Photo by Isaac Smith on Unsplash
One of the ways I get to use coaching is through meeting with organizations (often churches) as a mediator or facilitator. I help them articulate their dreams, reflect on their challenges and current situation, identify what’s holding them back, determine if their dreams are realistic, and then develop a plan to make their vision happen. It’s truly privileged work to be able to help groups of people grow in this way.
It’s interesting to me that there’s always one in the crowd who has the wet blanket and uses it consistently, one who is the bull in the china shop, and one who is often silent but has boatloads of wisdom to share. There are people who have been hurt, people who want drastic change, people who are tired. We often don’t recognize when “our stuff” is getting in the way of moving an organization into a new vision.
Through my mediation and facilitation role (it’s really coaching), we work together to develop short-term and long-term goals, action steps that will move the organization to a new or more proactive approach, and talk about what to keep and what to let go of to make the vision happen. We look at everything from unspoken assumptions and ideological differences to practical matters like how many rooms a building has to do the work of the organization. We take a hard look at practical matters of organizational function to see how it can be fine-tuned or sometimes overhauled. The grounding bass note that underscores this conversation is the vision of the group...what it’s called to in this moment and in the future.
Well, we’re at the half-way point of 2021. Here are your semi-annual questions to ponder:
● What were your vision and goals for this year? For your organization?
● Do they need to be tweaked or revamped?
● How are you and/or your organization changing to adapt to the current times we’re in?
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