A "twist" on leadership development

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a leadership workshop put on by the Center for Relational Leadership (part of Intimate Life Ministries) on behalf of McCoys, the builders' merchant. This was part of an ongoing program of leadership and staff development. The workshop was entitled 'Exceptional Customer Experience' and reflects the beliefs of McCoys (and the CEO, Brian McCoy in particular), that people and relationships are to be prioritized over profit or productivity. Quite a novel (and radical) concept you might think - especially for the business world. They call this 'Business as Unusual'

It made me think of how some might say that we are doing 'Church as Unusual'! They are seeking to become a company made up of people who care about people, and the process is one of growing self, in order to grow others, in order to grow the business ... in that order. This, of course, requires people to develop relational skills such as;

(i) Knowing yourself as well as others
(ii) Giving first to others by meeting needs
(iii) Showing care and expressing empathy
(iv) Becoming vulnerable in order to help develop trust
(v) Dealing with conflict and giving and receiving forgiveness

It all looks very familiar to us because it reflects the nature of authentic Christian community and love. Their approach is to teach these Christian principles and values, without being overtly religious (particularly in the area of language). That would be inappropriate in a business context.

The week culminated in an extraordinary time when the store teams had an opportunity to give testimony as to how the week had impacted them. This was incredibly moving as people became very vulnerable and real. It was quite an honor to be a witness to this.

A central theme of the training, was the notion that our behavior is often affected by and sometimes dictated to, by our emotional state. If we are living with significant amounts of painful or negative emotions, then that will inevitably affect how we deal with and react to people around us. To effect change (or healing) within ourselves, we need to be able to identify strong emotions within, understand some of their roots, and receive care from others. This is what empowers us to reconstruct out thinking (do away with the lies) and develop new, more healthy behavior patterns.

It has struck me that as we have transitioned into a model of church/life that invites us into more intimate and vulnerable relationships (for the purpose of our own healing and enjoyment of life), then we also come up against the same 'strongholds' (to use a biblical expression), that need to be overcome. It has led me to believe that in BridgePoint we would really benefit from working through some of this and shortly I am going to be inviting any who wish to do so, to join with me in doing so. I hope that you will seriously, prayerfully and courageously consider giving yourself to this process.

I would welcome any feedback, comments or questions on this.

With much love,
Mike.