{"id":4349,"date":"2015-03-12T13:48:49","date_gmt":"2015-03-12T13:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=4349"},"modified":"2015-03-12T13:48:49","modified_gmt":"2015-03-12T13:48:49","slug":"practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cbeen there.\u201d 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 <\/strong>and refers to a style of business\u00a0management\u00a0which 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]<\/a>. That\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

In Ramsey\u2019s article on Provocative theory she asks, \u201cAre theories taught in business schools relevant to the day-today management of organizations?[2]<\/a>\u201d My Business school professor badly needed to connect MBWA to Ramsey\u2019s thoughts on provocative theory, mindfulness, and attentional disciplines. My professor stopped short at \u201cwalking around at random\u201d but I love Ramsey\u2019s thoughts from \u201cMike\u2019s Learning\u201d that employees form a polyphonic ensemble and the \u201cleadership (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]<\/a>\u201d That sounds like a great management style and it also sounds to me like the body of Christ. Unfortunately, it doesn\u2019t resemble many churches I know.<\/p>\n

I often wrestle with the leadership style carried out in many churches. It\u2019s 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 \u201cstraightforward application of knowledge\u201d instead of reasoning and sense making in the midst of the action itself[4]<\/a>. Ramsey\u2019s thought on attention, especially when linked to mindfulness, seems like such an important tool for church leaders to practice.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s thoughts on leadership would be helpful for pastors and churches to not only study but put into practice.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> \u201cManagement by Wandering Around.\u201d Accessed March 11, 2015.http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Management<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Caroline Ramsey, \u201cProvocative Theory and a Scholarship of Practice,\u201d\u00a0Management Learning,\u00a0<\/em>(March, 2011) 1.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 8.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Caroline Ramsey, \u201cManagement Learning: a Scholarship of Practice Centred on Attention,\u201dManagement Learning,\u00a0<\/em>45: 6 (January 23, 2014) 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cbeen there.\u201d I remember my professor sharing with the class […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"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":[616,617],"class_list":["post-4349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ramsey-management","tag-ramsey-provocative","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4349","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4350,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4349\/revisions\/4350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}