{"id":35798,"date":"2024-02-14T15:00:24","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T23:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=35798"},"modified":"2024-02-14T15:16:50","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T23:16:50","slug":"a-growth-mindset-approach-to-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-growth-mindset-approach-to-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"A Growth Mindset Approach to Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLeadersmithing\u201d<\/em> by Eve Poole follows a refreshingly practical approach to leader development.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t grow up in the church. I became a follower of Jesus when I was 19. After sensing a call to ministry a few years later my wife, Wendy, and I moved our family from Vancouver to Regina to attend Bible College. If you\u2019ve ever been to Vancouver and Regina, you\u2019d be laughing right about now. Think a city on the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by mountains versus a bald, windy prairie town originally named \u201cpile of bones\u201d by the Cree. \u00a0It was a move of faith motivated by hearts that had surrendered all to Jesus. After we completed college, I was called to a small church in Redwater, Alberta to become a lead pastor. Again, not the most desirable of locations when you\u2019re from Vancouver. The church was basically on life support and had struggled to survive in its nearly 50-year history. At age 28, after having been a Christian for all of 9 years, I began to lead a church community. I had no idea what I was doing. I had never led a board and had never done most of the things I needed for the role. Sure, I had been to bible college, but I was not prepared for what I would face in the 8 years we were there. Everything was a first. It was baptism by fire. I was thrown into the deep end of the pool. I went on prayer walks around this small town and would rail out at God for bringing me here. I didn\u2019t know it then, but this began my apprenticeship as a pastoral leader. In the process, I grew as a leader, God changed my heart and somehow changed the church. I should also acknowledge that many good people in that church lovingly and patiently encouraged me to learn the craft of pastoral leadership. As I moved into a larger church context I faced another barrage of firsts.<\/p>\n

All the \u201cfirsts\u201d that I experienced are what Eve Poole would call \u201ccritical incidents\u201d in her fine book, \u201cLeadersmithing\u201d<\/em>.[1]<\/a> Her book is based on her leadership research in which she asked two questions of senior leaders. First, \u201cWhat do you know now that you wish you knew ten years ago\u201d? Second, \u201cHow did you learn this valuable lesson\u201d?[2]<\/a> Her research led her to identify seventeen critical incidents that leaders face in their development. It also led her to discover that leaders didn\u2019t learn these in an academic setting but rather in the crucible of leadership. The main idea then, is to approach the craft of leadership in the same manner that a trades apprentice would practice their craft and become a master craftsperson. However, she doesn\u2019t simply focus on craft, she also stresses character. She writes, \u201cCharacter protects your future ability to lead because it is the very thing that will save you when everything else is stripped away. Courage, grit, and determination- these character traits are the stuff of leadership when the chips are down.”[3]<\/a> This blend of practicing leadership as a craft, with specific practices, and developing character demystifies leadership and challenges the notion that leaders are born and gifted rather than developed.<\/p>\n

The clarity with which Poole identifies the seventeen critical incidents is helpful as one might consider an apprenticeship approach to leadership. One could easily, and this is the focus of the second half of the book, pick a critical incident and choose to practice it intentionally so that it becomes instinctive and available when needed most. The idea of becoming a leader apprentice is a simple yet profound concept that for many leaders could become a threshold concept, both for their leadership and for how they may approach the development of future leaders.[4]<\/a> I know that this would have been a significant foundational concept for me to grasp as a young leader and I would have appreciated the clarity of the list of critical incidents that I would have needed to practice. It is now a valuable tool as I consider leader development in my context.<\/p>\n

The other value of the apprenticeship approach to leadership is that it cultivates what Carol Dweck refers to as a growth mindset.[5]<\/a> Dweck defines a growth vs fixed mindset, \u201cIndividuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts). This is because they worry less about looking smart and put more energy into learning.\u201d[6]<\/a>\u00a0A leader with a growth mindset would value the process of learning and growing. Having a growth mindset in leadership could free leaders from the performance trap that so many struggle with. It can prevent us from thinking that some have a special leadership endowment, and others don\u2019t. As well, an apprenticeship model would encourage an environment where leaders are free to experiment, innovate and even fail. This type of adaptive leadership, described in \u201cLeadership on the Line<\/em>\u201d by Heifetz and Linsky, is what is needed in periods of rapid change and uncertainty.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

As I consider leader development in my context I was left with some important questions. As much as I appreciated Poole\u2019s practical approach to leader development, I also know that pastoral leadership is unique and requires spiritual, skill and relational development. Pastors are not just managing an organization or managing a department with six direct reports. They are leading dynamic spiritually focused organizations with boards, sometimes staff, and complex relational networks that resemble a family more than a corporation.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. How might we \u201ctemplate\u201d our young leaders? Templating is a simulation process that is designed to develop a kind of leadership \u2018muscle memory\u2019 that kicks in when faced with the situation in real life.<\/li>\n
  2. How could we equip seasoned leaders to see their role as master craftspeople, apprenticing young leaders?<\/li>\n
  3. What unique \u201ccritical incidents\u201d exist for pastoral leaders?<\/li>\n
  4. How does the process of leader development in small rural churches differ from the development of leaders in a larger church?<\/li>\n
  5. How do pastors in a remote context, where they are solo pastors dealing with the tyranny of the urgent, focus on leader development?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I appreciated reading the book and will certainly use it as I consider leader development in my unique context. The real value of the book for me is that it has caused me to be more curious and has sparked more questions than answers. I\u2019m grateful for that.<\/p>\n

    [1]<\/a> Eve Poole, Leadersmithing: An Apprenticeship Approach to Making Great Leaders<\/em> (London\u202f; New York, NY: Bloomsbury Business, 2017), 10.<\/p>\n

    [2]<\/a> Poole, 10.<\/p>\n

    [3]<\/a> Poole, 47.<\/p>\n

    [4]<\/a> Jan H. F. Meyer and Ray Land, eds., Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge<\/em>, 1. publ (London: Routledge, 2006).<\/p>\n

    [5]<\/a> Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success<\/em>, Ballantine books trade paperback ed, A Ballantine Books Trade Paperback (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 2008).<\/p>\n

    [6]<\/a> Carol Dweck, \u201cWhat Having a \u2018Growth Mindset\u2019 Actually Means,\u201d Harvard Business Review<\/em>, January 13, 2016, https:\/\/hbr.org\/2016\/01\/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means.<\/p>\n

    [7]<\/a> Ronald A. Heifetz and Martin Linsky, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Change<\/em> (Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press, 2017).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cLeadersmithing\u201d by Eve Poole follows a refreshingly practical approach to leader development.   I didn\u2019t grow up in the church. I became a follower of Jesus when I was 19. After sensing a call to ministry a few years later my wife, Wendy, and I moved our family from Vancouver to Regina to attend Bible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"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":[2616],"class_list":["post-35798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp02-poole","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35798","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\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35798"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35814,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35798\/revisions\/35814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}