Practice
I remember early on in my college years taking a Business Management course. The professor was a successful businessman but said he had enough of the corporate world and wanted to teach. I was eager to take his class and learn from someone that had “been there.” I remember my professor sharing with the class one of his most valuable management tools, MBWA. Our professor went on to tell us that MBWA is Management By Walking Around and refers to a style of business management which involves managers wandering around, in an unstructured manner, through the workplace(s), at random, to check with employees about the status of ongoing work[1]. That’s it I thought? Your most valuable management tool is just walking around and checking on people? We were never taught some of the important skills I think many leaders would benefit from.
In Ramsey’s article on Provocative theory she asks, “Are theories taught in business schools relevant to the day-today management of organizations?[2]” My Business school professor badly needed to connect MBWA to Ramsey’s thoughts on provocative theory, mindfulness, and attentional disciplines. My professor stopped short at “walking around at random” but I love Ramsey’s thoughts from “Mike’s Learning” that employees form a polyphonic ensemble and the “leadership (or maestro di cappella) was in effect a partnership with each member giving way to the other as their part in the piece took centre stage.[3]” That sounds like a great management style and it also sounds to me like the body of Christ. Unfortunately, it doesn’t resemble many churches I know.
I often wrestle with the leadership style carried out in many churches. It’s a top down vision and too often the Senior Pastor carries an unfair weight/burden. Along with the senior pastor carrying an unfair weight she, most likely during her seminary education, was never taught the leadership skills necessary to succeed. Listening, developing, and management skills are not adequately taught in seminary so many pastors default to a “straightforward application of knowledge” instead of reasoning and sense making in the midst of the action itself[4]. Ramsey’s thought on attention, especially when linked to mindfulness, seems like such an important tool for church leaders to practice.
Our pastors are practicing leadership as they go. Practice-centred learning is the norm for most people I know in ministry. I really believe Ramsey’s thoughts on leadership would be helpful for pastors and churches to not only study but put into practice.
[1] “Management by Wandering Around.” Accessed March 11, 2015.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management.
[2] Caroline Ramsey, “Provocative Theory and a Scholarship of Practice,” Management Learning, (March, 2011) 1.
[3] Ibid., 8.
[4] Caroline Ramsey, “Management Learning: a Scholarship of Practice Centred on Attention,”Management Learning, 45: 6 (January 23, 2014) 8.
About the Author
Nick Martineau
Nick is a pastor at Hope Community Church in Andover, KS, founder of ILoveOrphans.com, and part of the LGP5 cohort.8 responses to “Practice”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
“it also sounds to me like the body of Christ. Unfortunately, it doesn’t resemble many churches I know.”
Nick, it is sad to admit, but unfortunately it seems to be the all-to-prevalent reality. Why is it that we model the church after secular models that are generally ineffective rather than living as the true body of Christ? So much of who we could be is missed because we do not honor all parts of the body.
Brian and Nick,
I’m asking tough questions this week…
Is it that the church models the secular world, or that we lack the skills to implement best practices? I have to be honest…I’ve seen secular organizations model Biblical practices (although they didn’t call them that) in a better way than many Christian organizations.
Nick, it doesn’t sound like your management instructor taught management skills. While building relationships with others in the workplace is one important skill in management, there are many other areas that make managers strong. I agree with your assessment that seminary rarely prepares pastors for the management aspects of their job. So, I see that they tend to jump on the latest leadership trends, and learn by trial and error. Unfortunately, they often lack good mentorship and exposure in an environment with multiple strong leaders, each with unique styles.
Dawnel, Good questions. Unfortunately, I think the church models the secular world AND lacks the skills to implement best practices. My intro management course was way too basic however I am a management major and learned a lot during my undergrad. But I don’t think those that go to seminary get any sort of management training. One of the real problems is that churches have taken on a corporate model yet pastors don’t have any business/management training. Churches should never be in the corporate mold but that is another issue.
“Is it that the church models the secular world, or that we lack the skills to implement best practices?”
Dawnel, Like Nick, I would say that it can be both. Let me throw out another thought. I think it is easy in ministry to minimize the spiritual nature of leading a church. It sounds ridiculous, but I have sat through countless church leadership seminars and read many books that give techniques that model the business world and set the pastor up as “organizational manager”. Much of this teaching involves no mention of the need for prayer, sound biblical teaching, loving those in the congregation, etc. The indication of success is numerical growth. It doesn’t matter if the growth is transfer growth from other churches or results in a carnal church; numbers are all that matter. Well, giving matters too, kind of like counting customers and profits.
I think we can definitely learn from effective secular leadership/management practices, but we must never forget that a pastor is a shepherd, not a manager and the church is a mystery in which both transformation and spiritual warfare takes place.
Brian and Nick,
I definitely agree. I also think that we often fail to place enough emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit in leadership. I’ve been in some tough situations as I lead and manage, and in those times I rely heavily on His leading. The Holy Spirit helps to heighten my awareness and to give me the intuition to make the right decisions when there isn’t a clear answer. I believe this is the difference between a Christian leader and a non-Christian leader. So, in the end Christian leaders should have the advantage.
Nick, I like the balance you bring up that is needed between content and application. Similar to my post, it seems your business class “professor” could have been a intuitive leader/manager and the MBWA was a natural process of him based on all that he knew, but he probably didn’t realize how much he already knew that he knew:). I wonder how much our prevailing culture of top down or instructor centered learning has poisoned the well of a more learner centered approach. It is hard to change that model I think in a church setting when most of the Western world grinds against a learner centered approach. I think we are not willing to give up the perceived control and order that coercively exists in the instructor based model. Caroline is such a good example of the kind of risk it takes to see another way offered.
Nick, Like many pastors I believe I’ve adopted an ineffective management style and the MBWA along with the collaborative style of engaging staff and ministry leaders (Ramsey’s provocative theory) has great potential for creativity and transformation. I’m just not to sure how to get started. Thanks for your post.
Blessing Nick, i too agree with you about that top down approach that many leaders in churches have. “Walking Around” to me some leaders need to check out whats going on with others. I feel that this is a major problem in my denomination. They are so interested in their vision that they merely squash other leaders vision and ideas. I think they should approach leading and managing by seeking to know what they have in the leaders that they lead. I believe in a corporate vision to support. As a businessman i would never invest in anybody that was not interested in investing in me. This a great problem in many churches, the leaders want you to invest in them but they dont want to invest in you. And a lot of times your theories and experiences could be of great benefit to them!