How Do We Define Competent Leadership?
When I talk about making the move from what I describe as “performative leadership” to “formative leadership” (as I did obliquely in last week’s Dear Partner letter), I regularly encounter a reaction as understandable as it is predictable.
First, let me say a little more about what I mean by these terms. Performative leadership is essentially leadership that focuses on certain skills or practices that the leader has acquired through training and practice and now uses on behalf of the organization he or she is leading. In congregational ministry, these are often of the skills of preaching, teaching, pastoral care, and so forth. Performative leadership is about, quite literally, performing these practices well for the sake of the community. Formative leadership, by contrast, is focused on training others in developing set of skills that is useful to them and to the larger community. It is, again literally, focused on forming additional leaders.
Easy enough. Except when you apply it to church leadership, because then it sounds like I’m saying that congregational leaders should train others to preach and teach and offer pastoral care and the rest. And I can’t mean that, can I?
Actually, that is what I mean. And when people – and particularly pastors (though also folks in the congregation as well) – sense that, they offer a couple of incredibly understandable reactions almost always framed as questions: “Then what was all of our training for?” “But didn’t we go (or send our pastors) to seminary precisely so that they would be the experts, the ones who know how to do this stuff right?”
Two explanations that may help address these concerns and delve a bit more deeply, or at least more clearly, into what I mean by this shift from performative to formative leadership. First, I’m not against expertise, I just think we need to deploy our expertise differently. In particular, I think we need to deploy our expertise toward, as the Apostle writes, “equipping the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:12). That’s what our training was for – not simply to become great interpreters of Scripture in the pulpit, but through our preaching to help others interpret Scripture; and not only to make great connections between the biblical story and our life story in our sermons, but through our preaching to help others do that in their daily lives and to be able share those connections with others. That is deploying expertise differently.
Second, formative leadership doesn’t rule out, let alone negate, the value of performative tasks. There is a place for pastors to teach and preach and all the rest, so long as the primary goal is that, over time, those in the community will get better at these same skills themselves – if not always preaching, at least interpreting Scripture and connecting it to daily life; if not necessarily making hospital visits, certainly praying with and for others and extending Christian care. (And, just for the record, one of the ways people might get better at this in their daily lives is to be invited actually to preach and make pastor visits from time to time!)
The key difference between performative and formative leadership is, I think, how we define competence. In performative leadership – again focusing on congregational leadership as an example – it’s about how good the pastor is at these central skills. In formative leadership, it’s about how much better the congregation becomes over time through the pastor’s leadership.
For me, a great example of this distinction comes from another profession: coaching. Most coaches played the sport they now coach. But few of us care what kind of individual career they had; we just want to know that when they are on the field or court their team plays better. Teachers are much the same, as are conductors of music groups. In each case, the mark of competence isn’t that the leaders can perform some skill or practice, but that their community or organization or team was better because of their efforts and expertise.
When I first started talking about this, there was one other question that I regularly got (this time only from pastors): “So now I’m just a teacher or coach?”
It took me a little while to figure out how to answer this one, but eventually I found this response helpful to me and my conversation partner. “I hear what you’re saying. Can you name for me the three most important and influential people in your life?” After a moment’s thought, the person would begin to answer, then hesitate, and then smile, as it dawned on him or her that among those three was always a teacher or coach and often both. And, indeed, as I’ve tried this response with others it’s become clear that teachers and coaches and guides and Scout masters and conductors and other “formative leaders” have played incredibly important roles in almost all of our lives.
And that’s the kind of leadership I think we need in the church and world right now.
What greater mission could there be than to teach someone else the skill of doing God’s work in their own unique way? I can’t help but feel sad that this has to be even verbalized.
Thank you for your patience and perseverance David. This training needs to be a seminary function.
Matthew 28:19-20Amplified Bible (AMP)
19 Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them [a]into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you [b]all the days ([c]perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. [d]Amen (so let it be).
I completely agree as this is quite apropos in my life and ministry right now… It usually boils down to us mentoring a congregation in how to be a congregation or how to be Church. We have to model honesty, faith, trust, vulnerability, compassion, forgiveness, healthy communication, etc… as best we can, as we, too, are being formed in honesty, faith, vulnerability, compassion…
Thanks so much for this insightful comment. It comes to me on the day when our Kirk Session will discuss the goals our congregation is setting itself for the next 3-5 years which will include experiencing vacancy as our minister is due to retire. Whilst I see formative leadership as key to this, there will have to be a degree of sensitivity as this has not so far been a trait of our minister and so not sure how we might encourage it in these later stages of their ministry.
Formative leadership is such an important concept! As an educator, I studied leadership for many years. As a lay person I have been involved with a variety of committees, teams, and projects. Most of those activities have needed someone to teach/coach. Leaders for the most part see themselves as persons who are getting a job done or a task accomplished. Or they see themselves as an organizer of persons to accomplish tasks. It is a spare time activity and they do not have much spare time!
Just because the need for a ministry exists, does not mean that a person will see themselves as a part of that ministry. Nor does it mean that they will have or develop their own ministry. A large part is the acceptance and ownership of it. Most people are willing to help if they are able to see themselves as capable. For many that does not happen without teaching and encouragement.
I am reminded of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. One cannot move to the next level until the needs of the previous level are met.
There must be a system in place to encourage growth and learning. It must be welcomed and encouraged. When people want to stay in the same comfortable position for a lifetime, it can prevent others from having the experience of growth.
Dear David,
I am so very thankful that our Pastor is a believer in formative leadership! She has encouraged us from the beginning to ‘step out in faith.’ She is raising up new leaders, asking us to go out of our comfort zone. Several of us over the past few years have preached a sermon, lead Bible studies, and regularly visit our homebound and hospitalized members, bringing them Communion. I am giving a devotion on Saturday at our WELCA Spring Brunch, one that I have written from my own experiences. I am also giving each woman present a ‘prayer rock’ with a little story attached, reminding them to pray daily. When I asked our Pastor if she would like to bless them before our brunch on Sat., she said, “Raye, you can do that yourself!” So I did! For me, it is so refreshing to see that our Pastor does not feel threatened by lay people preaching sermons, visiting the homebound, etc. She encourages us and is thrilled when we accept the invitation to be bold! By the way, those of us who have preached often quote you in our sermons! You are encouraging us as well! Thank you for believing in us ‘lay people!’
What if it is both? Couldn’t we define competency as both how good the pastor is at central skills, AND how much better the congregation becomes over time? I think you are right in that it is good as a corrective to speak up for focus on formative leadership (often the focus has been tipped the other way), but it is also important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We need people that can walk both sides of this line. I think performing and forming should be two sides to the same leadership coin, and balancing them is what makes a truly competent leader.