Exploring Possibilities for Leadership in the Lasallian Ministerial Community

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Exploring Possibilities for Leadership in the
Lasallian Ministerial Community
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PART 1
OUR CONTEXT
A SHARED MISSION
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HISTORY
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The Worldwide Lasallian Mission Today
To give a human and Christian education,
especially in schools, with the
service of the poor as a priority, in order to
evangelize and catechize, to
promote peace and justice, accomplished together
as a shared mission.
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From their beginnings, the Brothers of the
Christian Schools have regarded their work as a
collaborative ministry. Their vow of association
binds them to God and to one another for the
educational service of youth and the poor. In
the Lasallian experience, mission generates bonds
of mutuality and interdependence. Mission leads
to communion and communion is for mission.
association uniting and collaborating for a
common mission.
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What has changed is the ever-increasing role
played by lay partners in the mission of the
Institute.
In the face of the many challenges in todays
world, it is no longer conceivable that the
Brothers can guarantee by themselves the
continuation and vitality of the Lasallian
mission. Thus, the worldwide Institute today
often speaks of Lasallian mission as a shared
mission.
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This is a paternalistic understanding of shared
mission.
HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND SHARED MISSION TODAY ?
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In the light of shared mission, Brothers accept
that there is no task exclusive to them and that
they have a duty to believe in and support their
lay partners in living out the vocation and
mission of the Lasallian educator for lay
partners, sharing the mission means owning the
mission as theirs and contributing as far as they
are able to its unfolding.
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ONE MISSION

Lasallian Ministerial Community
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• Characteristics of a Ministerial Community
• Witness to Shared Vision and Values
• Mutual Concern and Solidarity
• Orientation to Service

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Lasallian Mission

• Ministers of Faith
• Builders of Communion
• Responsive Educators

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Let's reflect

• Recall your most satisfying experience of working
  together with others in a group. What made this
  experience satisfying for you and for other
  members?
• Who was the groups official or unofficial
  leader? How would you describe the group leaders
  relationship to the members?
• What can be learned about leadership from this
  experience?

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PART 2
Looking at Leadership
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• Leadership is a Personality TRAIT
  Insight Effective leaders have personal
  qualities that contribute to their success in the
  role.

• Leadership is a Relationship btw. LEADER
  FOLLOWER Insight Effective leaders respond
  to the level of maturity of their followers.
  Leadership is situational.

• Leadership is a Relationship btw. LEADER GROUP
  Insight Effective leaders insure that groups
  deal with both internal (belonging/group
  maintenance) and external (performance) tasks.

• Leadership is a PROCESS OF GROUP INTERACTION
  Insight Leadership is a system of
  relationships through which a group acts
  effectively. Effective leaders nurture the
  larger network of relationships through which
  groups act effectively.

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Insight Effective leaders have personal
qualities that contribute to their success in the
role. Limitation While personality traits are
important, research does not support the idea
that there are distinct leadership traits that
guarantee effectiveness. This
view neglects the importance of the setting on
the leaders effectiveness.
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Insight Effective leaders respond to the
maturity of their followers. Leadership is
situational. Limitation The relationships
assumed to be important
are the ones that go out from the designated
leader like spokes from
the hub at the center of a wheel.
Leadership is seen exclusively as the set
of relationships established
by the person in
charge.
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Insight Effective leaders insure that groups
deal with both internal (group maintenance) and
external (performance) tasks. This is often
spoken of as striking a balance between being
people oriented and being task oriented.
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Insight Leadership is a system of relationships
through which a group acts effectively. Leading
takes place when group members deal with one
another in ways that meet the groups needs and
contribute to its goals. Effective leaders
nurture the larger network of relationships
through which the group cares for itself and
pursues its goals.
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• Wheatleys 4 Basic Principles of
  Self-Organization and Change
• A living system forms itself as it recognizes
  shared interests.
• For significant change to occur, there must be a
  change in meaning and vision.
• Change cannot be imposed. Every living system is
  free to choose whether it will
  change or not.
• Living systems contain their own solutions. To
  create a healthier system, connect it to more
  of itself.

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Leading activities include all interactions that
clarify vision and identity, energize the groups
life, reinforce commitment, mobilize its
resources to deal with change. Leading can be
initiated by a formal leader or by any member of
the group.
You cannot direct a group into perfection you
can only relate to members and engage them in
such a way that they want to do perfect work. For
this to happen, they need to believe in the
vision strongly enough to actively commit
themselves to realizing it and trust each other
enough to collaborate and share their gifts.
A leader is anyone who commits to help here and
now.
Designated leaders are not above the group, but
partners who see their work as a service to the
group and its mission.
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Leading is about enabling the group to achieve
goals they truly believe in and mutually agree
to.
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When we fail to see leadership as a process of
group interaction, we assume that it is the
leaders job to supply what is needed to make the
organization work.
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In De La Salles own life, we see him moving
from a model of leadership that is
leader-centeredand paternalistic, to a model
of leadership which empowers the community to act
effectively to address its internal and external
goals. He began his ministerial journey as
an outsider, as the teachers rich benefactor
and father-figure, and ended up as their partner
and brother. Much of his struggle as a
leader was spent trying to empower the group to
take charge of its own destiny. This meant
helping them to grow professionally and
spiritually, to understand the full significance
of their work, to recognize the Spirit as the
source of true power, and to collaborate together
for the mission entrusted to them by God.
POWER VESTED IN ONE PERSON
POWER VESTED IN THE GROUP
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Questions to think about

• Which model of leadership prevails in your
  organization?
• Which model do you usually assume in your work?
• What advantages/disadvantages do you see arising
  from the model of leadership as group
  interaction?
• What challenges for your group do you see
  arising from the model of leading as group
  interaction?