{"id":20023,"date":"2018-11-08T10:56:54","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T18:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=20023"},"modified":"2018-11-08T10:56:54","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08T18:56:54","slug":"the-mom-on-the-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-mom-on-the-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mom on the Phone"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I was sitting at my desk reading through Edwin Friedman\u2019s book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em>, I got a phone call from a young mom in our church.\u00a0 She was calling in distress, wondering what to do.<\/p>\n

The small group that she is a part of is full of parents with young children.\u00a0 They meet once a month for fellowship, a light Bible study, and friendship among people at the same stage of life.\u00a0 Recently, a new couple has taken on leadership for the group, and has started making changes.\u00a0 An email was sent with an extensive homework assignment for everyone in the group to complete, rather than simply showing up on the day of the meeting.\u00a0 Instead of having each parent keep an eye on their own kids, a babysitter was hired, but the costs seemed to add up.<\/p>\n

The mom on the phone was worried because the parents in this group have so little time to spare, they feel stretched financially, and the group was meant to be a place for joy, but it was starting to feel like a \u201ctask\u201d.<\/p>\n

As a pastor and leader, my natural instinct is always to help.\u00a0 To be available.\u00a0 To step in and find a way to make things better.\u00a0 However, Friedman explores the way that leaders must be \u201cself-differentiated\u201d enough, that is, to have a secure enough sense of themselves apart from the group or the ministry or the relationship, to see clearly and to act in healthy ways.\u00a0 Sometimes, this will mean\u00a0not <\/em>jumping into the fray in the way that I instinctively want to.<\/p>\n

Edwin Friedman is well known for his idea of \u201cemotional triangles\u201d, where a leader can get drawn into a conflict or tension between two other people.\u00a0 He writes, \u201calmost every issue of leadership and the difficulties that accompany it can be framed in terms of emotional triangles, including motivation, clarity, decision-making, resistance to change, imaginative gridlock, and a failure of nerve.\u201d<\/a>[1]<\/p>\n

To \u201cget triangled\u201d means to be brought into an unhealthy relationship with two other partners.\u00a0 In the work-place, this often shows up as one staff member complaining about another to their boss.\u00a0 The boss is being drawn into a dispute between the other two, and this can either be healthy or un-healthy.\u00a0 The determining factor will the health of the boss herself. If she is a self-differentiated person, able to have her presence in the organization felt, but without fear or neediness, then she will be effective.\u00a0 However, if that same boss has in herself doubts, worries about her abilities, or a need to be needed, then she will be likely to participate in an un-healthy triangle.<\/p>\n

Friedman writes, \u201cThe way out, rather, requires shifting our orientation to the way we think about relationships, from one that focuses on techniques that motivate others to one that focuses on the leader\u2019s own presence and being.\u201d<\/a>[2]<\/p>\n

The quick fix would say: just step in and solve the problem for these people.\u00a0 And sometimes, there may be a place for that (let\u2019s be serious!).\u00a0But, over time, where a boss or a pastor or a leader or a parent is seen as the necessary one, or the savior, it will lead to more problems, more work, and more stress.<\/p>\n

The key, according to Friedman, is for a leader in any setting to be comfortable, confident and content with who they are, and from that place of emotional maturity and strength, to be the centering force for others.<\/p>\n

One reviewer describes it this way, writing, \u201cThe real problem of leadership is\u00a0a failure of nerve<\/em>. Leaders fail not because they lack information, skill, or technique, but because they lack the nerve and presence to stand firm in the midst of other people\u2019s emotional anxiety and reactivity.\u201d<\/a>[3]<\/p>\n

So, this brings us back to the mom on the phone.\u00a0 She was calling with a real dilemma and it is very appropriate that she should call her pastor to talk about it.\u00a0 The question is, what is the appropriate response by me to this issue that has come up between her and the leaders in her group.<\/p>\n

I started by just listening to her as she described the problem, asking questions and clarifying what was going on.\u00a0 From there, I affirmed her in reaching out to me directly to ask about this, and I encouraged her to reach back out to her group to share some of her concerns.\u00a0 She agreed that she would continue to be part of the group, and that she would encourage others to also attend.\u00a0 Making that commitment means that she is able to be part of the discussions and finding a solution, rather than quitting, or holding the process hostage.<\/p>\n

My role with these groups is to be the \u201cleader of leaders\u201d, so I meet monthly with all of the small group leaders and help mentor them as they lead their groups. \u00a0This means that I am not directly in charge of all of these groups and their dynamics. \u00a0So, I will be eager to hear how their next meeting goes, and then, as part of my direct role, I will talk with the leaders about how to manage change within their groups, how to listen well, and how to adapt to the needs of the people involved.<\/p>\n

As a pastor, I never stand fully apart from my people, as if I were aloof or uninterested. \u00a0But at the same time, I seek not to be fully enmeshed with them either. \u00a0This is an ongoing struggle, because I can see all the ways that I could “fix” this situation more quickly than anyone else. \u00a0But the longer-term goal is to have everyone involved continue growing up in their faith and in their relationships with each other. \u00a0So, we keep moving forward, even thought it takes a lifetime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a>[1]Edwin H. Friedman,\u00a0A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Seabury Books, 2007), 206.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[2]Edwin H. Friedman,\u00a0A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Seabury Books, 2007), 4.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[3]Bob Thune, \u201cBlog,\u201d www.bobthune.com, June 6, 2006,\u00a0http:\/\/www.bobthune.com\/2016\/06\/summary-edwin-friedmans-a-failure-of-nerve-in-500-words\/ Bob Thune, June 6, 2016 blog bobthune.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I was sitting at my desk reading through Edwin Friedman\u2019s book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, I got a phone call from a young mom in our church.\u00a0 She was calling in distress, wondering what to do. The small group that she is a part of is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1392,236],"class_list":["post-20023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a-failure-of-nerve","tag-friedman","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20024,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20023\/revisions\/20024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}