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SynerVision
Leadership
.org
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15
O
ne of the least understood places
is the mind of a leader. It is a place
that few people understand, given the
constant mix of urgent issues, long-
term development, emotions, stresses,
and relational concerns. Commitments
to board members, staff, key leadership,
donors, members, and the public often make
personal and professional development an
afterthought for leaders, especially religious
leaders. Our intention was based on personal
experience that leaders need others, but
they also need to understand that they can
lead their own learning. We developed the
Institute for Clergy Excellence to promote
collaboration and agency among religious
leaders, challenging the status quo for both
leadership and education.
The Development of the Group.
The conversation typically starts when
someone hears about our program. When
they call, we buck the trend of most
programs, saying, “Great, now you need to
put together a peer group. Here’s how: reach
out to one or two colleagues that you would
like to study with over a period of three years.
Once someone says they’re interested, your
question to them is, ‘Who would you like
to invite?’” That keeps going until you get a
group of eight people, which we have found
over the years to be an ideal group size.
One of our central tenets is agency, best
defined as the capacity of individuals to act
independently and make their own choices.
Their self-selection, then, is the first step to
encouraging participants to show personal
agency for this process. It’s different from
someone saying, “I’d like to be placed in one
of your groups.” Getting the group together
is a ragged team-building process. A lot of
people think they want to be in such a group,
and when they actually get in, they see that
it’s exciting – but different! We push against
the tendency in education to embark on what
is planned for you to learn.
Our process is:
1. They select their group.
2. We assign a facilitator.
3. With the facilitator as a coach, the group
designs a three-year travel study program
and a purpose.
4. Participants propose the design to a
review group made up of our facilitators
(all of whom have been participants in the
program).
5. The review board provides feedback,
suggestions, and questions, and changes
are made for the final project.
6. The group starts on their journey.
While it looks simple, it is very intentional.
They create a pretty detailed pattern about
what they’re going to do. We have a guide
for how the proposal should look. There are
major travel modules, and we expect there to
be a strategy for preparation of each module.
Then there is a strategy for follow-up for each
module. We expect every group to outline
how they’re going to apply what they learned
in their three-year program. How do you
get it out of your head and into the
experience of your congregation? We
tell them that we expect them to tell
us how they propose to do that. That
whole self-directed “creative agency” is
the method.
We encourage them to change as they go
along, examining all the details that they can
come up with: when are they going to do this,
what are they going to do, how are they going
to prepare for it, how are they going to follow
up, what is it going to cost? Most of our
groups have changed their projects because
it’s dynamic. On the first module, they might
have some mind-blowing experience that
causes the group to say, “Why didn’t we think
of this when we were doing our plan?”Again,
the facilitators are helping them to remember
that there’s opportunity to change as you go
along.
It’s really hard for people to accept this
creative agency. They expect the traditional
patterns of requirements and evaluations. For
instance, I always meet with a group for the
first time once they get their eight people
together, to give them an orientation and to
determine which one of the facilitators might
be the best for them. When I’ve given my
introduction and orientation, in which I go
into agency and self-directed learning, they
very typically ask, “How often do we have to
meet?” They’re a bunch of busy people, but
they think they’re busier than they are, and
they think they’re more important than they
actually are. “How often do we have to meet?
I don’t know if I’ve got time for this.” The
answer is, “You decide that. I meant it fifteen
minutes ago when I said you take charge
of your own learning here. You not only
Directing Your Own Leadership Journey
The Institute for Clergy Excellence
Larry dill
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