Transformational leadership begins with a transformed leader.
For many years attendees at the Start Up!Start Over! Congregational Development Seminar asked what follows that week long training. Responding to the request for additional training resulted in the realization that most conversations about congregational development end with discussion of the leader’s effectiveness in difficult and stressful situations.
Those situations might be as simple as the growing pains that accompany successful congregational development and growth. More often they are the result of leading a congregation as if they were a unified group, when in fact they are many subgroups of different people with different expectations, assumptions, and reactions. This is true in small congregations, and even more true in large ones.
Upward Bound has been designed to raise the self-awareness of the leader about his/her reactions to intense and conflicted situations. To be effective, a leader has to step outside the congregational system to accurately observe and diagnose the problem. This seminar offers practical skill development and discernment to help the leader neither ignore, nor become immersed in conflicts, but to become a constructive presence in the midst of turmoil.
Upward Bound addresses the personal work leaders need to do in order to lead in challenging times of growth and change.
Upward Bound is for the congregational development leader who is ready to address the following situations:
- Your primary goals are sabotaged by distracting mini-fires.
- Emotional responses are disproportionate to the situation.
- You are leading ‘process’ with people operating in a ‘yes or no’ world.
- You are caught in a problem that is not yours to solve.
- There is a negative force that drains time and emotional energy.
- Passive-aggressive behaviors have reached an artful level.
Upward Bound is designed for the congregational leader who has responsibility for leading and managing the congregation through change and growth.
The goal is to heighten your awareness and skills required to lead congregations in times of change and transition. The training is highly interactive, includes teaching, role-play, conversation, and personal reflection.
You will be invited to carefully explore your individual awareness and competence, examine the congregational setting in which you lead, and apply new models of interpretation to effect change.
In order to support a seminar format space is limited to 36 registrants.
Upward Bound is sponsored by the Office of Congregational Development and coordinated in partnership with the Episcopal Church Building Fund. To learn more call 800-334-7626, ext. 6003.
