by Gary Reinecke | Jun 10, 2022 | Uncategorized |
If you are feeling a bit out of step with your faith, you aren’t alone. We are in a space where the effects of the events from the last couple of years are lingering in our everyday lives, including our faith and our spiritual well being.
A shadow of spiritual doldrums rolled in during the pandemic and seems to have hung around. Headlines crowded with war, suffering, shortages, rising interest and prices…well, it piles on. It’s as if we are in an extended state of Spiritual June Gloom.
Liminal Space
“The gap created by the dissolution of the old and the yet-to-emerge new is what we are calling liminal space. It is a place of disequilibrium. Visually, it can be pictured at the moment when a trapeze performer lets go of one bar and waits in midair to connect with another.”
“…liminality is like hanging in midair until it becomes clear to us what we are to grab. A place where we are caught betwixt and between, liminal space is psychologically and spiritually significant because it is where real transformation can take place.”
The Discerning Heart
The Spiritual In-Between
In my tradition, and perhaps yours, the idea of liminal space was never explained nor even mentioned. However, I believe most people will experience this at some point in their lives.
It often becomes evident when a new phase of life begins: graduations, marriage, children, death of a loved one, career or vocational changes, etc. For me, it has been the convergence of multiple events occurring at the same time: an empty nest, a relationship with a spiritual director, and an unanticipated home improvement project. It has been quite the adjustment moving into this new phase.
If you are familiar with Bobby Clinton’s work and the Leadership Timeline, one of his theories is that few leaders finish well. And I think I understand that now better than ever. Stuff happens!
There Are Stages of Faith
Based on my limited understanding of Spiritual Direction and my 30+ years experience in coaching, the primary difference between coaching and spiritual direction is that spiritual direction seeks to help the directee discover new insights about God, about themselves (the directee), and situations for which the directee is seeking guidance.
Coaching is about discerning those insights through the Holy Spirit and taking action or embracing a new mindset.
Functionally, the two disciplines bleed into each other, but the primary distinguishing factor of coaching is to help leaders take action.
What is the first step in coaching someone in their spiritual formation?
If you are using a coach approach with someone in their spiritual formation, it is helpful to have a framework that illustrates the different phases of development. Many, many people teach and write on this topic, but an excellent read on the phases of development is The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith by Janet O. Hagberg and Robert A. Guelich. This framework delves into the intricacies of each phase and provides helpful insights around the challenges and strengths of development.
Stages of development in spiritual formation
Different authors might use different terms, but the concepts are the same. Here are the six stages of faith:
Most Christians are familiar with Stage 2, Discipleship (Learning) and Stage 3, The Active Life (Serving). However, there are four more stages of development!
What separates stage 3 from 4 is “THE WALL”. THE WALL is where the disequilibrium of liminal space is most pronounced. This is one place where a coach (or spiritual director) can be most helpful.
Tips to coach people in their spiritual formation
- Be settled in your own soul
- Create a quiet, uncluttered environment
- Adopt a non-judgemental attitude
- Take on a posture of indifference
- Be compassionate
- Use listening and silence as an opportunity to allow the other person to process
- Ask powerful questions to help the other person reflect deeply
These 7 tips can be applied to coaching in general. Speaking from personal experience, I believe this to be even more critical in coaching for spiritual formation.
Are you hitting THE WALL?
As I reflect on my own journey, it has been life-giving to have a spiritual director during this season. In reality, I do not believe I could have navigated this season well without his help. Without another person to help me process and reflect on the work of God in my life, I would have floundered. One insight he has shared with me is that very few make it through THE WALL. Clinton’s research supports this idea and speculates that only about 30% finish well!
Finishing Spiritually Well
Here are some closing thoughts from Clinton to encourage you and those you coach to finish well!
- Maintain a personal vibrant relationship with God right up to the end.
- Maintain a learning posture and learn from various kinds of sources—life especially.
- Manifest Christ-likeness in character as evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit in your life.
- Live out Truth in your life so that the convictions and promises of God are seen to be authentic.
- Leave behind one or more ultimate contributions.
- Walk with a growing awareness of a sense of destiny and see some–or all–of it fulfilled.
May it be said of you and those you coach through their spiritual formation.
Resources
Are you looking to take your coaching to the next level?
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- Assess for your strengths and areas for improvement
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- Connect with a coach-mentor and peer coaches
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by Gary Reinecke | Jun 6, 2022 | Uncategorized |
What are the qualities of a good team leader?
- A good sense of who they are/who they aren’t.
- They understand their team members’ strengths & liabilities.
- They know how to give positive & negative feedback.
- They can articulate core values.
- They can communicate a compelling vision.
I’ve had a number of conversations lately with church planters. One key area for effective leadership is self-awareness and as I’ve listened, it has been fascinating to hear each describe their strengths and weaknesses. One in particular stands out: he shared that the three things he does well are preaching, one-to-one interaction, and recruiting people to a vision. Based on what I’ve heard him say, he not only has a pretty good grasp on what he does well, but he has also inferred that there are lots of areas where he lacks certain skills and abilities. It was refreshing to hear someone who is clear on what he does well and where he needs help!
Next I asked him to share his vision. His vision was clear, articulate, and thoughtful: to worship corporately with excellence in a manner that invites the Holy Spirit to minister in such a way that will not turn people unfamiliar with the church and faith away; have at least a couple of missional communities in each home; and development of missional leaders and a robust leadership pipeline.
It was not a canned spiel; it came across as if he had intellectually, emotionally, and prayerfully wrestled with God’s calling. What impressed me was that he understood this vision would take time and has made a long-term commitment to live in the community where God has called him, his wife, and his family.
Leadership is both an innate and a learned skill.
The planter shared how hard he works at his communication–and it shows! When I asked him about the launch of their missional communities, he had a strategy to roll them out once they establish some other key ministries so the core group isn’t burned out. The goal of his leadership pipeline is to start new ministries AND be able to generously give away leadership to other new churches in need.
Having a clear sense of who you are is a critical component of leadership.
I’ve lived by this motto that my mom used to share with me and my three siblings as we left for school on most days: “Remember who you are…and who you represent.” This is a good reminder that knowing oneself is a good first step to understanding what God has called us to do.
Here is a very helpful resource to further understand your leadership strengths called the Leadership Effectiveness Profile.
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I have found that this tool is a helpful step in gaining self-awareness. Although there are different views about what constitutes leadership excellence, it is possible to distill the key themes or broad categories from which most good leaders will draw to a greater or lesser extent. In total, eight categories are identified, and these are:
- Emotional intelligence
- Contextual thinking
- Directional clarity
- Creative assimilation
- Change orchestration
- People enablement
- Reciprocal communication
- Driving persistence
I find the categories to sound a bit technical, but as I’ve studied each, it is clear to understand. This would be a really helpful exercise if you are seeking a baseline for your leadership or for the leadership of those you are developing.
Photo by Usman Omar on Unsplash
by Gary Reinecke | May 30, 2022 | Uncategorized |
How do you break a grid-lock when there are important decisions to be made?
For instance, when a leader is trying to convince their team or congregation to move in a new direction and there is disagreement. If the values that support the new direction are not in alignment, this will create conflict. I’ve seen this occur when a pastor comes away from a conference with a new idea that he/she is excited about but has not laid the necessary groundwork to create a culture that allows the initiative to be embraced.
I’ve worked with several congregations in particular that have vision for small group ministry but haven’t cultivated the soil before implementing it. This normally results in frustration. At best, a few groups might get launched but will sputter and, eventually, fizzle out. If the leaders would have been more thoughtful, aware, and strategic in the way they had approached their small group ministries they might have had a chance. In so many cases, though, what they lose is time and trust. As a result, the people that are most affected will not be as excited about the next idea that comes around.
How do you develop your problem-solving skills?
First, identify skill categories into sub-skills or individual competencies. This allows leaders to focus in on their development. Here are the individual competency categories of Problem Solving & Decision Making:
- Critical thinking
- Data gathering and processing
- Tool selection methods
- Alternative weighing ability
- Lateral conceptualization
- Perception and judgment
- Risk assessment skills
Fortunately, a tool exists to assess these areas called the Problem Solving & Decision Making Profile. To administer the assessment, participants plot their scores onto a histogram chart for each category. This quickly shows where efforts to improve should be concentrated in the future. Detailed interpretation notes are included for each category, including improvement actions for low scorers.
Author: Jon Warner
Publisher: Team Publications
© All Rights Reserved
This tool is reliable and valid, so it establishes a baseline you can trust.
Back to the small group scenario above:
If leaders who are pioneering new ministry areas understand their strengths and liabilities in problem solving and decision making, they can find ways to accommodate for what they lack and capitalize on what they possess.
One of the churches from the scenario above actually did the hard work of reflecting and assessing how they could have addressed the realities of launching a new vision for small groups prematurely–unfortunately, it was after the fact. Fortunately, through prayerful conversations and multiple gatherings, they successfully limited the damage, bringing many of the leaders through the transition.
How much better would it have been to do preventative work versus damage control? Having a clear sense of what is involved in problem solving and decision making before introducing a new ministry saves time, money, and energy.
If you are looking at ways to increase your problem solving and decision-making skills, take a look at the profile and see if you can avoid some of the pitfalls you’ve encountered in the past.
Photo by Olav Ahrens Røtne on Unsplash
by Gary Reinecke | May 23, 2022 | Uncategorized |
Are you bringing people onto your team that don’t share your perspective?
If your team consists of a bunch of people who share your same perspective, you will lack the richness of a diversity of people working together to create innovative ideas. That diversity might include people who think differently than you, come from different socio-economic backgrounds, and have differing levels of education.
Cultivating diversity on a team starts with adopting a coach approach.
The best leaders listen intently to their team members, focus on the whole person, and take their context seriously. These leaders ask questions to clarify and understand. Each person is unique, but unless a leader is fully engaged they miss the nuances that each person brings.
One leader I know is working hard at the foundational coaching skills: listening for self-discovery and asking powerful questions. He is a hard-charging leader. Adopting a coach approach forces him to slow down and exercise patience–which is hard for this leader. But with practice and time, he is getting better and better.
What is a coach approach?
I’m excited to share a new resource with you! You might share this with members of your team or colleagues interested in developing their coaching effectiveness. In November 2021, I launched a platform called www.christiancoachingtools.com with my colleague Bob Logan.
On the site we created five GrowthTracks. The first is designed to orient people to coaching through an Independent Self-Study. I envision this being a helpful way to orient a person who is brand new to coaching. For instance, if you want to introduce members of your team to what a coach does, this would be a helpful place to start. If you already have experience being coached or have read books on coaching, this information will be familiar to you.
We structured the material around three important questions to orient people to what a Christian Coach does:
- Are you a Barnabas?
- What is the goal of coaching?
- What is the process of coaching?
Then, you can do a deep dive into the coaching process.
The coaching process we designed was based on original research we conducted with world-class Christian coaches (CLICK HERE for a fuller explanation). We conducted over 20 behavioral interviews with coaches on four different continents and asked them what they do on a consistent basis with leaders they coach.
In addition to the descriptions of each of the elements of the coaching process, we identified 5 of the most powerful questions coaches use. This will serve you well as you begin to integrate a coach approach to leaders you are supervising and developing.
Finally, at the bottom of the page are three resources that will assist you as you take the next step in your coach development.
I hope these resources serve you well! My goal is to help you succeed at whatever God has called you to do in and for His kingdom.
Back to your team and fostering a healthy culture: I challenge you to expand your circle and incorporate people who provide a different voice, a new perspective, or innovative ideas. See if you can bring out the best with your team members by adopting a coach approach.
Photo by Mac Mullins from Pexels
by Gary Reinecke | May 15, 2022 | Uncategorized |
Liverpool Football Club (soccer in the U.S). won the Football Association Cup (FA Cup) – their second trophy this season. In European football this is called winning the double. They have a legitimate chance of winning three (treble) and a long shot at a quadruple.
How do they do it? They work hard on the fundamentals.
In the local church or missions context, the same can be said of high-performing ministry teams: they work hard on the fundamentals. But what about those teams that struggle? What are the signs? The unhealthy behaviors?
I worked with a team that was in distress many, many years ago. They had been suffering for a long time when I arrived on the scene. There were conversations going on behind people’s backs, work that was assumed was getting done but really wasn’t, and resources that were mismanaged. It was–to be blunt–a hot mess! One of the first things I did was meet with individual team members to conduct a full team assessment. I wanted to get a clear picture of:
- What was working
- What was not working
- What needed to change
Over the course of the following weeks and months the picture became clearer, and it was evident what issues needed to be addressed. Now, years later, the team has gone through a significant change and refocused their vision for the future. They are in a much better place. To get there, however, they needed to do some deep work in order to move from where they were to where they wanted to be.
Some teams never make it. Others might limp along.
So how do you know the signs of unhealth within a team?
Here are some telltale signs that warrant attention:
- Lack of vision and direction
- Conflict of values
- Ambiguity of roles
- Unclear ground rules
- Inability to monitor plans
- Closed to new ideas
- Unable to keep clear boundaries
Well before any attempt has been made to build a team’s skills, it is critical to understand the stages through which a typical team will travel over time. A considerable amount of research has been done on the stages of team growth, and experts agree that teams go through four distinct phases: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.
This assessment (which takes around 30 minutes to complete) looks at an individual’s ability to effectively build the team using the Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing model, with seven separate categories in all:
- Vision and direction (Forming)
- Value alignment (Forming)
- Role clarity (Storming)
- Setting ground rules (Norming)
- Monitoring systems (Norming)
- Continuous learning (Performing)
- Boundary management (Performing)
A total of 84 questions helps individual team members to determine their overall competence in each of these seven areas.
How healthy is your team? Take the assessment and see if it helps you gain clarity. I would even encourage you to send the assessment to each of your team members to take individually, and then discuss your thoughts afterward.
Author: Jon Warner Publisher: Team Publications © All Rights Reserved
Photo by Jed Owen on Unsplash
by Gary Reinecke | May 8, 2022 | Uncategorized |
I love following the Liverpool Football Club (American soccer) as they progress through the season. As I’m writing this, they are in the running to win four major competitions. One of the main reasons for this achievement is the coach, Jurgen Klopp. He surrounds himself with excellent people who are experts in the essentials of team recruitment, development, and strategy to compete at the highest levels in world football.
Developing healthy, world class ministry teams and team members carry some of the same qualities as a world class football team.
What makes a healthy team?
A few blogs ago I wrote on this topic. To summarize, this is what it takes to build a healthy team culture:
- Clear expectations
- Regular communication
- Compelling rewards
- Real consequences
- High Trust
What makes healthy team members?
Continuing with the Liverpool FC analogy, I want to address the characteristics of a healthy team member. Below is a summary of each characteristic and how it applies to a sporting franchise, followed by a key question for your reflection. Hang on tight–here are five traits of a healthy team member.
- Passion for the vision: the objective for Liverpool is clear–win every game and every competition they play.
- How does each member describe the vision of your team?
- Shared values: Jurgen Klopp is a Christian and requires a certain quality of player on his team. Though all the members of his team may not be Christian, many of the attributes he looks for in players parallel those of a Christian (e.g. respect, honesty, integrity, humility, industrious, etc.).
- What values do you look for in your team members?
- Ability: Liverpool players have world-class skills and technique to compete at the highest levels.
- What skills do your team members need?
- What skills do your team members possess?
- What areas must be developed?
- Emotional Intelligence: Liverpool demand that players be self-aware both on and off the field or they simply do not remain in the club for long.
- Where do your team members need to grow in their EQ?
- Disciple of Christ: As a disciple of Christ I am not suggesting perfection. What I want to communicate is progress in the direction a person is moving in their spiritual walk.
- Are your team members moving towards Christ or away from Him?
A helpful tool to develop EQ is the Emotional Intelligence Skill Builder Booklet.
How do you find healthy individuals?
Like attracts like. Klopp has this ability. He attracts a certain player that fits the DNA of the club. It is fantastic to see the players they bring from other clubs and which ones turn out to be world-class stars at Liverpool. The team culture Klopp has established assimilates players who share the same values of the manager and club.
How do you invest in and equip members of your team?
Personal development: Encourage regular sabbath and rest. Spiritual practices and work-life-ministry balance are all critical gauges to pay attention to as you create healthy team members.
Skill development: There exists a number of skill-based tools and resources that I go to when I work with leaders, depending on the need. The one I use when a leader needs an in-depth assessment is called the Harrison (CLICK HERE to read more from a previous blog). The tool is based on Enjoyment Performance Theory and suggests that:
… when we enjoy a task – we tend to do it more often. When we do something over and over, we have a tendency to get better at it through both learning and repetition. When a person gets better at something, the feedback he or she receives – both from others and internally – is normally positive. And positive feedback increases the enjoyment of the behavior. The cycle keeps repeating itself – increasing the strength of enjoyment and tendency for the behavior – and often results in behavior habits that we don’t realize are behavior choices.*
If you are interested in learning more about the Harrison Assessment – CLICK HERE.
There are also a host of other tools that exist to help develop leaders that I’ve used over the years including:
Let’s return to the example of Liverpool FC. As the club continues to roll through the later stages of the league and tournaments, the team is being called on to perform under intense pressure with every game.
Today, people in your team are facing pressures from all directions. As an attentive team leader your job is to anticipate the best way you can support and encourage your members, paying close attention to those areas that will have the largest impact in their lives and ministries.
Photo by fauxels from Pexels
