This course will contribute to the larger theological, sociological and leadership questions of this second year Doctor of Ministry, Fall 2017 semester: What is the nature of power? How much agency do human beings exercise? We will approach our responses to these questions through collaborative inquiry on cultivating leadership (in ourselves and in others) and cultivating partnership (within an organization and within a community.)
Leadership is a way to address both our own growing edges, challenges and potentialities and those of a congregation or organization. In this course, we will gain perspectives and hone practices that allow you to cultivate your own adaptive leadership as well as build an adaptive culture that can cultivate partnership with others both within and across organizations. Often, we must lead with a combination of uncertainty and with faith. As we become more aware of ourselves as a leader and of the organization that we aim to serve, we also come to understand that leadership inevitably also means orchestrating conflict and navigating change..
Leadership for change requires inspiration and perspiration as we help organization navigate the gap between bold aspirations and challenging realities. Expect in this course an opportunity to assess your own leadership repertoire as you also build new perspectives and practices and to deepen your own spiritual grounding as a leader.
Course Objectives:
Our collaborative inquiry is grounded in these questions:
1. How can we be purposeful and transformative leaders within a changing landscape for religious and other organizations?”
2. How can we cultivate partnerships that help to bring about change in the communities and the world that we aim to serve?
3. How do we attend to our on-going leadership development as a spiritual, personal, and professional practice?
4. What are the theological underpinnings of our work as leaders and how do our understanding of the use of power and human agency inform our perspectives and practices?
Practice-based learning objectives for students:
1. Reflect upon your own leadership narrative and hone it over the time of this course.
2. Engage in self-reflection, using a variety of self-assessment tools, that develop a personal learning and development plan for your role as a leader within a congregation, group or other organization.
3. Find your own spiritual and theological grounding as a leader.
4. Clarify the distinctions between technical problems and adaptive challenges as they approach your leadership role in your leadership context. Utilize these perspectives and practices related to observing the context, interpreting the situation and constructing interventions within your own congregational and/or other religious systems.
5. Reflect upon your own competencies for being a “conflict competent leader” and Recognize the dynamics of leading change given the personal and organizational dynamics of conflict and the immunity to change.
6. Demonstrate being a scholar-practitioner that can skillfully engage both theory and reflective practice.
7. Integrate your learning through imagining how you might apply these perspectives and methods in your role as a leader in your ministry context or relevant area of interest.
Leadership is a way to address both our own growing edges, challenges and potentialities and those of a congregation or organization. In this course, we will gain perspectives and hone practices that allow you to cultivate your own adaptive leadership as well as build an adaptive culture that can cultivate partnership with others both within and across organizations. Often, we must lead with a combination of uncertainty and with faith. As we become more aware of ourselves as a leader and of the organization that we aim to serve, we also come to understand that leadership inevitably also means orchestrating conflict and navigating change..
Leadership for change requires inspiration and perspiration as we help organization navigate the gap between bold aspirations and challenging realities. Expect in this course an opportunity to assess your own leadership repertoire as you also build new perspectives and practices and to deepen your own spiritual grounding as a leader.
Course Objectives:
Our collaborative inquiry is grounded in these questions:
1. How can we be purposeful and transformative leaders within a changing landscape for religious and other organizations?”
2. How can we cultivate partnerships that help to bring about change in the communities and the world that we aim to serve?
3. How do we attend to our on-going leadership development as a spiritual, personal, and professional practice?
4. What are the theological underpinnings of our work as leaders and how do our understanding of the use of power and human agency inform our perspectives and practices?
Practice-based learning objectives for students:
1. Reflect upon your own leadership narrative and hone it over the time of this course.
2. Engage in self-reflection, using a variety of self-assessment tools, that develop a personal learning and development plan for your role as a leader within a congregation, group or other organization.
3. Find your own spiritual and theological grounding as a leader.
4. Clarify the distinctions between technical problems and adaptive challenges as they approach your leadership role in your leadership context. Utilize these perspectives and practices related to observing the context, interpreting the situation and constructing interventions within your own congregational and/or other religious systems.
5. Reflect upon your own competencies for being a “conflict competent leader” and Recognize the dynamics of leading change given the personal and organizational dynamics of conflict and the immunity to change.
6. Demonstrate being a scholar-practitioner that can skillfully engage both theory and reflective practice.
7. Integrate your learning through imagining how you might apply these perspectives and methods in your role as a leader in your ministry context or relevant area of interest.
- Teacher: Lawrence Peers