely passed what someone else contributed.

36. Active Board

37. TIPS TO MAINTAIN AN ACTIVE BOARD - I • Constant celebration of the cause, sharing evidence of the value of the work, of the achievements of the church and its members — attention to keeping an eye on outcomes and impact – ENDS NOT MEANS • Clarity about “why” - mission, values and strategies. What the Church is trying to achieve and/or change. • Kept well briefed and informed — about what’s going on within the Church and within the community it occupies — a confident and engaged board, more likely to be effective and to stay clear of micro-management.

38. TIPS TO MAINTAIN AN ACTIVE BOARD - II • Clarity about who does what - respectful of each other and skilled at ensuring all have their say and are valued for it. • Consistently exploits the analytical and strategic competenceand role of the board — thinks, debates, reviews — asks ‘what if’ questions. • Always looking for further development opportunities and ways of enhancing what it’s doing —if the church stops looking for opportunities for further development and improvement, it will become stale and/or complacent; if that happens, the creative board member will probably pack their bags.

39. DISSENT AND NON-CONFORMITY • “The board member from hell’ — someone who seemed always to be challenging the consensus. • Dissent is not the same as disloyalty - resistance to organisational ‘group-think’ may be critical qualities to encourage within a board. • Important lessons from Enron for any board. 1) make sure a board member truly understands the condition of the entity; 2) not hesitant to ask tough, probing questions; 3) willing to challenge leaders when something does not make sense. • Most of our Church governing boards operate in such a collegial, consensus-driven manner that individuals are uncomfortable challenging management or questioning inconsistencies or the quality of information they receive. You need persons on the board who will be a “pleasant irritant”, someone who will force people to think a little differently. That’s what a good board does.

40. MANAGING A TALKING JOB • The board’s job is a verbal task – debating, clarifying, & emphasising values are talking tasks – the board talks • Just because a topic is important is not reason enough to deal with it; there are too many important topics – selective • Discipline is a must – what is talked about, how the talking occurs and when it is done • Ensure that you have a pre-assigned time slot/section for strategic agenda items – be deliberate • Limit staff/department personnel eagerness to show-and-tell • Crisis management – who talks?

42. Conflict of Interest

43. Conflict of Interest - I “A conflict of interest arises when a leader uses his/her position in the church to advance his/her private interests, or the private interests of family members”.

44. Conflict of Interest - II • Promotes both the reality and the perception of integrity in the Church • Focuses on prevention, not punishment • Is not intended to catch crooks but instead recognises the inherent honesty of church leaders • Does not regulate morality

45. Conflict of Interest - III • Relational: Nepotism, Like/Dislike, Favouritism • Occupational: Preserving or enhancing your standing with the Board Chair, desire to please, fear of reprisal

46. Conflict of Interest - IV “…it is often difficult to determine (or know) whether a person has a conflict of interest, because we may not know how their personal, financial, or political interests are affecting… their judgment, reasoning, motivation, or behavior.”

47. Conflict of Interest - V Having a conflict of interest is not, in and of itself, evidence of wrongdoing. In fact, for many professionals, it is virtually impossible to avoid having conflicts of interest from time to time. A conflict of interest can, however, become a legal matter if an individual tries (and/or succeeds in) influencing the outcome of a decision, for personal benefit.

48. Conflict of Interest - VI It is unethical and unprofessional to ignore a real or apparent conflict of interest. • Avoidance – policies, protocols, …. • Disclosure – COI Statements, …. • Abstain or disqualify from voting, ….

49. Capital & Mission Projects

50. What? • over and above • for a specific purpose • for a specific duration • quality is more important than quantity