UUA TRUSTEE TIDBITS
January, 2007, Joan Lund
May I be among the first to wish you and your congregation a fine 2007. May you prosper and grow in a manner amenable to your aspirations and goals. One of the frequently addressed topics in our UUA is governance. As you know our District Board was one of the first to adopt policy governance and many others have followed their lead. Church boards across our UUA are also studying and often times changing their boards to follow this model. Although not an expert in policy governance, I believe one of the questions needing to be asked when considering policy governance is, ?What is the difference between management and leadership??
Management is what is done to make an organization run smoothly. Sometimes leaders are satisfied by doing management things and are too often satisfied with, and rewarded by keeping the congregation and certain individuals happy. While management-type leaders often ask if they are doing things right, leadership involves continually asking if right things are being done. According to Rev. Dr. Gilbert Rendle, Alban Institute, studies show there are two types of church members: those who have been in the congregation over 20 years and those who have been there 10 years or less. Each group has different values: long-term members value a ?team? approach to fixing wrongs, deferred gratification, and saving money; short-term members are more individual-centered. As individuals they want to spend money because its worth today is more than it will be tomorrow. For various reasons long-term members may become the leaders at church. Leaders, whether long or short term members, need ways to work with both groups, because leadership trumps management.
I offer from Dr. Rendle the following suggestions for making leadership work: keep your congregation focused and informed (surprised people don?t behave well); remember change comes from the ?edges? of your congregation, not the center; be models of civility so that expressing oneself occurs at a meeting rather than the parking lot; keep folks in the conversation by using descriptive rather than evaluative language, i.e. describing, rather than evaluating what was wrong with it; and when necessary, leaders need to get nurturing by a colleague or someone else outside the church because leaders cannot be nurtured by the congregation they are trying to serve.
Please know your UUA Board of Trustees is always asking if the right things are being done. Our Board profits when we hear from you through me. I do take your concerns seriously and they are brought to the Board. Thanks for your continued support. I can be reached at jlund@uua.org and/or 813-931-9727. The best to you all in 2007.
