"the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men"
--The Apostle Paul
"The captain of the ship determines direction by the responses he makes to waves he cannot control."
--Adapted from a Chinese Dictator
"When a man attacks you he gives you a gift but the way you receive it can turn it into a curse."
--Adapted from Jigaro Kuno
"If you have no agenda you are not a leader. If you do not respect others agendas you're not a servant. A servant leader does not fear the conversation between agendas."
--Randy Willingham
"A godly leader risks his agenda because he has no fear of accountability."
--Randy Willingham
"The bottom line of church leadership is a relational objective."
--Randy Willingham
"A godly leader follows so that others must adapt."
--Randy Willingham
"Leadership with low outcome control and high self-control is a key difference between influence and manipulation."
--Randy Willingham
Often tools define us. They can be good and useful but also useless and even harmful. We use tools for assessment but primarily depend on the conversations produced from those assessments to guide our work. YOU are more than what any tool can capture. We use tools to distinguish ways you are like all others and like some others. Our deepest work, however, is discovering ways you are like none other.
Imagine what separates you from others becoming a gift you provide to others. THAT is where we want to go!
Conflict Dynamics Profile
The Conflict Dynamics Profile is produced by the
The Center for Conflict Dynamics at
Eckerd College. A number of unique dimensions make this tool useful. First, the CDP distinguishes between constructive and destructive conflict. Second, the profile makes a distinction between the dynamics of a conflict as you are about to enter the conflict, as you are currently involved in it, and after it is over. Third, the profile provides a list of hot buttons that tend to pull your trigger. Fourth, the tool provides a descriptions of how detrimental particular behaviors might be for you given your particular work culture. And, fifth, the tool distinguishes between feedback from people who know you very well vs not very well and according to your work relationships. The tool can be taken as a 360 or as an individual survey.
The 360 cost $185 and the single survey is $39. Click here for instructions on ordering either version of the CDP. Call Randy Willingham at 501-279-4614 for more information regarding the use of this profile.
Custom Surveys
We have also done custom surveys to meet the particular needs of congregations. In all of our survey work, we seek to connect the formal leadership of a church with the informal leadership of the congregation in a way that facilitates communication, deepens leadership capacity, and contributes to creative thinking. A sample process for this work is as follows.
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Determine people to include in the survey development
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Brainstorm relevant questions to be pursued
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Develop a list of initial questions
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We provide sample surveys from other congregations
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Edit initial list of questions
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Get feedback from an external statistician regarding the draft of questions and desired outcomes
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Make adjustments based upon external statistician feedback and narrow questions to manageable number
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Finalize survey
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Decide on distribution strategy
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Distribute and gather from church
Click here for access to materials on managing church conflict. You will need your password.
Call Randy
Willingham at 501-279-4614 for more information about custom survey options or samples.