And there it is.

Today was our fifth and final day at the Institute, and the focus today was on leadership- how to lead for change in our parishes, a quick look at our leadership competencies, strengths and “hopes”, and a great re-run (for me anyway) through situational leadership. That’s where you take a look at where your group is, competence and confidence-wise, and adapt your leadership to where they’re at, to help them progress. Every time I hear about this I find myself staring at the diagram ( http://www.12manage.com/methods_blanchard_situational_leadership.html ) and realizing that I have gone either way way ahead of where I should be, or have totally misread where the team is at. It’s always an “AHA!!” moment.
The most amazing thing about this Institute has been the input and questions from the other leaders in the room. In a neat trick that I’m sure was entirely intentional by our leader, the up-front trainers gave us the theory and vision, great direction, great support and affirmation, while the learners supplied most of the practical, hands-on, applicable ideas and stories from their experience on the “front lines”. These people knew their stuff, they cared, they had (have) beautiful and sincere dreams for their parishes and are inspired to make change happen, in spite of the fact that this is a very tough task.
(Have I written about this yet?) A few years ago at a conference I was diagnosed: a prophet. Now, I am not bragging, and you’ll see why in a sentence or two… It really did feel, when I heard this talk, that I had been given a name for my pain. The trainer said that a prophet is the person in an organization who makes a stink when things aren’t going right. They name the problems in a system and call leaders to accountability. They are the ones who are constantly calling a group back to the Mission. That sounded like exactly my trouble. Then he said: “if you are called to be a prophet, then you must be a prophet. But remember: Prophets are either followed, or KILLED.”
The room this week was full of prophets. It was like prophet flight training school, where at the end they’d pin wings on us and send us to our destinies.