Are You Relational Enough to Get Things Done?

Some of the members of our team are trained coaches who are working with people to help them be their best. The coaches on A.R.E.'s team are part of groups like CoachNet and the International Coach Federation. These groups provide high quality training and tools to insure coaching standards and effectiveness. If you are reading this, you may want to contact us and inquire about getting a coach to assist you in thinking through the work you do.

Recently, one member of our team was coaching a staff member from a major denomination. With the changes in religion in North American culture, the organizational changes that the denomination has been going through, and the complications caused by the economy, these denominational staff are finding themselves in the midst of all sorts of changes. Less and less money is available for some things. More and more relies on teams of volunteers to work in key roles to promote ideas.

Without violating the confidentiality that is part of all  our coaching relationships, we can say that in the course of the conversation it became clear that the staff in this denomination were going to have to rethink a lot about their jobs. Keeping large numbers of volunteers engaged in fruitful work would take a big investment in them. Less and less people will do perfunctory work out of institutional loyalty. And more and more people want meaningful work and will stick with it if they feel relationally connected and valued.

That means this staff person’s job would need to change. He’d have to spend a lot more time calling, emailing, writing notes, and finding ways to stay in touch and keeping people connected. More and more of his job will need to be relational. And if he fails at that the teams he is supposed to recruit and manage will not get much done either. But if he can stay connected he'll find he's able to help these teams be productive as well.

What about you? In the work you are doing are you so focused on trying to get things done that you aren’t paying attention to people? As the world changes to being more and more relational – being productive may be more relational than you think!

Comments

[Jon Anderson]

Leadership needs to be high task and high relational. But that is a lot easier said that pulled off in the swift flow of organizational leadership today.

[Kelly Fryer]

Jon - Thanks for dropping by!

A lot of organizational researchers, theorists, and other gurus would say that leadership is situational. Some situations require high task leadership (think assembly line, where everything is predictable and the goal is efficiency). Other situations require high relational leadership (a good example is when someone has the responsibility of leading others but no formal role, title, authority - everything depends on the trust and confidence you inspire in the group). If you're in a situation where you're in charge and accountable for getting things done - but the internal or external context you're dealing with is uncertain, unpredictable, fluid - you need to exercise BOTH high task and high relational. That's the situation a lot of leaders (maybe most) are in today. It's certainly true for all of the people we're working with.

And, you're right, that is easier said than done! That's why having an accountability partner, mentor, coach, etc. can be so important.

What have you found to be the most helpful in learning how to do both and/or helping others pull it off?

[Pr Randy Steinman]

certainly thought provoking. great website by the way, and CTK looks like a church I want to visit.

find it interesting that we are attracting more and more 20/30's to our very traditional style of worship. at the same time though, this is a pretty cool congregation that's not stuck on the past.
looking forward to reading more about ARE --benefited a great deal from your day in NJ two years sgo. thanks!

[Kelly Fryer]

thanks for your comments, randy --- and you're welcome!