GCC Leader Development

My post entitled Leader Share [and the post with my answers] was a small attempt to frame my mind for some structured leadership development that was coming up. I'm humbled and very excited to be a part of a pilot leadership development program at GCC. The general structure of the program is that it is centered around mentor/coach relationships that already exist in some capacity, with complimentary workshops to help address specific areas of leadership. These workshops are held once a month for three months this Fall, the first one being last night. Along with workshops, each gathering also includes a 'Grace Anatomy,' where the ethos of GCC is peeled back and communicated. The intent is that most of the learning and development happen in the context of the coach-leader interaction so there is an emphasis on action plans based on the principles touched on in the gatherings and workshops.

As we finished this past summer, leadership development was a concept that I really felt like SPACE needed to focus on and this pilot program was a great opportunity. I think SPACE can serve as a conduit to identify, grow and launch missional leaders - we just have to figure out how to do that best and this program and the ideas from it can really help serve that goal.

Last night's sessions included an outline on GCC's flavor - our 'tribal smell' and Principles of Servant Leadership, and both were well done. I was especially energized by the tribal smell session - so many of the ideas like:
"We are committed to the World Missions enterprise"
"We are volunteer driven - paid staff is to mobilize the saints"
"We unleash people"
helped remind me why our family is a part of this community and why GCC is exists.

Since the coach-leader relationship is where the learning should be happening, I'm thinking that this whole thing is going to require a bit more than I originally envisioned - which I think is a good thing. What I don't want to do is to keep it academic and informational only. But that is going to require some thought, creativity and experimentation. Tell you some more about this later.