Developing loyalty in your staff
I was coaching a senior organizational leader recently who was working through the challenges of developing quality staff. I asked this question: “To what degree could a more pastoral approach impact your staff development?” Sometimes leaders believe they need to...
Coaching networks across the land
I ran across a great example of an opportunity where a semi-independent sodalic ministry could be established. Recently I was doing a consultation with a group that was focused on small town and rural church planting within a particular region. My encouragement was to...
When are you a supervisor and when are you a coach?
In many cases where you are the supervisor, you may want to take a coaching posture as much as possible. However, a coaching posture requires that the person you’re coaching is the one who sets the agenda. The agenda they set may or not be most strategic for...
MyCoachLog as a record of growth
I was in Madison, Wisconsin recently doing a training event. While there, pastor Christina Roberts of Madison Vineyard Church told me about new use she found for MyCoachLog: We have an apprenticeship program run out of our church. It’s a nine-month process designed...
Another great use for active listening
Chris Roberts, pastor at Madison Vineyard Church, has been using the coaching process– particularly active listening– as a way to discover what the Holy Spirit is doing in his friends and neighbors who aren’t yet following Jesus. “The Holy Spirit is at...
Help me understand
“Help me understand,” is a great phrase to use in many situations when you want to open the door to meaningful conversations. When you use that phrase, it indicates that you’ve not made a definitive conclusion, but you’re open to learning more. Sometimes this phrase...
A Barnabas moment
I have one client who I very often ask, “Who can help you with this?” He’ll usually respond, “That’s a good question,” and then he proceeds to come up with more people who can help him. We’d had about eight appointments and I had probably asked him that question at...