Some years ago I did a presentation titled “The Myth of Competence.” It developed out of my observation that so many leaders live under a crushing load of performance-anxiety and a frame of mind I called the myth of competence. Here’s the working definition of the concept:
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These past few weeks I’ve had ocassion to be reminded of what my friend Margaret says about bringing about change in congregations, which is, ”Everything takes five years.” While that’s a bit tounge-in-cheek, it’s not far from the truth. Over the past four weeks I’ve had casual conversations with as many church leaders related to how long it takes to get things done in congregations. Each highlighted a different aspect of the dynamic.
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I was intrigued by overhearing a common phrase last week. Overheard several times was the phrase, “I don’t want to do that.” It’s a common enough phrase (anyone who has ever had a three or four year old around the house has heard a variation of that uttered hundreds of times). What intrigued me was that while the content was the same, the context and source related to where and who uttered that phrase made a world of difference. It was a good example of the importance of focusing on process and not content.
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I received an e-mail from a friend who has been studying Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST) for the past few years. He has been reading the literature, asking good questions, and at one point sought out a therapist to serve as a “systems coach.” In his email he expressed desire to continue studying, and his question hinted that he’s hit a plateau in his learning—not uncommon in any learning enterprise.
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At a recent workshop with a group of ministers from another denomination I asked the participants to introduce themselves and include in their introduction information about their context. When describing their context all participants shared the membership size of their congregation, specifically, the number they gave was the number of names on the church roll or register. I had to go back around and ask each participant to share the average Sunday morning worship attendance of their church (which ranged from one quarter to one third of the number they’d shared previously).
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Every once is a while (like last month, in fact) I get a call from a church leaders wanting guidance and ideas about creating a mini-seminary in their congregations. While that idea is driven by a desire to make Christian education more meaningful and effective in their congregations I am always suspect of that approach. I believe that any congregation will be well-served by taking Christian education more seriously, and, by go about its practice in more intentional ways. But I also believe that a seminary is one thing and a church another—and when it comes to educating in faith, the two should not be confused.
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Cleaning out some files I came across a listing of some businesses I’d done consultations for some years ago. The list was from the early nineties when I was doing more consultations with businesses and corporations than I do now. Going down the list I started checking off those businesses that no longer exist. By the time I finished I’d crossed out over two-thirds of the names on the list. If we were to engage in causal thinking we might ascribe two reasons for such a large number:
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I’ve observed that most folks settle into a professional routine (a rut, really) that intersects with the achievement of a certain level of competence. Once they learn the job and find efficient (if not effective) ways of doing it, they’ll rarely stray from the patterned practices of routine. It’s a case of “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” But it’s also a case of a non-thinking stance, “We’ve always done it this way before.”
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