An Exercise in Open Leadership
For the past two days, I’ve been wearing a different hat than normal. As I’ve mentioned in previous conversations, I have the honor of serving as the chair of the board of a non-profit organization, Christian HolyLand Foundation. [1] Yesterday and today, we held our annual face-to-face board meeting, followed this afternoon by an annual meeting with our donor-partners. And over the next few days, I’ll be sporadically representing the organization at our exhibit booth at the International Conference on Missions. But tonight, I am absolutely exhausted. There’s something about meeting for 16.25 hours over two days that wears a person out.
And yet, it’s also quite invigorating. For the past eight months, our board has been working through a strategic mapping process, helping us re-shape our vision, our mission and core values, and how we can move the organization to a sustainable and growing ministry. Coupled with that though, our largest donor unexpectedly dropped 1/3 of their support this year, and we—in the midst of re-imagining the shape of the ministry—are suddenly dealing with a major financial crisis.
So much of what I’ve been learning and experiencing in our doctoral program has been relevant and helpful for me in this chair role. For instance, I think back to that massive book Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice that we read our first semester, and the only chapter I read briefly skimmed on women in leadership. I find that the members of our board highly respect my leadership skills and, as the only woman on the board, I’m fully affirmed by a group of (generally) conservative men that respond well as I guide us to move in a good direction.
I also think back to both the ordinary leadership of the Jesuits in Heroic Leadership, and the “humble and fearless” Level 5 leaders in Good to Great, and Jason’s challenge to jump in feet first. All of that harkens to our ability to be both “good enough” (a la Emma Percy) and “brave enough” to take risks and be confident. I’ve said some hard things over the past few days (“we need to completely restructure our financial model”). But I’m confident in our board to work through hard things because I “have faith that the people to whom [I] pass the power [the board] will act responsibly. This also requires a heavy dose of humility… that there are equally capable…people who can do the things that you do.”[2] I can be confident because I trust my team.
In the midst of preparing for and leading these meetings, I’ve been reading through Charlene Li’s Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead. What I’ve found is that many of the 10 elements of openness have proved valuable for us as we re-shape the organization. We realized that it was essential that our team members (church leaders) in Galilee—while not on the board—needed to “work toward the same goal”; thus we encouraged a “sharingness”[3] mentality of being open and honest with the team about where we are financially, and some of the ways the board plans to build long-term sustainability.[4] It is essential that the Galilee church leaders trust our relationship with them. We had a team member sit in on our meeting and be both a sounding board for our ideas and help us make sure that what we were working through was appropriately and contextually understood.
Likewise, at our annual meeting with donors, we were very honest about the financial situation and the opportunity we have to grow new partners. We showed our income/expenses, and our tighter 2018 budget. One goal in conversing candidly with our partners is to “proactively find and address… problems before they escalate.”[5] We soon hope to create a new contextually appropriate branded image—logo and name—of the organization to better reflect our vision, mission, and core values. While I’m hoping to crowd-source feedback on our ideas, we introduced the expectation that this will happen at our annual meeting, in order for our partners to get used to the idea. We could easily have waited for a grand announcement rollout, but decided instead to keep people updated.
Generally, this small board (8 members) operates via consensus. As Li writes, this results “in tremendous buy-in.”[6] Yes, it can be cumbersome because everyone has ideas and we strongly encourage questioning or clarifying those ideas. (I see this model working for us primarily because we are so small.) What it also means, though, is that I, as the chair, don’t drive the meeting with expected conclusions in place. In other words, I don’t see myself as “the ultimate strategist and decider of what people should do”—quite the contrary!—rather, I “[act] as a platform maker. [My] job is to make sure that the right protocols, the right environment, and the right infrastructure are all in place for people to… make amazing things happen.”[7]
We as an organization imagine “A Holy Land vibrant with Christians living in 
God’s peace and abundant grace, who are united through Christ’s love and are connected in authentic relationships with one another and with Christians in other parts of the world.”[8] We believe that we, as an organization, can join in with what God is doing in Israel by building “relationships between Western Christians and local indigenous Arab Christians by providing evangelism, discipleship, and holistic support in pursuit of a stronger Body of Christ.”[9] I love seeing how God is at work among these churches and believers in Galilee, and pray that as we cultivate a culture of openness between the church leaders, board, and partners, the structures we set in place now will build more and stronger relationships[10] and foster greater trust.[11]
[1] Part of our strategic planning includes revamping our website! But it’s still a great place to learn about the work in Galilee… and how you can partner with us.
[2] Charlene Li. Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010), 18.
[3] Isn’t that the most incredible word to read in a leadership book?
[4] Ibid., 22-23.
[5] Ibid., 29.
[6] Ibid., 39.
[7] Ibid., 40.
[8] CHLF, vision.
[9] CHLF, mission.
[10] Want to learn more? Partner with us?
[11] cf. Li, 106.
About the Author
Katy Drage Lines
In God’s good Kingdom, some minister like trees, long-standing, rooted in a community. They embody words of Wendell Berry, “stay years if you would know the genius of the place.” Others, however, are called to go. Katy is one of those pilgrims. A global nomad, Katy grew up as a fifth generation Colorado native, attended college & seminary and was ordained in Tennessee, married a guy from Pennsylvania, ministered for ten years in Kenya, worked as a children’s pastor in a small church in Kentucky, and served college students in a university library in Orange County, California. She recently moved to the heart of America, Indianapolis, and has joined the Englewood Christian Church community, serving with them as Pastor of Spiritual Formation. She & her husband Kip, have two delightful boys, a college junior and high school junior.10 responses to “An Exercise in Open Leadership”
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What a weary yet rewarding process to define the church structure. We have just gone through the process as well and have come out with our: mission, vision, core values, and main ideology. Now we are in the process of marketing and designing our brand.
It was great how you incorporated your Dmin learning into your current position. Makes it all worthwhile, huh? Sounds like the process is a very open process which I think builds safety and security for all involved. Surprises and dramatic reveals are over-rated and can set people off-balance. Great job Katy! Fun to hear you excelling in your work!
Great post, Katy, and good to hear about what you are doing.
I often think one of the biggest hurdles an organization: church, board, whatever… faces is when it has a history or practice of consensus decision making and it grows or just gets to the point that that is no longer the best way forward.
How to maintain buy-in while ‘taking away’ some of the ‘power’ that consensus gives to each member?
I think your idea of being a ‘platform builder’ is a great one and on the right track…. Thanks again!
Katy, your experience is such a good illustration of what we read in Li’s book. So did you find the book really confirming? As Jen says it really fits in with our LGP program.
Your organization sounds really interesting. I’ve often wondered how Christian groups in the Holy Land are doing. Think I’ll click on your links!! God bless you and Happy Thanksgiving.
Just went to the Website for the conference. I see it is going on NOW. I’ll be in prayer for you and the conference!
Thanks Mary. Just finished today. Keep praying for our ministry in Israel! 🙂
Enjoyed your post Katy. It’s very exciting when we can use what we’ve been studying in a practical setting. The program has value on it’s own, but when you can apply it immediately that really makes a difference. I like the way you approach the chair leadership. It’s refreshing and forward thinking and–I agree with you–healthy. How does it work coming to a consensus with 8 people on a team? How do you navigate that? Is there ever a time when you feel that you must be the tie-breaker? When there are two people together, there’s usually 6 opinions! 🙂 Thanks for highlighting how our reading can inform our ministries.
Thanks Jim. Well, I think consensus seeking with 8 people is easier than with 10, 12, etc! Honestly, so far we haven’t had trouble with it; partly, I believe, because we all agree to a common vision. And partly because I try to give us abundant time to listen to one another and work through questions and processes before finalizing anything.
I’m so excited about the new directions you and the board are taking with CHLF! Praying for all of you. Give my love to Saleem and ask him to pass it on to Andara and the others!!
Will do! Had a good visit with him. Andera is doing well; school has been a good & challenging adjustment for her.
Katy the task you are all embarking on is amazing. It is great to read how things are formulating. I wonder though is if or how your organization embraces openness as Li discusses it in her book. How does technology or social media play a role in how you engage others within your organization?