Enhancing Effectiveness of All Our Members

Enhancing the Effectiveness of All Members

Core Ideas: OMF Leaders have primary responsibility for equipping people for effective ministry, facilitating their learning as adults.

A.  Principles and Practices of Learning for Adult Learners

We want to be sure that training we do in OMF is designed to meet the unique challenges and needs of adult learners.

1.      Quick Quiz

2.      What do you know/believe about adult learning?

3.      How Adults Learn

•     In pairs describe the best learning experience of your life. Write the factors that made it so good on post it notes and share them at your table.

•     Listen to a description of research on adult learning:

•     What are your questions and comments?

4.   Implement a learning process that involves ideas, feelings and actions

•      Read this case study of a leader’s work in some other mission (not OMF!)

•      Examine this model from Kurt Lewin: Learning always involves ideas (cognitive material), feelings (affective considerations), and actions (psychomotor activities)

•      What are your questions about this model?

•      Using the model with a partner, decide at least one or two things Jim can do to make his collaboration with his team more successful. The group will hear all ideas.

5.   Use Open Questions

à  A learning task is an open question that the learner has the resources to answer

•      In pairs, look over the following list of questions. Mark those you consider “open.”

•     As a pair, name at least two differences you see between “closed” and “open” questions.

•     Write two open questions Jim might have used with the training session group (above). The group will hear a sample.

7a  Dealing with My Needs:

•   Be in control

•   Feel comfortable

•   Teach, talk or lecture

•   Cover the material

•   Be the expert

•   Tell everything I know about …

•   Tell my neat stories

•   Demonstrate my PowerPoint^® skills

•   Be admired

7b  Dealing with My Fears:

•   Dissent

•   Not having the answers

•   Failure

•   Resistance

•   Losing control

•   Conflict

•   Disappointing people who want a lot of facts

•   Being perceived as “not earning my money”

•   Criticism from my colleagues

•   Criticism from my audience

8.   Thirteen Training Methods

•    Structured
Warm-up

•    Presentation

•    Reading

•    Demonstration

•    Video

•    Note-taking

•    Discussion

•        Quiz/Question-naires

•        Case Study

•        Role play

•        Role play/case study

•        Games

•        Structured Closure

•   Think back over your training experience at NLIC. Using the list above, identify the various methods you have experienced.

9.   Synthesize the Information

•      Examine with a partner the content (what) and achievement based objectives (what for) set out at the beginning of this session. What strikes you about them?

•      Identify one thing you learned that you might use. The group will hear a sample.

2.   Understanding Member Development in OMF

1.   Scriptural Principles

•      Using the following scriptures as a base, plus other Scriptures you are familiar with, try to draft at least five principles concerning an individual’s personal development.

•      Select three principles from your table to share with the entire group.

2.   Read the vision statement

We long to see OMF members glorifying God through their lives and serving fruitfully and strategically in their God-given roles. We long to see every OMF leader with a passion to inspire, mobilize and develop their ministry teams, and equipped to strategically lead them to accomplish OMF’s mission and vision to the glory of God.

•     What are your questions?

•     What would you add?

•       What would you change

3.   Indicators MDP is taken seriously

•      What factors contribute to this renewed emphasis?

•      What are major challenges you have observed to better equipping OMF members for effective ministry?

4.   Review obstacles to development

·         Underline the one you would you be most ready to address in your situation.

·         Circle the one with the greatest long-term impact on effectiveness if resolved

·         Put a check mark in front of the one which you have personally felt most strongly about.

–      Need for specialized ministry training

–      Distance between workers

–      Diversity of training and experience makes it difficult to provide appropriate help

–      Demands of ministry or other work commitments

–      Lack of experienced trainers and developers

–      Unwillingness to commit to OMF-related training

–      Lack of perceived value in OMF training

–      Lack of time and skills for intentional mentoring

–      There is no clear ministry/career development path

–      Knowing how much to invest in people on field from 3 weeks to years

–      Trying to maintain balance while living in a CAN

–      Normal “church experience” is not possible and family aspects suffer

–      Ensuring that investment in training translates into actual “effectiveness”

–      Difficulty in measuring ministry effectiveness

5.   Purpose of Developmental Assignments

•      They motivate people to focus their attention and exert effort toward learning growth and change. 

•      They provide the raw material or resources for learning: the information, observations and reactions that lead to a more complex and sometimes quite different understanding of the world.

•      Assessment:

–      An understanding of where they are now

–      What their current strengths are

–      The level of their current performance

–      What are seen as their primary development needs

·         Challenge:

–      If conditions don’t change, people feel no need to move beyond their comfort zone to develop new strengths.

–      In a comfortable assignment, they use familiar strengths well in serving the needs of the organization, but they do not learn very much from it.

–      The same is true for a comfortable relationship, feedback that confirms, or a training program on skills that have already been mastered.

–      In these cases, comfort is the enemy of growth and continued effectiveness.

·         Support

–      While the element of challenge provides the disequilibrium needed to motivate people to change, the support elements of an experience send the message that their efforts to learn and grow are valued.

–      If people do not receive support in the form of confirming messages, and if other people do not allow and encourage them to change, then the challenge may overwhelm them, rather than opening them up to learning.

–      For example, an organization that wants to develop more effective teamwork is unlikely to make progress if it continues primarily to reward individual contributions.

How did the apostle Paul use assessment, challenge and support with his co-workers

6a. Developmental Interviews

•      Facilitate Reflection

–      What worked well in the last six months?

–      What have you learned from success?

–      What will you do differently in the future?

–      What have you learned from failure?

–      What are on-going problems or needs?

–      What would make you more effective?

•      Facilitate Action

–      Prioritize high priority major developmental needs

–      Envision future results in this area

–      Create specific steps leading to results.

–      Follow up development in the next interview.

•         Watch this demonstration of a developmental interview, and see how many of the factors highlighted above you can detect.

•         In groups of 3 role play a developmental interview based on a situation given by the facilitator. Each person should take turns playing the leader, member and observer. After five minutes of interaction, the observer will provide feedback to the “leader.” Rotate roles and continue until all have had opportunity to participate in each role.

C.  Identifying Steps toward Ministry Effectiveness: A Developmental Mindset

1.   Identify the developmental goal

•      What does ministry effectiveness look like based on the following resources?

–      Scripture

–      Ministry profile

–      job descriptions

–      models

–      examples

–      articles

–      books, etc.

2.   Identify the gap

•      Training and development needs assessment

–      How could you assess current levels of awareness of ministry potential and developmental needs? (methods and means)

–      What is your current assessment of ministry potential and developmental needs?

3.   Identify resources

•       Training and development options and opportunities

–       Formal training -- academic study

–       Informal training --workshops, seminars, classes, etc.

–       Non-formal training -- self-study, developmental assignments, mentors, etc.

–       Which is most likely to enhance effectiveness?

–       What resources are needed?

–       What resources are available?

4.   Create an action plan

•      Who will do what by when with which resources?

•      To whom am I accountable for implementing these steps?

•      How will I know that my capacity has increased in this area?

•      How will I celebrate my progress?

D.  Best Practices in Ensuring Effectiveness

1.   Review this list

Identify those that are already functioning well in your situation.

_        Use of development assessment forms

_        Appointment of member development coordinator for the field/region/team/etc.

_        Using the SYIS materials

_        Surveying MDP effectiveness

_        Field leaders using developmental questions

_        The use of developmental assignments

2.   Which has potential to make the greatest impact in your situation?

3.   Outline a program for development in your situation using what you have gained in this session. Refer to facilitators as coaches.

Simple Truths about Performance

Simple Truths about Performance

1.       People who produce good results feel good about themselves. It’s hard to keep up good morale and have people feel satisfied if the results they are getting aren’t making a difference. Both people and results are important. Overemphasizing either one  can cause problems.

2.     To help people perform well, an effective performance management system (leadership coaching) must be established. This consists of three phases:

• The first phase is “performance planning” where goals, objectives and performance standards are established.
• The second part is “execution” where the leader observes and monitors performance praising progress and re-directing where necessary.
• The third part of this system is review and learning where you sit down with people at the end of a period of time (not less than quarterly) and review their performance. Leaders give appropriate direction (goal-oriented) and support (person-oriented) to help people win.

3.     The performance management system begins with the answer to the question: What are this person’s major responsibilities? Then, the first part of this system is to focus on three to five SMART goals the person is expected to accomplish, that are most critical to their job performance. For each area, the individual needs to come up with specific standards of what good performance looks like—not qualities like creativity and initiative, but the results, on the ground, that those qualities would produce in the “real world” performance of the individual. For example, in terms of creativity, the goal might be to develop, test and implement four new questions that introduce evangelistic conversations.

4.     The biggest impact on member performance comes from regular (periodic) coaching and encouragement on each goal, in person, via telephone, or Skype. The biggest problem with most goal-setting is that once the goals are written, they are set aside and not referred to again until the time for performance evaluation. The team or field leader must re-visit the goals with each person on (at least) a monthly basis. Periodic coaching conversations should be based on the model of Situational Leadership®. (Note: a video training program on Situational Training is available for use in upgrading leaders and members skills in this area.) Situational Leadership requires three skills:

a.      Diagnosis of the appropriate “development level” the individual is at in terms of this specific performance goal. Very important note: Development level varies from goal to goal, and from task to task.

                    i.            Enthusiastic Beginner (D1): Low competence, high commitment: excited but will little knowledge or experience

                 ii.            Disillusioned Learner (D2): some competence, low commitment: learning is tough, discouragement has set in.

               iii.            Capable, but Cautious Performer (D3): moderate to high competence with variable commitment; knows how, but lacks confidence.

                iv.             Self-Reliant Achiever (D4): high competence, high commitment: confident and motivated to perform with minimal supervision.

b.    Flexibility. The leader does not have a “one size fits all” approach to developing individuals, but seeks to supply what each person needs (direction or support). The leader varies their leadership style (S1-S4) as the member moves from D1 to D4 in a particular performance area.

                  i.            Directing (S1): High direction and low supportive behavior

                ii.            Coaching (S2): High direction and high supporting behavior

             iii.            Supporting (S3): Low directive and high supportive behavior

              iv.            Delegating (S4): Low directive and low supportive behavior

c.     Partnering for Performance. In the leader’s periodic meetings with the member, they review the goals and performance to date. Then, together, they agree on the level of direction and support that is needed for each goal they are currently pursuing. 

5.     Trust is the key to effective coaching. One of the most powerful results of this approach to performance management is that people trust their leaders because they see them as their performance partners. When leaders do not intentionally create a climate of trust, people:

• Question decisions.
• Have morale problems.
• Fail to fully participate.
• Avoid taking creative risks, and ultimately leave the organization.

6.  The key to developing people is to catch them doing something right. It’s the contemporary version of the old 1930’s song: Accentuate the Positive. In performance-management terms: “catch people doing something right.”

7.  Don’t wait until people are consistently performing perfectly, but praise the glimmer of progress as soon as you become aware of it. However, if people are not performing in harmony with your ministry standards you need to provide redirection.

a.  Redirection should be given as soon as you are aware of the failure to meet the performance standard. Don’t wait for the next meeting.

b.  Explain specifically what went wrong, as well as the impact the behavior is having on the team’s performance.

c.  If it is appropriate, the leader should take the responsibility for the lapse, “maybe I didn’t make it clear how we expect to handle this situation on our team…”

d.  Reiterate the importance of the task, “…tracking our progress is important so we can make any corrections in the way we are doing things as soon as possible…” That way we don’t have surprises at the end of the quarter.

e.  Reassure the person that you have confidence in their ability to make many positive contributions to the team, and are glad they are with you.

8.  We use redirection with people who are learning to perform on the job. But how do we deal with performance lapses for people who are experienced achievers? We can reprimand them with caring candor. Redirection is for “can’t do” skill problems, while reprimands are for “won’t do” attitude problems.

a.  The reprimand should be delivered in a timely manner, as soon as the poor performance is detected, never saved for an “annual review.”

b.  It should be specific. “You failed to complete and turn in your report on time.”

c.  (After exploring reasons for the misbehavior) Share your feelings about the lapse: “I’m frustrated/disappointed/surprised/etc. … because it meant I was unable to …”

d.  “The reason I’m upset is because this is so unlike you… You are one of my best people, etc. …”

9.  In this system, people only complete one annual performance review: their own. This review is of the coaching feedback they received throughout the year and how they have responded to the issues discussed. If there is any disagreement on the evaluation, they go back to their agreement at the beginning of the year about what they would accomplish. If someone’s performance is unsatisfactory at this point, there should be major career planning about what assignments would be appropriate, including re-training or even a career change.

10. Effective leadership is a journey from self-leadership to one-to-one leadership, then team leadership and on to organizational leadership. Every leader develops a leadership philosophy, a leadership-point-of-view, that answers questions like:

• Where do my beliefs about leadership come from?
• Who were the leadership models (good and bad) in my life?
• What is my life/ministry purpose?
• What are my operating values?
• What principles guide my leadership actions?        

     One responsibility of organizational leadership is to share (reproduce) that leadership-point-of-view with each person they are responsible to lead. That is how World Team missionaries will inevitably establish reproducing movements of reproducing churches filled with reproducing believers.

11. Servant leadership is practiced in two aspects: vision/direction and implementation.

a.  Vision/direction is the leadership part of servant leadership. It consists of three major aspects

i.   Your mission: what business are you in? Where are you going?

ii.  Your vision: your picture of the future what it look like when you succeed.

iii.   Your values: what you stand for, the enduring principles that you will use to make operational decisions.

2. Implementation is the servant part of servant leadership. Once the leaders have established an overall vision and direction, the members of the organization carry out the day-to-day activities by responding to those they minister to, training and developing them to accomplish their own goals and live according to their vision and values.

12 Celebrate success. Celebrate the good stories in your organization. Celebrate what God is doing, how He is accomplishing His purposes to bring those from “every people, language, tribe and nation” and using us to populate that celebration.

Adapted from Helping People Win at Work by Ken Blanchard and Garry Ridge

Some Other Books on my Reading List

Organic Disciple-making: Mentoring Others Into Spiritual Maturity by Dennis McCallum. This is one of the best books on making disciples I have read since I was involved with The Navigators during my military service in the 1960's and 70's. Great step-by-step instructions as well as a great introduction to the what, why, when and how of initiating and conducting a discipleship ministry.

Strategic Disciple Making: A Practical Tool for Successful Ministry by Aubrey Malphurs. This recent book by Dr. Malphurs begins with an interesting twist on the back cover, where Dr. Malphurs asserts that ..."Jesus' mandate in Matthew 28:19-20 is that the church make disciples of all its people, not just a select few." This really causes me to question whether the vaunted reputation of Dallas Seminary, where he is professor of pastoral ministries, for producing expositors skilled in handling the text of Scripture is not vastly over-rated.

The Biblical phrase panta ta ethne, made famous by Jesus and by Donald McGavran, has primary reference to "all the peoples," or "all the nations," not of all the individuals in a church situated in a particular ethno-linguistic setting.

I've always respected Dr. Malphurs work and own many, if not most of his books, and have used him extensively in my ministry of leader development for missions leaders. To me it's embarrassing that he would make such a crucial strategic mistake in finding the direction and biblical warrant  for his ministry in Scripture.

Commissioned: What Jesus Wants You to Know as You Go by Marvin J. Newell. I've know and been associated with Dr. Newell, Executive Director of CrossGlobal Link (Formerly the IFMA) for twenty years since he supervised by sister's missionary service in Irian Jaya, so it's impossible for me to be objective about his great book on Jesus' Great Commission. But that should, in no way, be interpreted as diminishing my enthusiasm for his work.

It's clear that he has brought all his years of missionary service and leadership with TEAM, his years of academic instruction and research with Moody Graduate School and his current service leading CrossGlobal Link to this volume of deep insight and practical exhortation.

To this point, my reference for detailed understanding of the Great Commission has been David Howard's The Great Commission for Today. Now Marv's book will reclaim it's rightful place alongside that volume on my shelf and in my heart.

Mind Maps for Business: Revollutionise your business thinking and practice by Tony Buzan. This new book by the Guru of mindmapping add both practical instruction and great examples of the use of mindmapping to address business dilemmas and solve problems.

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I particularly like Ken Blanchard's books because he puts the goodies right down on the bottom shelf where they really make sense to people like me and the people I work with. I've used a number of his books, but here are the recent one's I'm looking forward to digesting and sharing with those I lead and train":              
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Know Can Do: Put Your Know How into Action by Ken Blanchard and others. The dust jacket says: Why is it that so many things we try so hard to learn just don't stick? Because we spend all our energy learning new skills and better habits, but we lack effective strategies for retaining and applying all the helpful information we take in. Blanchard gives three steps trainers can take to close the knowing/doing gap.

Helping People Win at Work: A Business Philosophy Called "Don't Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A". by Ken Blanchard and Garry Ridge. Using the WD-40 company as his learning laboratory, Blanchard walks through he steps of re-framing corporate cultures to help people experience success on a daily, quarterly and annual basis. 

What I'm Reading February 2010

Here are the books on my reading list at this point:

Becoming a Coaching Leader by Daniel Harkavy: I read the Kindle version of this book and wanted to be able to use it more fully in my own leadership coaching, so I've purchased the hardback version.

Training on Trial by Jim Kirkpatrick and Wendy Kayser Kirkpatrick. The Kirkpatricks come from good training stock--his father was the developer of the four-levels of training approach. This new book updates the model and provides contemporary application for teachers and trainers today.

Streams of Living Water by Richard Foster: Several of my best friends are strong proponents of Foster's Renovare movement. I wanted to get a better idea of where the movements originated and might be heading. This books gives some perspective for pilgrims along the way.

Create Your Own Blog:From the "start-and-stop" nature of this present effort, it's evident that I need some instruction along the way. I'm hoping that I will be able to improve the quality of my work by reading and heeding this work.

The Mindmap Book by Tony Buzan: I've been working with some friends on using MindMapping for personal development projects. Buzan was the pioneer of this approach and I look forward to learning more about the basics from this foundational book.

Know Can Do! by Ken Blanchard and Paul Meyer: The sub-title says it all: put your know-how into action. In this book, Blanchard in his inimitable way seeks to answer the question the Apostle Paul asked in Romans 7: why don't I do the things I know that I should do? The dust jacket of this book promises: (This book will) lay out a straightforward method for learning more, learning better and making sure you actually use what you learn.

Helping People Win at Work by Ken Blanchard and Garrry Ridge: Blanchard writes, "For years I've been concerned about how people's performance is evaluated...(this method) does not hold managers responsible for coaching people and helping them win.