{"id":34389,"date":"2023-11-30T20:37:02","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T04:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=34389"},"modified":"2023-11-30T20:37:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T04:37:02","slug":"teenagers-do-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/teenagers-do-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Teenagers Do Care!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I feel like I dropped the ball with our new teenage volunteers recently, especially after reading Peter Northouse\u2019s, Leadership Theory and Practice<\/em>. \u00a0To give some context, several months ago we made a big shift at our church to truly embody the value of service<\/em> for our youth department. We still have youth classes on Wednesday evenings, but we stopped them on Sunday mornings. Now highschoolers have the option to attend adult service or serve in one of the departments (kids ministry, tech, camera, stage, hospitality, etc.). I would love to take the credit, but we adopted this strategy from another church who took the time to work with us.<\/p>\n

So back to my miss. We do leadership development meetings every month with the teens who serve on Sunday morning. I was sitting in the back while one of our leaders facilitated the meeting and at the end she asked if I had anything to add. I was caught off guard a little, but I had to say something since I\u2019m the associate pastor! \u00a0I quickly shared my appreciation for them, mentioned the positive feedback we\u2019ve been getting from the adult volunteers, and reminded them of the big rewards trip we have planned for all teens who serve. After I thought about it, I really did not use that moment to \u201craise consciousness levels\u201d.<\/p>\n

Peter Northouse, who quotes B.M. Bass, says that, \u201c\u2026transformational leadership motivates followers to do more than the expected by doing the following: (a) raising followers\u2019 levels of consciousness about the importance \u00a0and value of specified and idealized goals, (b) getting followers to transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the team or organization, and (c) moving followers to address higher-level needs.\u201d[1]<\/a> I get that these are teenagers, but the goal of our program is to further shape the heart and character of future leaders and my approach in that moment was primarily transactional, <\/em>as Northouse explains.<\/p>\n

We waved a carrot in front of them: \u201cIf you meet our \"\"<\/a>expectations you get to go on the big trip to Cedar Point amusement park!\u201d I don\u2019t regret mentioning the reward (they are teens volunteering after all), but I felt I missed an opportunity to remind them that each part they play, no matter how small it feels, impacts a life, furthers the mission, and makes a difference in our world. This is a conviction I hold myself and should have shared to help raise motivation from \u201cif you do this then you get that<\/em>\u201d to \u201cif you do this it helps others<\/em>\u00a0and here\u2019s why<\/em> that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think I momentarily bought into the \u201cmyth\u201d<\/em> that teenagers don\u2019t actually care about that kind of stuff, but I know that is not true. In fact, one of the girls in our teen leadership program, who has struggled with drug addiction and depression, lit up for the first-time last summer while leading a group of underprivileged kids for our day camp. We all noticed how much one of the younger campers hung on her the whole day and how this teen, who wouldn\u2019t look most of us in the eye or smile, seemed like a different person that day after interacting with this little girl. This was transformational leadership in action. This teen\u2019s \u201csmall\u201d leadership role that day was not only helping us and our little campers, but it was slowly transforming her as well. She experienced the inherent value in loving others. I\u2019m reminded that it is our job as leaders to continually highlight these moments and opportunities for our teams and volunteers.<\/p>\n

Earlier I said I bought into the \u201cmyth\u201d concerning teens not caring about certain things which touches on the psychodynamic aspects of leadership Peter mentions.[2]<\/a> Of course, the concept of myth is used a bit different in a lot of our writings, but the stories in our head and what we tell one another often determines our confidence, direction, values, and priorities. \u00a0I know I need to unravel some long held and unproductive myths so I can better give my attention to healthier inner narratives and not miss opportunities like I did with those teenagers, which is one example of many of my shortcomings and faulty beliefs.<\/p>\n

This book, as well as Dr. Daniel Lieberman\u2019s class discussion about Spellbound, [3]<\/strong><\/a> <\/em>has reinforced just how important it is to know what is going on between our ears since it radically influences our assumptions and responses. Many wise philosophers have famously said \u201cknow thyself\u201d and I\u2019m seeing more and more how true that is to effect change and lead well. The next opportunity I have with teenagers, and anyone I lead, I plan to be more transformational over transactional and operate from an internal story \/ myth of faith, hope, and love. Teenagers do care and can<\/em> have their consciousness raised to a higher level when it comes to ministry!<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Peter C. Northouse,\u00a0Leadership: Theory & Practice Third Edition\u00a0<\/em>(London: SAGE Publication, 2004), 173.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Northouse, Leadership, 242.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Daniel Z. Lieberman,\u00a0Spellbound: Modern Science, Ancient Magic, and the Hidden Potential of the Conscious Mind<\/em>\u00a0(Dallas: BenBella Books, 2022).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I feel like I dropped the ball with our new teenage volunteers recently, especially after reading Peter Northouse\u2019s, Leadership Theory and Practice. \u00a0To give some context, several months ago we made a big shift at our church to truly embody the value of service for our youth department. We still have youth classes on Wednesday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"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":[2310],"tags":[2928],"class_list":["post-34389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02-northouse","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34389","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\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34392,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34389\/revisions\/34392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}