Collaborative leadership is based on the idea that effective organizations foster and draw upon the flow of ideas from throughout the organization. In order to do that, the organization must be structured to facilitate that process:
· An open environment built on trust and integrity. People must feel empowered to offer new ideas and provide constructive feedback.
· A team of passionate individuals with integrity, motivation, capacity, understanding, knowledge, and experience (in that order).
· A strategic framework to set goals. Goals and processes should align with the mission of the organization.
· A process to encourage and capture ideas. The process should include steps that agree upon goals and objectives, define and measure success, brainstorm and prioritize tasks, and allow team members to assume responsibility for tasks.
· A leader willing to step aside. The key in leading collaboratively is that decision-making is decentralized. The leader wields influence more than authority, shares information and accountability, and trusts in the team to accomplish the goals that have been set.
· A focus on purpose and results over personal agendas and control.
While this article does not have a Christian focus, I believe collaborative leadership could be used beneficially in the church setting. As the author states, “It's no longer enough to respond to change—organizations must lead change or be left behind.” Rather than being led by the changing dynamics of an increasingly more secularized society, the church must become a laboratory of ideas that remain true to the Gospel and meet the needs of the people it strives to reach for Christ.
Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we need to be developing new ideas within our churches in order to meet the needs of the people whom we are seeking to reach for Christ. I am also glad that you added the statement that these ideas need to remain true to the Gospel. This is the number one important criteria as we initiate change. I have seen churches try new ideas that were questionable in regard to the Gospel. The new idea worked for a short time and then things began to go very wrong. We have to use the Gospel as our first criteria when considering the use of new ideas.
This article does have some very good framework for leading a church. I really like the suggestion of having an open environment so that everyone feels welcome to share their own ideas for change and growth. So many times there are just a few people in a church who are given the encouragement to share their thoughts. By encouraging everyone to share and actually considering each suggestion we may find ideas that will work wonderfully which would not have been thought about by the main leaders of the church.