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| 2012 Coaches Reports | ||
January 2012 |
Grip/Birkman in 2012 and See you in Chicago in April! | |
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February 2012 |
Multiple Uses for the Grip/Birkman Blueprint ...Or, my Five Great Questions on NEED | |
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| 2011 Coaches Reports | ||
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October 2011 |
Body Life Design Team: The Foundation of the Grip-Birkman Paradigm Shift | |
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September 2011 |
Primary Functions of Stewardship name changed to Body Building Roles? | |
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August 2011 |
Mining the Birkman Components: CHALLENGE | |
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July 2011 |
Organizational Development & the Grip-Birkman | |
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June 2011 |
Mining the Birkman Components: Activity & Thought | |
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May 2011 |
Mining the Birkman Components: Structure and Advantage | |
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April 2011 |
De-Glazing GBB's Body Life Leadership Model - Part 1 | |
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March 2011 |
Mining the Components: Authority – Suggesting vs. Telling | |
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February 2011 |
Mining the Components: Esteem & Acceptance | |
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January 2011 |
Mining The Birkman Components: Empathy & Change | |
Multiple Uses for the
Grip/Birkman Blueprint ...Or, my Five Great Questions on NEED
By Ron Ward
I live in Central Asia, but
in many parts of the world Grip-Birkman has seen an organic
progression of development. By
“organic” I mean that in almost every circumstance, the use of GBB
has spread by verbal or written endorsement rather than top-down
directive in organizations. In a number of overseas fields GBB has
been most effective in team training and team building, but also in
coaching individuals and couples. My area of focus is pastoral
care, so I have seen GBB serve as an effective tool with
relationship development, conflict resolution, and team unity. This
article will focus on the ways I personally use the GBB tool.
I really appreciate the flexibility of GBB, because I use GBB in a variety of settings and groupings. Being in an overseas context, meeting times and venues have to flex with what works, sometimes with no projector or flip chart paper available. Whether a large or small group, a tiny room, few props, or limited timeframe, I arrange the time so that each individual can interact and engage with the tool and with one another in group settings.
My most significant training is with a team that has an integral purpose for being together. Integral teams have the most to gain from the full breadth of GBB resources and follow-up tools. But there are also very effective ways to engage individuals, couples, and people who don’t team together. I just have to tailor GBB to that person or group. Tailoring becomes much more natural with experience. My purpose is to help each person develop, through the lenses of their unique gifting, personality and behaviors, a picture of their life and ministry that says: “This is what God has made me for in this season.”
While there are many pieces to helping individuals, couples and teams discover their “sweet spot” in life and ministry, there is one consistent and practical tool I use to help them verbalize it. I call it the five questions of NEED, and introduce it when we discuss Need (the Circle) in the Birkman LifeStyle Grid:
What is my best working environment? (alone, lots of people around, some people but need to concentrate, accessibility to colleagues/superior(s)
How much guidance/feedback do I need? (give me clear rules, give me the general boundaries and trust me with the result, invite me to engage in check-backs to help make sure I’m on track)
How do I best refresh/recharge (alone with a book, a walk/run/gym session, visit with a few close friends or some/lots of people)
What is the form of genuine affirmation that motivates me to do my best? (a simple word of thanks/encouragement, a personal card/email/call, role development, public recognition)
When someone needs to give me a word of correction, how do I best receive it? (straight-forward, tempered with sensitivity, tell me straight but explain why, affirm me heavily if the correction is particularly difficult)
Answering these questions verbally helps the participant/s (individual, their spouse, teammates and/or associates) understand several crucial elements about what they most need to operate in their sweet spot. The format can be formal or informal. Sometimes I write them on the whiteboard. Sometimes I prompt the individual with each question. Regardless of the approach, very helpful things are usually shared that others in the group did not know... or would not have guessed... about that person’s needs. I tie this time of sharing to the biblical instruction we are given to encourage, exhort, speak truth and love one another.
But there is also a connection to powerful spiritual gifting, as each individual looks more deeply at the way He uniquely works in and through that gift combination. It encourages a mindset that whatever role or function a person/couple/team serve, and the purpose for which they exist, both the person/couple/team and its fruit are deeply affected by how the persons involved choose to relate to one another.
Of course, the five questions of Need can be useful in any context, not just overseas. I hope you find it helpful to you.
Grip/Birkman in 2012 and See you in
Chicago in April!
By Steve Potter, GBB’s Global Team Leader
It’s that time of year again. Everyone’s talking about their New Year’s resolutions. The gym I frequent is overflowing with new patrons. The interesting thing is that most of those new people at the gym will be gone by month end. Why?
> First, they don’t have a compelling, gut level reason to change.
> Second, it takes a practical, easily accomplished plan to build new habits.
> Third, and most important, it takes relationships to encourage the change to stick.
Yes, some of those new people will be at the gym in February and beyond because they connected with a workout partner who encourages them each time they come to the gym.
So what does all that have to do with Grip/Birkman Blueprint coaches. Well, everything. Coaching is a process of encouraging individuals or teams through a change, helping them come up with a plan for change, and through the GBB, providing an understanding of who we are naturally and supernaturally as a launch pad for change. That’s what a coach does, that’s what you do in every coaching relationship you have, and hopefully in a mentoring relationship for yourself.
The last year proved to be a challenging year for many of us. I believe it’s been God’s opportunity to slow us down a little, consider what’s important, take care for our relationships, and now to set a course for this new year. I know many of you have experienced major changes this year, some having to do with the economy and others more personal. I encourage you to support each other in 2012 to realize the plans God has for you in this year before us.
As the GBB Global Resource Team (GRT) leader, I experienced a year of having to learn new things. I learned that a virtual team is much different than one you are in contact with each day, which had been my experience leading teams in the Marines and Pepsico. The daily interchange I experienced with those teams must be replaced with different types of frequent contact. Planning meetings are far more complex on a conference call than they are sitting around a table. It’s especially hard to catch the body language.
Looking back on 2011 with the help of my team members on the GRT and our pioneer, Paul Ford, I am making changes in the patterns of calls and contacts between calls that will give the GRT a new vitality in 2012. We were pretty good at coming up with ideas last year, but a little less effective at making them happen. For the GBB community of coaches and trainers, you will see some of those changes like a new CEU/continuing education structure, a new website, and other ideas designed to improve support for GBB, as well as the coaches and trainers. The GRT goal for 2012 is to provide greater value for your investment of time and resources as GBB coaches and trainers.
With that in mind, please consider setting aside the week following Easter, April 9-13, 2012, to join us for the GBB Users Group at the ChurchSmart headquarters in suburban Chicago. Specific arrangements, times and agenda will be coming out in the next couple weeks. New learning will be shared, projects in planning will receive your input and reconnection with other coaches will strengthen your relationship to the GBB coaching community. Paul will share some application ideas for his new book, WE: God’s Economy that is to come out the week we are together.
We will also spend time together feeling the power of relationships which undergirds the GBB coaching process for individuals, teams and leaders of teams. I look forward to renewing a face to face connection with the coaches and trainers I know and to building new relationships with those I have yet to meet. That’s what makes the GBB User’s Group experience exciting for me. I hope you will find it an exciting opportunity for the same reasons.
See you in Chicago!
I invite you to
share your reflections on GBB and coaching in the year ahead either
on a personal basis or through submitting a Coaching Report. I look
forward to an ongoing dialogue on a personal note or through sending
us a proposal for a report to be featured on the website. Blessings
and Peace to all of you in the New Year.
Steve Potter, GRT Team Lead
stevepotter1@me.com
Body Life Design Team:
The Foundation of the Grip-Birkman Paradigm Shift
John Blake
I was recently asked how I would spend eight hours of team building.
“I would start with Body Life Design Team (BLDT).”
“But what if I only had two hours?” you may wonder.
“Body Life Design Team.”
Why? Team issues
crumble under the simplicity and depth of these three profound and
foundational truths. The Birkman Method’s invaluable
yet complex components, the valuable understanding of integrity of
our Your Leadership Grip’s gifts triangle, and
the life-altering understanding of the Dotted Diamond in
comprehending the natural with the supernatural, are so gratifying
to understand. They provide direction-setting wisdom to the
recipient, and the team can finally embrace a common language of
communicating around their all-too-familiar struggles. The ultimate
value is not in the assessments, though. Nor is it in the common
language. It’s not even in the safety we provide for conversation
as facilitators.
The power is when we understand the core
paradigm shift in transforming from “I” to “We.”
The truth, however, is all the potential unifying power of the Grip Birkman Blueprint without the embrace of the Body Life Design Team principles is void. It won’t happen. And therefore, I won’t start a training with any group without the introduction that includes BLDT.
1. Body Life – your significance is settled.
Our search for significance often drives a self-centered and self-glorifying jockeying for position with others. The ladder mentality consumes us as we strive to prove ourselves through religious positioning of good works, great growth, and significance-laden fruit. We want to make sure that our actions for the Kingdom match our internal passion, creating a conflicted understanding of grace and action which all-too-often is welded with the image of earning God’s favor or blessing.
Instead, this idea frees teams to not only understand but to embrace the idea that there is nothing I can do or say to increase God’s love towards me. He receives, accepts, and loves me just as I am today. It sounds so simple. Instead, however, teams struggle over the crowns in heaven, or the jewels of sanctification – earning one’s place by actions. They politicize conversations and relationships to leverage their value and contribution, bastardizing Kingdom work through often undetected insecurities of self-worth. God’s view of you, though, sets free the expectations and demand, allowing love and unity to once rule where striving to find Kingdom significance once dominated. Serving then becomes a joy-filled response rather than a guilt-driven expectation.
2. Design – you have a unique role to play.
Guilt, past failure, and lack of skill or experience often overshadow the beautiful inclusion of each person into God’s beautiful symphony of Body Life. Believers become bystanders as they remain paralyzed by the inability to embrace a God who calls them to engage in His Plan. Sometimes it may be the vastness of the need where we feel gravely overmatched, or maybe the view of personal self-pity or insignificance leaving us pointing out other saints to fulfill the purposes. The haunting of words “You’re not ready yet” or “This isn’t a good fit for you” leave people as consumers in today’s teams and churches. Leaders who fail to equip others, who neglect to release team members, who feel the vision is only theirs to fulfill over time devalue the true opportunities of the Body.
God is clear. Not only has He made each person significant through the cross. He also has given each person has a God-designed role to play that no one else can play, powerful gifts and team styles that are their unique contribution to the Body. We must allow people to soak in the excitement of getting in God’s Game just as He already has prepared them – and never allow them the opportunity of complacency or false sense of insignificancy to move them to the sidelines of spectatorship.
3. Team – everyone must commit to building unity.
Unity is a choice and a process. It is not a one-time-end-all-decision. It is an active battleground being fought today. For many, it is simply easier to function alone. It may be quicker, more efficient, and perhaps even more effective for a narrowed view of purpose and faster result. However, it’s not God’s plan. I am not called to be the Body. You are not called to be the Body. We are called to be the Body. And therefore, we must operate in our own uniqueness fulfilling the purposes of the Head of the Body, Jesus.
We often are confronted with conflict and therein form sides. That frequently is translated into spiritualized gossip and ministry alliances that can leave people wounded and without attempted healing, support, or restoration. At other times we hide behind success, tasks, or humor to present the easily broken front of unity. It fools only those who choose ignorance, and hinders the charisma and full-functionality of Christ’s Body.
**
These three principles start the “I” to “WE” paradigm shift that is
central to our coaching, teambuilding, and leadership development.
Often, in discussion, I’ll come back to these principles.
Birkman’s needs (circle/square on Life Style Grid)
and the supernatural needs of the Spiritual Gifts Triangle
both are directly connected to these foundational principles.
Team Styles and Organizational Focus ooze
with the necessity of the Body Life Design Team truths. As
coaches and trainers, rather than giving the GBB as an
opportunity for self-discovery and entitlement of “this is how God
made me,” we now have set the stage for a shift in our thinking from
I to WE.
When we embrace the BLDT at a heart level, the impact of the GBB is suddenly more than an assessment. It is a Body Life creating, Design owning, and Team transcending opportunity for impact.
Is it truly foundational and necessary?
Yes. It is.
We Need your Feedback –
RSVP to
steve.hoke@crmleaders.org ,
John.Blake@jmblake.com
and/or
paul.ford@crmleaders.org
The Challenge score in your Birkman reports is different from all the other components in at least two significant ways. First, Challenge is a composite derived from the other components. Second, with the Challenge component all three scores, Usual, Needs and Stress, will always be the same.
Low Challenge
Usual Behavior:
Pleasant, persuasive and enthusiastic, confident of ability
Underlying Needs:
Achievable and respected goals, Help in evaluating
performance and mistakes critically
Stress Behavior:
Easily influenced by enthusiasm, may blame personal problems on
situational, external factors
High Challenge
Usual Behavior:
Analyzes problems and performance critically, stimulated by
difficult personal challenges
Underlying Needs:
Continually elevated goals, challenging/demanding life and work
situations
Stress Behavior:
Too critical and demanding of self and others, reluctant to accept
successes without a critical review
With over three million people from many different walks of life having completed the questionnaire, Birkman has been able to compute an accurate picture of a societal pattern or social norm for the component scores. Remember when you completed the Birkman Questionnaire and had to answer all those questions about yourself and then you were asked the same questions about MOST people? The Challenge score is derived from how your other component scores compare to the way a majority of people in Birkman’s database have answered the same questions. If you see yourself as different from the social norm, that can show up as a reversal in one or more of the other components. People with more reversals (old language: split scores) tend to have a higher Challenge score.
Coaching Implications
This is important for you to
know as a coach, because a person with a high Challenge
score will be more self-critical and also more critical of others.
They may have some anxiety about the information found in their
Grip/Birkman Blueprint profile and may
over-focus on stress behaviors and weaknesses or needs, as well as
minimizing strengths. By contrast, a person with a low
Challenge score will usually be more self-confident and,
under stress, will be more inclined to blame external factors for
their personal problems or failures. They may be reluctant to accept
some of the information or verbiage in their GBB profile (especially
if it seems negative to them).
Anyone can suffer from overwork or burnout, but their complaints
will sound very different according to their Challenge
scores. The person with a low Challenge score will
blame external causes, knowing that he or she could do the job if
only this or that would change, while the person with a high
Challenge score will blame themselves for not being up to the task.
Underlying Needs
A person with a low
Challenge score needs a performance evaluation that combines
praise and constructive criticism. He or she also might need help
seeing their development needs. Someone with a high Challenge score
will prefer to hear an accurate and honest critical review of their
work without flattery. Praise for people with high Challenge scores
must be accompanied with clear evidence of a job well-done.
People with low Challenge scores will take on projects
that they know they can manage and might not be willing to stretch
themselves to reach more challenging tasks, while people with high
Challenge scores will take on tasks beyond their apparent ability to
achieve and will work hard to succeed. Therefore to help a person
with low challenge grow, encourage them to adopt goals that will
stretch their abilities without making them risk failure, then
praise and recognize them for their accomplishments. The person with
high challenge will need genuine feedback and a realistic assessment
of their over-all situation, as well as progressively more demanding
goals.
A real life example:
I (Larry) usually come across
as self-confident, but I am sometimes reluctant to take on new
assignments, because I do not want to start something that might
lead to failure. Several years ago, I was invited to be interviewed
for a place of leadership. The night before I left on the plane, I
was sharing with Susan and a friend my doubts about my
qualifications to be in a leadership position of greater
responsibility. When my friend questioned the source of my doubt, I
responded that I was afraid of the “Peter Principle,” that I would
be promoted to my highest level of incompetence and would end up
labeled a failure.
I (Susan) like a challenge and can easily become bored and disenchanted if my work and/or personal life is not challenging. If I am not sufficiently challenged I can get subtly defiant or distracted by other things. I don’t need a lot of praise for any type of accomplishment, but I do appreciate an honest evaluation of my work and get discouraged if that is not forthcoming. Once I start a project, I get very focused. For example, when I went back to school to work on my masters degree, I finished 67 hours in 16 months.
One of us has a low Challenge and the other has a high Challenge score. Could you tell which is which? (By the way, Susan also maintained a 4.0 average in all those studies! Of course, she did not want me to mention it in this article!)
For those in the middle
People with moderate
Challenge scores do not tend to struggle with these areas
and therefore will often have problems understanding why this is so
important for the other two-thirds of the population. If you work
with someone who has a moderate Challenge score, it is
all the more important for you to make your own needs or
expectations known.
1. Suppose you are having doubts about
whether you can or should take on a new project you have been asked
to do.
Low Challenge:
Are you reluctant to take on the new project because you have doubts
whether you can complete it in your own abilities?
High Challenge:
Are you feeling obligated to take on this new project even though
you already feel overloaded?
2. Consider how your Challenge score relates to your combination of gifts. As you consider the questions above, how does God’s powerful moving through your gifting influence your decision?
3. Help the person to set appropriate
development goals based on what he or she is learning about himself
or herself.
Low Challenge:
set development goals that will stretch them beyond what is easy for
them.
High Challenge:
set development goals that are demanding and have a good feedback
system in place. Ask, “Who can you count on to give you good, honest
feedback?”
Larry and Susan’s unique
coaching process that they have developed can be found at:
MyLEAD360@gmail.com
Organizational
Development & the Grip-Birkman
by John Blake, who in June finished a Masters in Human Resource &
Organizational Development
(John in picture below - with a YWAM Base leadership team in Uganda,
May 2011)
The Birkman Method is widely used in businesses and executive teams in varied applications from personal life coaching to executive teambuilding. An area rarely spoken of is organizational development (OD).
The Grip-Birkman gives us a unique opportunity to integrate our understanding and perspective of Body Life Vision as well as the profoundly powerful aspects of what I personally NEED, as well as the Grip’s clear identification of WHO I personally NEED.
1. The Integration of Body Life Vision with Organizational Development
Organizational
development is different than business consulting in one very
fundamental way: we don’t give
answers. Most consultants are considered mechanics; give me your
problem, leave me alone for a little while, I’ll fix it, give it
back to you, and as long as everything stays the same, you will have
the best possible fix for your problem. However, in OD, we educate
throughout the process, facilitating their own discovery in their
own language to provide the most contextualized solution to the
organization’s most core issues.
The key concept in this is LISTENING. Sound familiar? As coaches, we are trained to ask clear questions to cut to the heart of the issues to identify, empathize, and walk with the coachee through their next challenges. In OD, we do this on a wider scale. Not necessarily “Group Coaching” which is becoming more popular, but rather in surveys, interviews, focus groups, and by observation. Each of these unique windows gives us greater depth, clarity, and focus on the foundational pressing issue. A hard realization I have made is that teambuilding may not be the answer to the problem. We can’t cookie-cutter our responses to the unique ministries we work with; rather, as the Body of Christ, we must listen to God speaking through each person.
I returned less than a month ago from Uganda where I had the profound opportunity to work alongside three different teams of leaders who had wrestled with their focus as individuals. What had God uniquely placed inside of them? When each team member separately began to share their personal passion and vision, the results were astonishing. Overlap and shared joy; intrigue and excitement; wonderment and renewed passion. As I spoke with the leaders, I found that even in the best of the teams, they didn’t know all of that information about their leadership. And I simply had the opportunity to pose one simple question: What does this mean about where you need to be heading in the next 18 months?
Body Life
vision is about knowing what God has
put inside each of us uniquely to facilitate growth and action
through our shared Body Life movement. Body
Life vision gives us the opportunity to set course as a team
through our shared embrace of God’s creativity through our team’s
combination of strengths, weaknesses, and gifting. OD simply gives
us a framework of intentional listening to define the issues as well
as understand the people God has provided.
2. Birkman’s “NEED” in Organizational Development
Through intentional listening to the team members, their unique NEEDS will surface. As a coach, you will begin to hear “trigger” words which hopefully spark your attention: “I need…,” “I always feel…,” “They don’t get this about me…,” or “Everyone believes…” These give us a quick glimpse into the Needs. In organizations, it can also give us a little picture of the organizational culture. If we aren’t clearly defining the culture and environment, we can sometimes put band-aids on broken arms. One leader, manager, or coach who is spiritually aware of- and changed by their new-found understanding of their gifting in a setting defined by routine and tradition will potentially be overly frustrated! A saying often repeated in organizational development: “Put a changed person into a failed system, the system wins every time.”
As a wise OD
consultant, watch for overlap in the Birkman Needs to
understand the organizational culture. For corporate America, who
has a higher Freedom Component score: CitiBank or
Google? Who has a higher Empathy score: American
Cancer Society or Center for Disease Control? We could go on and
on. The philosophy is this: Don’t create a new framework for your
thinking about organizational culture. Use the knowledge from
Grip-Birkman (especially the eleven Components
of the Birkman Method) to give yourself an
organizational picture. Ask about the key defining components of
any organization: strategy, structure, processes, rewards, and of
course, people. How do they define these things? How do they
intentionally address these issues? How do they align these
factors?
3. Your Leadership Grip’s “NEED” in Organizational Development
The people (team members of the organization) should set the course. However, in every team, ministry, group, coalition, virtual unit, or any other name you wish to be known as where three or more people are asked to function together, there are three factors that get in the way:
1. I am not good enough and I really don’t see my part in the big picture.
2. I choose to fight for something better because I’m more talented than this position shows.
3. I choose to work on my own; it’s easier that way.
These might sound familiar. They are typical human responses when the three critical Body Life Design Team principles are not present or practiced. On a personal note, I don’t begin any sort of work with a group (or even a couple) without spending at least 30 minutes going through these foundational principles. It’s too important. I have to help my clients or coaches grasp these three core ideas: 1) I have a role to play that no one else can; 2) I am significant because of the cross and God’s love for me; and 3) I have to choose unity in relationships, team members choosing to trust over just performing well individually. Once these are settled, then we are ready to address how Body Life can function.
Listen carefully: strategy void of the people God has provided is a formula for narcissistic failure. When we fail to pay attention to the people God has given to us, we fail to embrace that His plan is greater than our own. Defining the people’s strengths and contribution will allow us to properly align our strategy to our corporate goals through our people. GOALS – PEOPLE – STRATEGY… it has to go in that order. OD is the process of strategic alignment, i.e. listening to properly utilize the people to fulfill the goals.
Organizational development is a process of organizational change. It embraces many of the Body Life principles unique to the Grip-Birkman process and family. As you think through these three new pieces, feel free to provide feedback and on-going learning of how you have seen this and experienced this. We can compile some of your thoughts and comments and get it back out to you.
john.blake@teambuildingcc.com
By David Moench, GBB Trainer
Editor’s Note: David not only provides general insight on the Activity and Thought components, but also provides some excellent, value-added insights in a section at the end of this article that you may find very helpful.
Activity Component
Birkman describes the Activity component as the need for activity or the preferred pace of action. This component deals with action orientation, quick thinking and having a physical expression of their energy, and their opposites. What does this component actually measure? Physical Activity
If someone has a low score:
· They express activity through Mental Expression.
· Need – for personal control over scheduling
· Usual - likes to reflect before acting
· Stress – putting things off
If someone has a high score:
· They would express activity through Physical Expression
· Need – a busy schedule
· Usual – takes direct action to get things done
· Stress – failing to delegate when necessary
The Dominant pattern Birkman finds for Activity is for a higher usual score of 75 (physical expression of activity) but a need score of only 50 (mental expression of activity). What does this mean? I am reminded of a postcard that came from a British friend which had a pastoral picture of Jesus, with the statement “Jesus is coming back, look busy!” We often fill schedules as our normal pattern, but need more time for reflection and personal control over our schedules.
Issues affected by this Activity component?
urgency in decision making
balance between thought and action
competitiveness as opposed to long range results
patience with planning and pacing.
Thought
Component
Birkman describes Thought as the need for thought or reflection in decision making.
This component deals with a cautious approach to decisions, concern for making the right decision the first time, and worry about the consequences and their opposites. What is Birkman actually measuring? Indecision
If someone has a low score:
· they are seen as Decisive
· Need – issues reduced to their simplest form
· Usual – sees issues in terms of black and white
· Stress – acts impulsively
If someone has a high score:
· They give each decision a Thorough examination
· Need – plenty of time for complex decisions
· Usual – handles ambiguous situations well
· Stress – indecision when pressured
The Dominant pattern Birkman finds is for a lower usual score of 25 (physical expression of activity) but a need score of 50 (mental expression of activity)
Issues impacted by the Thought component are:
decision making and patience
degree of comfort with risk
consistency in positions taken
How do these two components interrelate? Some insights:
A high score in Activity and a low score in Thought would push the person towards the red quadrant (direct communicator and high task). A high score in thought and a low score in activity would push the person to the opposite corner (blue) of the Life Style Grid (indirect communicator and high people).
When Thought and Activity are paired together related to decisions, you see the possible combinations and outcomes below:
· High Activity/Low Thought – make a quick decision and are comfortable with this
· Low Activity/High Thought – hard time making a decision, they want to make the right decision
· High Activity/High Thought – probably stressing others, operating and deciding at the same time
· Low Activity/Low Thought – comfortable with decisions, not quickly but won’t worry about it
In summary, Thought and Action have a huge impact on how we make decisions and evaluate others as they make decisions (particularly when those decisions affect us). I am confident that you can find lots of ways to use these components in helping others.
Still unclear? Ford Motor Company went door-to-door asking people “If you were in the market for a new car in the next 12 months, what would you be looking for?” People response: a car dependable, safe, big enough for family, etc. and the designers went to work and came up with the Edsel. For those who do not know, one of their worst selling cars ever – produced from 1957-1961! Later, Ford tried this survey again, with a slightly different question: “If your neighbor were in the market for a car in the next 12 months, what do you think he would want?” Big engine, sporty, flashy, were typical responses. The designers went back to the table and came back with – THE MUSTANG!
How does this relate to Birkman Method? Your answers to the “Most People” section of the questionnaire yields your “Needs and Expectations” (asterisk), while your answers to the “Self” section of the questionnaire charts the “Usual Behavior” (diamond). Fortunately, the Birkman Method factors this important quirk of human nature into their research.
In coaching others, I desire to help individuals and teams to see how others perceive them. Sometimes we find people who either do not agree with the results or do not want to take a hard and fast look at their own behaviors and their impact on others. We are all guilty on this one!
In fact, the two components we just covered often tend toward more “judgmental” thoughts and comments than other components in the Birkman Method. Please consider the following thoughts on this possibility.
As this relates to Activity, I have found that people who are high physical activity sometimes look at high mental activity and ask “What are they doing?” (since they equate productivity with activity level). I also hear a high mental activity ask why the high physical activity is running around like a chicken with their head cut off (since they see what they view is lots of wasted actions).
When Thought is considered, I hear those who have a high score (thorough examination) question their low score (decisive) colleagues about “Have they thought all this through and why are they making snap decisions?” The reverse prompts questions such as “Why does it take her so long to make decisions?”
In theory, we all know that these judgmental attitudes expressed toward team mates is unhelpful at best or destructive to trust and collaboration at worst. However, the results are heartbreaking when these attitudes shape actions (decisions that are either never made or constantly questioned).
So, what Scriptures help us with this problem? Any of the passages dealing with gifts that we use in GBB are excellent for these types of attitudes and actions. Eugene Peterson translates Philippians 4:8-9 as follows:
“Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.”
I love the phrase “most excellent harmonies” and think that it expresses accurately the results of lives lived walking with God – believers who have come to grips with both who God has made them to be and how he has made others different. Paul exhorts us to always think the best of others and to meditate on the best, the beautiful and the things to bless in others. Let me illustrate this. When I (with an activity score of 97 and a thought score of 46) see a teammate seemingly not doing anything or delaying making a decision, my first thoughts should be focused on gleaning from them the jewels from their mental activity and thoughtful consideration of the facts. I might save some energy and come out with a better decision by including them in my process. When I see someone make a decision quickly, without seeming to consult anyone, I need to accept that they might have a high thought and activity score and learn to trust them.
As we coach others in their reports – these two components are a simple combination that can help provide initial guidance for the individual. The combination does not qualify behavior related to decision making as good or effective. However, appropriate behavior will be defined by the culture of the team/organization and this could cause problems. Suppose the organization values well thought through decisions and with lots if input from many people and a new team leader comes in high in both Activity and Thought. Challenges might arise when the leader makes and implements quick decisions and pushes through the action plans with little input from others. This might not be the most effective combination, considering the organizational culture and others might judge the leader as rash and impulsive.
Mining the Birkman Components: Structure and
Advantage
By Larry and Susan Gay, GBB Trainers
1. Structure Component: Flexibility vs. Structure
Birkman defines the component “Structure” as: “Systems and
procedures - how the individual controls issues associated with
detail, structure, follow-through, and routine.”
USUAL BEHAVIOR
Low score: Acts on personal initiative, makes simple broad plans
High score: Meticulous in planning and detail, operates on carefully
calculated risks
UNDERLYING NEEDS
Low: Freedom from close control, minimal routine, easy access to
others
High: Defined systems and procedures, predictability, organizational
support
STRESS BEHAVIOR
Low: Could postpone and procrastinate, over-generalizes
High: Dreads the unpredictable, over emphasizes processes and
controls
Most people who have completed the Birkman Questionnaire
(80%) indicate that they can make their own detailed plans and
follow through on them and they want less structure handed to them
by someone else (high usual, low need). Some people, however, will
only have a general plan of their own and want someone else to help
them define the details of how to get where they want to go (low
usual, high need). Since this does not follow the social norm, we
call this a “reversal” – when the little dark square of
stress behavior is not at the end of the need bar.
I (Susan) have a reversal in the area of Structure
(low/high/low). While I am usually laid back in terms of Structure,
I prefer to have some organization in my everyday life and also
prefer to receive organizational support in the area of planning and
procedures. If those needs are not met, I tend to procrastinate and
become further behind. This initiates a vicious cycle. If you want
to see what that looks like, look at my office space! When I get
behind in my filing, I get frustrated and put off filing which
causes the filing to get out of control. To get out of the vicious
cycle I have to force myself to take small action steps to get my
need met by putting a little more organization in my life.
A real life example:
Mant and Nate had a good working relationship and had great
respect for each other. They even liked to get together informally
and visit in each other’s homes. Mant, however, was growing
increasingly frustrated with Nate. As Nate’s supervisor, Mant needed
a monthly report from Nate to provide an accurate report of the
progress in the region for which he was responsible. Month after
month, Mant had to track down Nate and ask for the repot that was
always late. As we sat down with Mant and Nate in a team coaching
session, it became apparent that Nate had a low usual, low need, low
stress (low/low/low) in “Structure,” while Mant had a high
usual, high need and high stress in this component (high/high/high).
Mant could not understand why anyone would not set aside a specific
day and time to complete the report and send it in. Nate, on the
other hand, could see the value in reporting, but could never seem
to be in the right place at the right time to report, because other
priorities would always seem to take him away. Nate’s stress
behavior is procrastination, so the more Mant pressured the more
Nate procrastinated.
“I know he’s doing a good job,” Mant said. “I talk to him often and
hear about this and that project that is going well. I know what he
is doing and I am pleased with his progress, I just need it in a
monthly report.” Nate smiled sheepishly, and said, “Yeah, I know I
need to do better on that,” but he had no idea how to correct the
problem. He just hated having to do those meticulous reports.
Finally, we coached them to a solution. Since Mant and Nate were
accustomed to chatting by phone or in person at least once a month,
Mant offered to call Nate each month on a specific, pre-arranged day
(not necessarily the exact same day of every month). Mant would get
a verbal report from Nate that he could transcribe directly into his
own monthly report as they talked. This solution seemed to work
well. It helped each of them get their need met and reduced their
stress caused by the other’s usual behavior.
Practical helps for coaching “Structure”
Review the following pages in your Birkman reports:
STRENGTH AND NEEDS GRAPH (page 4 of 12) – Organizing
STRENGTH AND NEEDS (page 5 of 13) – Structure
GUIDE PAGE 3 of 5 — Conscientiousness
STRESS PAGE 3 of 8 — The Stress of Dealing with Schedules or
Detail
STRESS PAGE 4 of 8 — Managing Needs for Structure and Change
Some possible questions to ask when coaching on “Structure”:
1. How do your stress behaviors and needs affect how you deal with
time management and setting priorities? How do they affect how you
deal with details and follow-up?
2. What are you learning about how you manage your time and set
priorities? What’s good? What’s not so good?
3. Do you need help making more specific plans, or do you need help
finding ways to be more flexible with the people you serve?
4. Who can be your accountability partner to help you follow through
on your plan?
2. Advantage Component: We vs. Me
Birkman defines “Advantage” as: “Idealism versus
realism - individual and team competitiveness, how comfortably an
individual deals with security and materialism with financial or
prestige risk.”
USUAL BEHAVIOR
Low: Trustful and team-spirited, aware of long-term benefits, values
intangibles
High: Opportunity minded, resourceful, naturally bargains, sells,
trades
UNDERLYING NEEDS
Low: A minimum of competitive rivalry, a trustful, serving
environment
High: Opportunities to compete, tangible benefits
STRESS BEHAVIOR
Low: May feel taken advantage of, underestimates others,
self-protective natures
High: Opportunistic and distrusting, self-promotional,
self-protective
People with high need in Advantage are competitive and need
tangible rewards to keep them motivated. Those with low need in this
component prefer a trustful environment with a minimum of
competition. Direct sales on commission would be a good environment
for those with high advantage usual and/or need. Those with low
advantage scores would prefer a less competitive environment such as
a non-profit where everyone is working on the same objectives as
opposed to competing with one another.
Only 20% of the population has high advantage usual scores while 80%
have high Advantage need scores! This would indicate that,
although the most people value long-term rewards and team
orientations as opposed to competitive natures, most people also
prefer an environment that rewards individual achievement!
Only 10% of the population exhibit low stress scores in Advantage.
These low Advantage stress people become idealistic and surprised by
the self-promotion of others, while the other 90% (to differing
degrees) have high Advantage scores causing them to become
self-protective and self-promotional under stress! (These
percentages are from Birkman Beginnings Newsletter: Edition 9:
Components: Advantage).
Your Advantage score does not determine whether you will or
will not trust or be trustworthy in your relationships. It does,
however, indicate how you approach trusting others. Dr. Roger
Birkman delineates the matter of trust in high and low advantage: “A
low Advantage person will trust you until you show you can’t be
trusted; while a high Advantage person will be wary about trusting
you until you’ve shown you can be trusted” (from the article “Trust
Me” by Roger Birkman).
A real life example:
Our team was at Winshape in Rome, GA with 14 other teams in a week
of teaming exercises. (Is it clear that this was about team?)
In one of the first assignments we were given, we were paired with
another team and tasked to get everyone across a challenging
obstacle course. My fellow team leader was a very competitive person
(high/high/high in Advantage), as were many of his teammates. I
(Larry) has a relatively low Advantage usual score, so I
concentrated my team’s efforts on getting us all across and not so
much on how fast we got across. The other team leader got across
first and was jumping up and down shouting, “I won! I won!” When the
rest of his team made it across they followed suit. To which the
instructor responded, “Your assignment was not to get across first,
but to get everyone in both teams across together.”
I learned, however, that my low Advantage usual style was
very frustrating to one team member who was very competitive and
needed to see more tangible rewards for his work. Since our
non-profit organization provides no opportunity for monetary rewards
or incentives, we had to find other creative ways to meet his high
Advantage need. In fact, we discovered that getting the team
together on a regular basis and playing competitive games helped to
meet some of that need. When we ran together, we ran all out. In
some of our “aerobic table games” we got pretty loud and boisterous,
elevating the competitive nature of the games as our scores ran
close.
Practical helps for coaching “Advantage”
Review the following pages in your Birkman reports:
STRENGTHS AND NEEDS GRAPH page 6 of 12 – Idealism and Realism
STRENGTHS AND NEEDS REPORT page 7 of 13 -- Advantage:
Idealism and Realism
GUIDE PAGE 4 of 5 - Agreeableness (Usual and Needs)
Some possible questions to ask when coaching on “Advantage”:
1. What are you learning about your tendency to be more team-minded
or more competitive?
2. How does this impact your ability to influence others and be
influenced by others?
3. How do these things affect your relationships and effectiveness
in your current team assignment?
4. Your work environment will not meet all of your personal needs
and expectations in every component area. What are other creative
ways you can see that your needs and expectations are met, thus
helping you to stay out of your stress behavior?
To contact Larry or Susan:
MyLEAD360@gmail.com
Mining the Birkman Components: Authority &
Freedom
By Gail Davis, GBB Trainer
Authority – Suggesting vs. Telling
The Birkman component called Authority, also defined
as the need to speak with authority, tells us a lot about a
person’s
preference for interacting with others. Authority is also
referred to as “verbal dominance” and indicates the degree to which
the person engages in persuasive interactions, speaks up, verbally
directs others and expresses opinions openly.
As I reference high and low scores from this point on, you may find
it helpful to look at the Birkman Needs Graph report to get a
sense of the low and high scores and what they reflect.
If you come to my house during Thanksgiving you will see a living
demonstration of how Authority works in family interactions
as we prepare for our Thanksgiving day feast. The people in my
extended family with high usual Authority scores are the
first ones directing all of the kitchen operations, while those with
lower usual scores carry out the orders! Speaking from the lower
usual score camp, it’s not that we can’t pull Thanksgiving off by
ourselves we simply never had the opportunity to do it without being
told what we need to do!
The Authority component addresses the way a person handles
such issues as cooperation, conflict management, listening skills,
openness to others’ ideas and how they delegate.
Low Usual scores reflect easy-going, low key, agreeable behavior,
and a tendency to engage in low key and non-aggressive interactions
with others about ideas. This person may have a tendency to give in
or disengage when stressed by those who are highly directive,
outspoken or who sound argumentative.
High Usual scores reflect persuasive, highly directive behavior, and
a preference for strong give and take about issues. When under
stress, a person with High Authority Need/Stress can become
argumentative and domineering if they sense that people just aren’t
listening or are disinterested in what they have to say. Under
stress they may become verbally competitive if or when they feel a
need to win the argument. Ironically, as much as this person loves
to be heard, their own listening skills may be poorly developed and
in need of sharpening.
How High Authority Need talks to a low Authority Need and
vice-versa
The kind of information that Birkman provides us with related
to each other’s needs gives us many opportunities to practice
bearing with one another in love (Col 3:13). Needs are like a love
language. When we learn to speak each other’s need language, people
feel respected, understood and yes, loved.
The Authority need provides us with an example of how that
works in day-to-day interactions. Here is how I have put this into
practice. I have learned that conversations can be much more
productive if I wait and listen while a co-worker is talking and
getting across their ideas. Interrupting them with questions,
observations or ideas is not so productive. That is what love sounds
like to a person with a high Authority need. Love stops
multi-tasking, makes eye contact and focuses on the message the
person with the high Authority need is trying to convey.
Here is what a request for love might sound like from a person with
a low Authority need: “Please relax and communicate that you
have time for me, even though I appear to be struggling. Please
understand that I am working through a variety of solutions.” Here
love asks questions like, “How can I help? What do you think needs
to be done? or What solution looks most promising?” Love doesn’t
tell me what to do, unless I ask for it. Love offers suggestions.
The Authority component can have a huge impact on how team
members or couples communicate and how they manage conflict. The
person with low Authority scores could likely be
uncomfortable in an environment where differences of opinion are
openly discussed. Lively discussions could sound a lot more like
arguments. Those with high Authority scores may be
uncomfortable when team members don’t speak up, they may not
understand why others are so quiet and hesitant to speak their mind
on such important issues!
Freedom – conventional vs. independent
Whereas the Authority component describes how free we are
with our words, the Freedom component describes how free we are in
our actions.
Birkman defines Freedom as how unconventional a person is in
outlook, and the degree of spontaneity in their life and work
situations. A person with High usual scores will be independent,
spontaneous and unconventional in their behavior. Whereas the person
with Low usual scores will be more socially constrained, consistent,
and prefer familiar, well established rules.
I direct the pre-field training program for One Mission Society.
Many of the missionaries we train have both high usual & need
Freedom scores. In fact, given the nature of missionary work some
would say it is a pre-requisite for service! It is true that
missionaries need to be willing to go where no one else may go and
do whatever God calls them to do. But they must also be willing to
submit themselves to the cultural norms where they’ll be serving. In
some ways the very characteristic that the missionary needs to get
them to the field is also the characteristic that makes it difficult
to make the cultural adjustments they need to make in order to “fit”
into the culture and the missionary team.
A person with a high Freedom need score is often individualistic in
their perspective, and need to initiate and act independently. They
are looking for opportunities to be independent, nonconforming, and
to be free from outside controls (real or perceived). A person with
a low Freedom need is looking for predictable environments, to be
informed, and for a certain degree of predictability in their
environment.
Here is what love sounds like to a person with a high Freedom need:
Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,
Don’t fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don’t fence me in.
Seriously, a person with a high Freedom need may look and sound
conforming, but remember that need will find a way to be expressed
some way, some how. The challenge comes when they try to work with
others who may have lower Freedom need scores – or those with
equally high Freedom need scores. In some work environments, they
can be perceived as rule-breakers or rebellious by people with lower
Freedom need scores.
Here again another opportunity to practice bearing with one another
in love. In some cases a person with a high Freedom need score will
have the opportunity to surrender their freedom for the good of the
group. In this case it helps to remember the incarnational model of
Christ (Philippians 2:3-7), when we are tempted to demand our own
way.
Combination Authority and Freedom Scores
There are many interesting observations to be made when you look at
the combination of a person’s Authority and Freedom
scores. Understanding this component combination can be critical
when working with teams. Healthy teams need to be comfortable
verbally challenging the old ways of doing things in order to create
new and improved methods. This means “extra grace may be required”
for some team members who may be comfortable with the status quo and
often unwilling to explore new options.
Teamwork takes patience, perseverance and requires some degree of
conformity and cooperation to accomplish great things. Our
independent and non-conforming ways need to be laid aside as we
willingly submit to one another out of reverence for Christ
(Ephesians 5:21), and the Authority and Freedom components
actually give great insights where we may need to prepare ourselves
to share in the team process with greater sensitivity to our
teammates and who they are.
Understanding The Two Most Relational Components: Esteem &
Acceptance
By Chet Ainsworth, GBB Trainer
(pictured with wife and GBB Trainer
Rochelle)
When
I am preparing for a GBB coaching meeting or call, these two
components are where I start. The reason is that the Esteem
and Acceptance components define how that person relates to
other people and immediately defines what is important to that
person in terms of relationships. From these, you know whether a
person prefers to work with groups of people, people one-on-one,
both, or neither. You also know their communication style: Are they
almost extremely direct or are they so concerned about a person’s
feelings that the message may be lost in tact and diplomacy? Of
course, there are middle grounds from these extremes. I asked to
write about these two because I have one very high score and one
very low score on these components. I have learned a great deal
about myself in studying them. I hope I get you excited about them
as well.
One of the most important rules in interpreting components is to
realize that each component is a continuum between extremes.
Esteem is a continuum between being Issue-centered or
person-centered. Acceptance is a continuum between preferring
to work alone or preferring to be part of a group. It is important
to understand both ends of each continuum.
Esteem – Issue
verses Person: “Sensitivity in Relating to Individuals”
Sometimes the Birkman name for a component only emphasizes
the high end of the continuum. Esteem is one of these. In the
Birkman Profile Summary, the description for Esteem is “relating
to individuals”. In the Dictionary of Components, the definition
reads, “Sensitivity in relating to individuals, the way the
individual prefers or needs to deal with close, personal, one on one
relational issues.” These descriptions do well for the high side of
the continuum but give a limited definition for the low end. People
with low Esteem scores are very matter of fact in
communication style. They convey information in a very frank and
forthright way without being primarily concerned for the feelings of
the person or persons receiving the information. Here are some of
the descriptions of high and low Esteem scores in the Usual
Style – that is, what people see and generally assume is the real
you:
Low Esteem score – Usual Style
Candid and matter-of-fact
Minimal self conscious feelings
Outspoken and non-evasive
Direct and straight forward
High Esteem score – Usual
Style
Willing to commit time to individuals
Sensitively aware of feelings
Initiates by suggestion
Careful and diplomatic in relationships
Thus, at the low end, we have people who
are very candid, straight-talking individuals who are much more
concerned about communicating the facts or information than being
concerned with the feelings of the person receiving the message. At
the high end, you have individuals so concerned about the feelings
of the receiver of the message that the message may be lost due to
tact and diplomacy.
At my house, we see these differences in action. My wife asks a
question that in her mind requires a “Yes” or “No” answer. I am so
tactful and indirect in answering her, she is not sure that I
answered her question. With her low Esteem score, she just
wanted the facts, please. With my high Esteem score, I didn’t want
to hurt her feelings.
Acceptance –
Alone vs. Group: “Relating to people in groups.”
As with Esteem, the component name Acceptance
emphasizes the high end of the continuum. In the Birkman Profile
Summary, the description for Acceptance is “relating to people
in groups”. In the Dictionary of Components, the definition reads
“Relating to people in groups--the way an individual relates to
others in groups or casual situations. The degree of participation
an individual prefers in work, teams, group and social setting.” In
this case stating the high end of the continuum does a good job of
suggesting the low end. An individual at the high end thrives on
being part of a group while a person at the low end of the continuum
likes to work alone or with a few persons he/she selects.
Here are some of the descriptions of high and low Acceptance
taken from Birkman literature:
Low Acceptance score – Usual Style
Works well on individual assignments
Self-directed, works well alone
Thinks and reasons independently
One-on-one communicator
Withstands group pressure
Selectively sociable
High Acceptance score – Usual
Style
Likes meeting people
Socially comfortable around most people
Communicative in groups
Enthusiastic about working on a team
Enjoys group discussion
Actively seeks group affiliations
This is another contrast that is seen in action at the Ainsworth
house. After church, my wife can visit with 20 people in five
minutes and everyone feels she cares. During the same time, I will
talk to one or two people who I know well and with whom I have
common interests.
Social
Acceptability and Normal Patterns
Usual Component scores. Our society values the
straight-talking factual approach of low Esteem (25-Usual
component score) though the majority of people actually need the
more tactful, sensitive, respectful approach of higher Esteem.
Seventy percent of people in American society are low in Esteem
in Usual Style, but are higher in Needs and Stress.
Our society values the group interaction of high Acceptance
(75-Usual component score), though most people actually need time
away from the group and social demands. Seventy percent in our
society are high Acceptance in Usual Style but lower in Need
and Stress.
Needs: what a persons requires
from his environment and fellow workers to support his Usual, most
effective style.
As we know, people’s Needs may be very different than their
Usual Style. One of the great contributions the Birkman Method makes
is recognizing this separation. Fortunately, from a learning
perspective, most of the Usual Style characteristics of Esteem
and Acceptance are repeated when we look at Needs, but
it is what the person now needs to support his Usual Style.
People with high Esteem needs, need to be
treated with the tact, diplomacy and respect. They need approval
from specific people who are important to them. They need the
one-on-one support.
People with low Esteem needs, need people to be
frank and candid with them. They want praise free of sentiment and
candor from superiors and associates. They want straight-forward
corrections and instructions. Low Esteem people tend to get
their feelings hurt less often because they don’t usually see
situations in personal terms.
People with high Acceptance needs, need interactions with people in
all areas of life, reassurance and affirmation from the group,
social status, to know lots of people, and opportunities to work in
teams. People with high Acceptance needs, do not like to work
alone. For them, no people is no fun.
People with low Acceptance needs, need
individual goals, a minimum of meetings and social overhead, and
opportunity to work alone or with a few people of their choosing.
Working independently is a high value. Constant contact with people
will seriously frustrate a low Acceptance person.
Stress:
unproductive behavior that a person engages in when his needs are
not met over a period of time.
The high Acceptance person depends on group approval.
When the person does not get it, they go into stress. They
can become bossy and pushy or begin to say what people want to hear.
They go from already talking a lot to talking too much. They tend to
cave to public opinion.
The low Acceptance person under stress withdraws and
is quiet in meetings. This person becomes impatient with group or
social demands and avoids casual contact with others. This person
then undervalues the group.
Conclusion
If you have a high Esteem and a high Acceptance
scores, you have a real people person on your hands. Give the person
a place to use their social gifts.
If you have a high Esteem and low Acceptance pattern,
you have a socially selective, very one-on-one relational person.
This person is also likely to be the independent thinker.
If you have a low Esteem and high Acceptance, you have
the energizer bunny. Give him or her a task to get done and it will
get done.
If you have a low Esteem and low Acceptance, you have
someone who values getting the job done “right” more than being part
of the social scene. Predictability and orderliness are their
highest values.
Knowing a person’s Esteem and Acceptance scores, or if
they are low or high in the graphs of the Strengths and Needs
Graph pages report, isn’t all you need to know about a person,
but they are some of the most fun parts.
Mining The
Birkman Components: Empathy & Change
By Ron Ward, GBB Trainer
Ron begins our series of six articles on
the Birkman Components, giving greater depth of understanding for
you, our Grip/Birkman coaches and Trainers. The Editor
Formerly known by Birkman as “Feelings,” the component now
called Empathy gives us a good view into our comfort level at
emotional expression and how we deal with feelings.
Birkman uses the Empathy component to measure our preference for:
• Logic (objective) versus Feeling (subjective)
• Practical (decisive) versus Creative Thought (imaginative)
• Control (cool and concentrative) versus Enthusiasm (warm and
expressive)
Low Usual scores for Empathy lean more toward a practical,
solution-oriented approach to tasks, and tend to be uncomfortable
around emotional behavior or issues. High Usual scores indicate
those who tend to be more approachable, expressive, and typically
good listeners, yet often feel “cold-shouldered” by those who seem
too practical to care.
Empathy scores often receive the “yep, that’s me” response,
especially for people in teams who have difficulty understanding one
another. One team member is so comfortable expressing emotions and
talking about them, while another gets very stressed when feelings
move out of the realm of what makes practical sense. And that same
team member who is so comfortable expressing emotion gets stressed
(and may start pouting) when they see another who only looks at the
facts and gives the impression that feelings are not important, only
the facts.
But both High and Low scores are important. If two people, one High
Empathy and one Low Empathy walk into the office and see the
maintenance man fall from a ladder and lose consciousness, the High
Empathy person will probably go to the injured man to see how he is
doing. The Low Empathy person will probably go call 911. Both are
needed. Both care. They just respond in different ways.
When under stress, a person with High Empathy Need/Stress can become
discouraged and may see the worst in a situation (even
unrealistically so), especially when thinking no one has considered
how feelings may be involved. A person with Low Empathy Need/Stress
can become too practical for their own good, exhibit a cold and
unfeeling nature, and may actually not care what others think.
Let’s look at the normal Empathy scoring pattern that Birkman sees
70% of the time. The average score for Empathy is Low Usual (25),
High Need and Stress (50). The other 30% are divided fairly equally
between all Low scores, all High scores, and the pattern of
High/Low/High called a reversal. Note just how low or high the
scores are, remembering that the greater the difference between
Usual and Need scores, the easier it is for that person to be
misunderstood. Why? When scores move toward opposite ends of the
Usual/Need spectrum, the Need is much less visible than what is seen
in their Usual behavior. Those having ALL Low or ALL High scores may
not understand very well how those in the 70% norm operate, or what
they need. They are not wrong, just different. They don’t see
through the same lenses. When working with groups and teams, this is
a helpful piece to look at when a team feels like they have someone
who doesn’t fit. Because we approach this biblically, “let’s see who
God brings for the purposes He intends,” we can take a positive,
helpful approach to exploring the opportunities for understanding
and growth. This approach can also be applied to two individuals, or
a married couple.
You may ask what the difference is between Empathy and Esteem. They
sound similar, and both components do measure sensitivity. The
difference is that Empathy looks at the expression of emotion and
the feelings involved, while Esteem views your level of sensitivity
and self-consciousness in relating to others. Understanding the
difference, it can be helpful to look at scores for both Empathy and
Esteem. It isn’t unusual to see Low Esteem/Empathy Usual scores and
High Esteem/Empathy Need scores.
Another component to compare with Empathy is Activity. This
combination helps look at a person’s competitiveness through the
lens of how important it is to WIN. A High Empathy Usual score
combined with Low Activity Usual will be more focused, thoughtful,
and patient, and will have a “let’s work together” approach.
For believers, we are instructed to care for and about others in the
body with the love of Christ. How does a person with very LOW
Empathy serve in ministry? Take a look at their gifting. Sometimes
there is a warm surprise in how the Holy Spirit works in and through
them. Imagine the gifts of Giving, Mercy, Helps, Wisdom, or
Discernment in a usually Low Empathy believer. It is not uncommon to
see a Low Empathy weep when sharing how God uses them in ways quite
different than their normal wiring.
Remember that a clear premise in Dr Birkman’s work is that we need
one another; it is important for us to discover how. We need people
with High Empathy that express their feelings in a healthy way. We
also need people with Low Empathy who, though they may actually care
a lot, are able to keep an important focus on the facts.
CHANGE
Formerly called “Restlessness,” the Change component shows our
preferences for how much variety we need both physically and
mentally, and how quickly we change focus. But note that Change does
not measure how we deal with organizational change; that is covered
in the component, Structure.
Birkman uses the Change component to measure our preference for:
• Focus (concentrative without interruption) versus Variety (invites
multiple new ideas)
• Patience (sees task through) versus Restlessness (multi-tasks)
• Flexibility versus Rigidity regarding change imposed from the
outside
Low Usual scores for Change usually indicate a more concentrative,
focused approach, and finishing what is started. To operate there,
however, opportunities for variety and novelty are important. High
Usual scores can multi-task, start new things easily, and respond to
change rather well (and higher scores actually invite or create
change).
The lower the Need score, the more important it is to have an
environment with less distractions or interruptions. The higher the
Need score, the more important it is to avoid anything boring. Under
Stress, lower scores will put the blinders on, hunker down, and not
want to change. Higher Stress scores will tend to get scattered,
distracted, and gradually or completely lose focus.
You might see how team dynamics can be affected by sudden changes in
strategic focus or direction, where some (High Usual) will have no
problem adjusting course, and others (Low Usual) may lose
perspective because they need some time to work through the
implications of what this change means.
The normal Change scoring pattern that Birkman sees 70% of the time
averages Low Usual (45), High Need and Stress (50). The other 30%
are divided fairly equally between all Low scores, all High scores,
and the pattern of High/Low/High reversal. Note particularly low or
high scores, remembering that the greater the difference between
Usual and Need scores, the easier it may be for that person to be
misunderstood. Scores toward opposite ends of the Usual/Need
spectrum make the Need much less visible than what is seen in their
Usual behavior. And, those with all Low or all High scores will very
likely misread how other teammates handle change. The implications
can significant for married couples, single roommates, a committee,
a task force, or team.
For example, let’s say a supervisor and a subordinate have very
different scores for Change. The supervisor is High Usual, and the
subordinate is Low Usual. Looking together at their respective
component reports:
The High Usual supervisor learns that the Low Usual subordinate:
-is more secure in the familiar
-prefers a predictable work environment
-works best with a defined task throughout the duration of the
project, and
-needs plenty of advance notice when a change is in the works
The Low Usual subordinate learns that the High Usual supervisor:
-actually enjoys introducing change
-operates well working on several project at the same time
-really needs an environment that breeds variety
The supervisor and subordinate work out adjustments to create
optimum work output.
Understanding how each person is wired is a step toward good,
healthy relationships in an effective work/team/strategy/ministry
environment.
As believers in groups, teams, friendships or marriage, we are
instructed in Scripture to be genuine in our love for one another,
to be devoted to one another in that genuine love, and to show honor
to one another above self (Rom 12:9-10). Paul is reflecting that we
have a holy obligation to one another in the body of Christ, and in
that way we belong to one another. Each person in the body of Christ
wants and needs to belong, even those who are wired very
differently. As we come to understand how each person is uniquely
formed, we can genuinely appreciate and affirm how His loving and
sovereign Hand has placed us together.
Leading the GBB Global Resource
Team into 2011
By
Steve Potter, new GRT Leader since mid-November
For
three days, November 10-12, the GBB Global Resource
Team (GRT), along with a number of experienced coaches and trainers,
met west of Chicago in St. Charles, Illinois. We were wonderfully
hosted by Dave Wetzler and ChurchSmart Resources. These folks came
together for the single purpose of thinking strategically about the
implications of the exponential growth in numbers of coaches and
trainers in the last 6 years, and the significant volume of
GBB reports being used in 28 countries within a vast array
of organizational settings and ministries. The meeting resulted in
a number of initiatives which we will be undertaking in the next
12-18 months. I will speak to those initiatives a little later in
this month’s article.
First, I will take a minute to recognize Hal Burke as he steps back from leading the GRT. In Chicago, we celebrated his leadership through a time of significant growth for the GBB and its practitioners who grew from a hand full to more than 215. Hal has been a trainer and mentor in the use of GBB since the early pioneering days and a personal friend for those of us lucky enough to know him well. His experience and passion for coaching will not leave the team since Hal has agreed to continue providing support for trainers and GBB Coaches Training. I personally have been honored to be a part of the GRT under his leadership. Thanks Hal.
My background. Next, since only a hand full of the GBB Coaches and Trainers know me, I would like to share some of who I am as the new leader for the GRT. I am married to Marilyn, an awesome woman who has followed me around the world for 40 years, and through three career transitions. We have two children. Our oldest, Adrienne lives in the Knoxville, TN area with her family, and our son Steve and his family live in Bradenton, FL two miles from our home. I served 25 years in the Marine Corps, retiring as a Lt Col, and next spent 14 years in a second career as a manager at Tropicana Products in Bradenton, FL where we have finally settled down. Since taking early retirement from Tropicana, I been employed by the Gulf Central District of the United Methodist Church to coach pastors and churches through personal and corporate transformation.
My passion is the health of the local church, a burden that became clear to me when I started coaching local churches using Natural Church Development (NCD) process. In 2004, I began my relationship with ChurchSmart and Dave Wetzler, when he came to Florida to train NCD coaches in the process of using the NCD survey as a tool for transforming churches. My background as a Marine officer and corporate leader brings experience to the coaching of leaders which turns out to be an important skill for coaching churches through a process of change. In 2006, I met Paul Ford at the ChurchSmart Gathering in Largo, FL and later that year took GBB Coaches Training with Hal and Paul Ford, who was validating Hal as a trainer. Since then, I have been using the GBB to coach leaders in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. In July this year, I became a GBB Trainer.
My
vision.
I volunteered to take the role of GRT leader because I believe in
this extraordinary tool and our amazing coaches and trainers. I
feel strongly about maintaining the quality of Grip/Birkman
coaching, the training we deliver, and the next generation of
leaders whom we are called to build. They bring a new perspective
and energy to ministries like the one supporting the GBB,
and must be brought into the process of making ministry reach future
generations. I also have a sense of moving forward into that future
where the GBB will expand its Kingdom impact by
increasingly ministry leaders’ experience of personal transformation
and learn the power of Body Life for their ministry teams.
Our work in 2011. The meeting in Chicago was all about that future. The church worldwide needs more, transformed and younger leaders to tackle the exciting challenges of the future. The value of the Grip/Birkman Blueprint and the training materials for coaching leaders and teams will meet those needs. Quality is expected by the next generation. Connection to them will be through the quality of the GBB processes.
Because coaches and trainers spend considerable time and money renewing their license to coach the GBB and to complete recertification as coaches or trainers every three years, the GRT must be committed to adding ever-increasing value in response to those efforts through quality improvements.
Much of the work in the next year will be to increase the value proposition of being coaches and trainers, and to make GBB ready for the next generation of coaches through a focus on the quality of materials and language connecting with them. Some of the action steps planned are:
· Refinements to our Churchteams.com database
· Development of national and international user groups, hopefully to provide care alongside
· Development of a ‘Trainers 101 Guide’ based on Hal’s checklist
· Capacity for doing Level I Birkman Certification for GBB’s trainers-to-be or master coaches
· Revisions on GBB re-certification options based on the experiences of the last year
· A “Toolkit for Coaches” for new coaches, possibly with a promotional packet to help jump start their coaching after they are trained
· Continued research that so far is validating the power of Your Leadership Grip part of GBB
· A Coaches Covenant based on the values we hold as coaches and trainers collectively
As you can see from the results of our time in Chicago, we collectively thought through many issues leading to much needing to be done in the next 12-18 months. So much has been accomplished to grow the use of the GBB in the last six years, and the growth in processes and impact continues. The GRT has been actively improving the delivery of training and developing value for coaches and trainers, and know that we are not going to let past success slow future progress.
I also hoped to give you a glimpse of who I am since few of you know me personally. Please know that I welcome any and all communications from coaches and trainers on any subject or need. You can contact me at stevepotter1@me.com or on my cell phone 941-737-4166. I look forward to hearing from you.
Peace
to you,
Steve Potter
GRT Lead Team Member
Questions 1-7, answered in the last two month Coaches Report (now in the Coaches Report Archive):
1. What’s the difference between spiritual gifts and natural talents?
2. How do I discover what my Spiritual Gifts are? What the process by which I can know for sure what they are?
3. How many Spiritual Gifts will I have? More than one? More than five?
4. How are my Spiritual Gifts confirmed?
5. What does it mean in action to “use my spiritual gifts?”
6. What are the purposes of Equipping gifts and Supporting gifts? What if I have a combination of equipping and supporting gifts?
7. What if I appear to have two or more Gifts of similar strength?
Here are questions 8 through 10, our last set of key questions:
8. What is the source of the “gift characteristics” descriptions? (Paul)
When developing the original Heights Spiritual Gifts Survey at Heights Cumberland Presbyterian Church, in those days an evangelical church open to all spiritual gifts, I recruited a team of five with a broad variance of gifting among us. We then found ten people with each spiritual gift and asked them to develop ten statements that described how this gift worked in them. Then, using the biblical understanding of each specific spiritual gift as our starting point, we selected the five best statements or questions from the 100 descriptive statements gathered – of course finding significant overlap in those descriptive statements – making made our job much easier. Then we built the questionnaire, using those five statements for each spiritual gift: three “experience” statements (i.e. “when I use this gift, this is my experience...”) and two “ministry want to” statements” (i.e. “I want to see this happen or invest in people this way). Since most spiritual gifts surveys are built ONLY on ministry experience questions (the first three), the last two “ministry want to” statements in the Heights Spiritual Gifts Questionnaire have proven to make our survey more comprehensive for people who may not yet have used all of their spiritual gifts.
What is the source of my “gift liabilities”? Where do these
descriptions come from?
Similarly, as I worked with the Spiritual Gifts descriptions and used them with churches and small groups over the last 20 years, the “liabilities” or down-sides of each gift became more evident and patterned. The liabilities are often no more than the downside of one the powerful strengths of the gift: pride growing in one with the gift of teaching who begins to think he/she is always right in teaching the Word. One person has described “liabilities” as attempting to use one’s gifts in the strength of the flesh rather than the power of the Spirit; or when motivated by anything other than the power of the Spirit. For example, the liability of the gift of discernment of Spirits is a critical spirit—the tendency to see the negative dimension of insight to another person and their situation.
9. Does the power of my Spiritual Gift(s) increase with my spiritual maturity? (Steve)
It does seem that the exercise and effectiveness of Spiritual Gifts increase with increased spiritual maturity. With greater maturity comes greater perspective, broader and deeper experience, and wisdom from years of ministry, which contributes to greater insight and understanding into human and spiritual behavior. Believers gifted with healing prayer, for example, learn that some cases are only delivered by extended prayer and even fasting. Believers gifted in deliverance gain insights into how to approach the person and sensitive ways to phrase questions of the person and the most effective ways to speak to the Spirit in intercession through extended study of Scripture, and spiritual experience with evil spirits in multiple situations over years.
10. In summary, what are the clearest distinctions between natural abilities (natural wiring) and spiritual gifts (spiritual wiring)? (Steve & Paul)
|
Natural Abilities/Talent |
Spiritual Gifts/wiring |
|
Given at birth/Psalm 139:13-14, often inherited from parents |
Given at conversion; not inherited; received through filling of the Spirit |
|
Given to all humans, created in the image of God; common grace |
A gift of grace to all believers for purposes of ministering in and out of the Body of Christ with supernatural power, but may not emerge until they engage in Body ministry |
|
God creates each human being with a unique combination of natural abilities—e.g. musical, artistic, mechanical, literary, etc. |
Where the power of the Holy Spirit rises up in believers to make them spiritually effective in the body of Christ |
|
Can be used to achieve evil purposes |
Cannot be used to achieve evil purposes, though the exercise of gifts can be distorted because of our sin, unresolved personal issues, or seeking to enact a gift in our own strength, creating “gift liabilities.” Primarily to serve as a channel for the love and purposes of God. |
Several brief, concluding distinctions in terminology:
Christian roles: Spiritual gifts are not the same as a Christian duty, role or office in the Church
Situational gifts: Any Christian open to the Holy Spirit may be used by God in an unusual or unique way in a particular situation—which may only be temporary or “one-time” and different from the way in which God normally works through us. Situational gifts are for the moment and situation (thus so-called “situational” term used by many Pentecostals); cannot be developed like long-term gifts.
Steve Hoke with Paul Ford, CRM 4.9.10; 9.22-24.10
Questions 1-3, answered last month Coaches Report (now in the Coaches Report Archive):
1. What’s the difference between spiritual gifts and natural talents?
2. How do I discover what my Spiritual Gifts are? What the process by which I can know for sure what they are?
3.
How many Spiritual Gifts will I have? More than one? More than
five?
4.
How are my Spiritual Gifts confirmed?
Even though the Apostle Paul is the primary New Testament author to list and describe Spiritual Gifts, nowhere does he provide steps for discerning or confirming one’s Spiritual Gifts. Any insight for the discovery and confirmation of Spiritual Gifs must be discerned by the context of Paul’s teaching and from the gathered wisdom of mature Christians who have experience in the use of Spiritual Gifts in local churches. Mature Christian teachers and pastors have suggested the following observations on how Spiritual Gifts are confirmed.
First, while there is no definitive test in Scripture for whether a person has a particular Spiritual Gift, the context of multiple newly planted churches in the first century suggests that, as in the case of Barnabas in both Jerusalem and Antioch, gifts are readily recognized by believers in the Body, i.e. they readily recognize supernatural effectiveness in the lives of other believers. Joseph’s giftedness was recognized by the Jerusalem believers--his gift of positive encouragement was so evident and powerful, they changed his name and nicknamed him Barnabas—“son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36-37).
Confirmation of the Body. Gifts are most often confirmed by the witness and verbal affirmation of other believers who have seen you minister powerfully. Not just one, but multiple people in the Jerusalem church personally experienced the impact of Barnabas’ infectious spirit, his generosity, his availability, and his continual verbal encouragement. They confirmed Barnabas’ gifting by changing his name to match his gifted behavior—he was a gifted encourager—a “body builder extra-ordinaire.”
Fruit. Second, gifts are confirmed by their impact, the fruit of using your specific gifts. When a person repeatedly exercises a particular supernatural enablement in a particular community of faith, it be comes increasingly evident and expected that the person has been gifted with that gift. With Barnabas, his initial generosity and affirmation of young believers in the Jerusalem Church made him their natural choice to represent the apostles to the newly exploding church in Antioch, and they made him their ambassador to travel north to see what God was doing (Acts 11:22-23).
Power. Third, gifts are also confirmed by the Spirit’s continued outpouring of his power into them as they rely on His spiritual energy to minster to others. Dr. Luke is careful to describe the source of Barnabas’ continued effectiveness: “He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord” (Acts 11:24). It was Barnabas’ character (maturing intimacy with God and filling of the Spirit) and spiritual power that brought fruit and joy in the Antioch church!
Joy. Fourth, gifts are confirmed by the most common by-product of using them: joy. Not only is joy the root word of spiritual gift (char the root of charisma) but it the normative response when you use your gifts. When a Christian says “I am not experiencing any joy in my ministry any more...” usually the reason tracks back to their not using their spiritual gifts.
It does happen that supernatural power is given to individuals for one-time-only use. But more often, a particular spiritual gift is given for repeated use, over time, in multiple settings, for the purpose of bringing glory to God by the exercise of that gift in the body.
5. What does it mean in action to “use my spiritual gifts?”
When we encourage people
to use their spiritual gifts, we suggest a very practical model
called the 65-35 Principle. 
Since each of us are
called to use our spiritual gifts – and even to steward each gift (I
Peter 4:10) – would it now follow suit that doing so means to use
our gifts with significantly more than half our time? Thus, we
suggest that to use your gifts is to spend at least 65%
of your time serving through your spiritual gifts. That would mean
intentional, healthy, plain old good stewardship of your powerful
gifts, which both extends body life and gives glory to God (again 1
Peter 4:10-11). Some might use 70% or even 80% here - some pick a
higher number than our 65% because they believe stewardship should
mean even more usage of gifts.
But all of us will indeed spend time in areas where we are not gifted, not powerful in the Spirit to serve – which is represented by 35% of our time. This side of Heaven, that will always be true. All of us will spend time in areas where we are not gifted, but where there is need for a certain function to be covered and no one nearby is gifted to do it. I (Paul) have two or there others around me who have administrative gifts and help me greatly in that area, but I still spend 25-30% of my time doing administrative function because I work with so many clients and create so many new things. I will never be powerful in that area, but, for the sake of the Kingdom, I will spend a limited in that area when no one else can cover.
The problem for many believers, though, is that they are spending 70% of their time in the 35% area – that is, where they are not gifted. Problem #1? This is poor stewardship of body life ministry, where I am apparently trying to play someone else’s body life part. When I step back and practice the 65-35 principle and say “no” to areas where others are powerful and I am not, more players in the body are released and I am less likely to block the door for them to play their part. Problem 2? I am limiting the power, fruit, and joy in my ministry by playing parts designed for others in the body! Period. Chew on that one for while.
We are rabid in our
encouragement that every believer fulfill their 65-35 body life
role, focusing more and more ministry where each of us is powerful,
fruitful, and joyful, and releasing other areas of service to those
who are dynamically prepared to play their parts.
6. What are the purposes of Equipping gifts and Supporting gifts?
The purpose of every Spiritual Gifts is to serve, build up and extend the body of Christ, with each one playing his or her part. Each of us has the privilege make a fruitful and joyful spiritual contribution to body life of their congregation through the exercise of a cluster of Spiritual Gifts with which they will minister with spiritual power. In time, that cluster becomes clearer and clearer as you seek to be a good steward of your gifts. Likewise, the areas in which you are not gifted also become clearer and clearer.
As we look at the nature of each Spiritual Gifts, we have chosen to take an approach in our process that identifies the functionality of each gift. That is, when you use one of your gifts, what happens? How does the power work? Following 1 Peter 4:11, we give you our simple model for how gifts function.
We see Equipping Spiritual Gifts as being powerful with your words. If one’s gift or gifts equip, train, prepare or mend others in or beyond the body of Christ, their power is usually found in their words. Exhortation, evangelism, leadership, pastoring, prophesy, teaching and words of wisdom or knowledge all show this to be true. This gifted person says, “If you want to see my gifts, listen to my words.”
We also experience Supporting Gifts as being powerful in one’s actions. If your gift or gifts focus on serving or supporting the ministry or gifts of others, as do administration, giving, helps, mercy, and service, your power will be observed in your actions. This person says, “If you want to see my gifts, then watch my actions. The actions will speak for themselves!”
“If anyone speaks, he/she should speak as if speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he/she should do it with the strength that God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Christ Jesus. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.” 1 Peter 4:11
7.
What if I appear to have two or more Gifts of similar strength?
We suggest that most people have two, three or four primary spiritual gifts for a lifetime, given for purpose of body life stewardship. Not uncommonly people have one gift that is their strongest, or a gift combination of two that are their strongest (pastor-teacher, as in Ephesians 4:11)
Our greatest desire, though, is that you come to deeper understanding of your whole set of those primary gifts. Most of us function in a “giftedness mix,” or what we call “gift mooshing,” an integrated cluster that is rather seamless as you exercise them. We often think that we chose to use each of our individual spiritual gifts whenever we want to. Consider this other strategic possibility: the Spirit accesses any part of our primary gifts and mooshes them to meet whatever is the ministry need. We contend that the Spirit actually combines all of our gifts and uses them to His purposes of encouraging, mending, building, or extending the Kingdom.
For example, I (Steve) am an “encouraging –teacher” who likes to organize learning systems for the Body and give them away. That is my particular “moosh” of the gifts of teaching, encouragement, leadership and giving. My wife Eloise is an encouraging and discerning evangelist, who knows when and how to zero in on people with needs using her gift moosh of encouragement, evangelism and discernment.
Paul’s wife Julie has two primary gifts, which adapt according to the need every time. If training others or encouraging is needed, her exhortation gift rises up. If the need is serving or supporting a ministry or another’s gifts, she adapts to helps readily. Which is her stronger gift? To her, it does not matter, as she “fits to need.”
We are finding it helpful in teambuilding workshops as well as in GBB Coaches Training to give participants time to experiment with combining or mooshing their unique traits in each of the three corners, into one-phrase descriptions of their unique Spiritual Gifts, their Team Styles and their Functions. We ask people to put a sentence together – using some combination of their Spiritual Gifts, Team Styles, and Primary Functions – that best describes how they see their gifts functioning in tandem (the moosh). Paul, for example, says that he is a prophetic, vision-sharing encouraging who lives to be an equipping-releasing, let’s go people engineer.
We do this so that people can identify how they function powerfully, and focus less on what’s #1, #2 or #3, etc.
Cartoon images: Copyright 2004, 1995 Ed Koehler and Christianity
Today International. Used with permission
Organizational Development is an overused term currently. It’s
almost become a type of buzz word, dancing through organizational
lingo like “organizational effectiveness,” “employee engagement,”
and even “talent management.” Organizational Development [OD] is a
specific process, defined by Anderson as “...the process of
increasing organizational effectiveness and facilitating personal
and organizational change through the use of interventions driven by
social and behavioral science knowledge.” This young process
(developed and defined in the late sixties) is one based upon action
research, or a discovery process of on-going research within the
specified organization. Many of the principles of OD fall directly
inline with that of the Grip-Birkman Coaching core beliefs.
In Organizational Development, the consultant is not an expert in
the industry, rather an expert in the process and in change. The
primary method of discovery comes through effective question asking.
The OD professional believes at his or her core, each person of the
organization has a desire to positively contribute. “Fit” is a key
word in OD, and organizational alignment becomes without question
one of the greatest pursuits of the OD professional.
The following is known as the Galbraith Star, developed by Jay
Galbraith, one of the leading organizational design experts.
In evaluating each of these aspects as they relate to the
Grip Birkman Blueprint, we can discover with greater clarity, how
organizational development might go hand-in-hand with organizational
development.
People – God’s plan is relationships, and God’s plan is organic. If that is true, by using the Grip-Birkman, we are given the most profound “cheat-sheet” on each person to discover about their unique supernatural gifting and their natural desired outcome (LifeStyle Grid asterisk). We can also understand their most effective style, as well as have a tool to help us identify their underlying needs.
Rewards – By evaluating two things in the Grip-Birkman, we can gain a clearer picture as to how to reward individuals based upon their unique, natural part of their design. The Birkman “Advantage” component as well as understanding a person’s Areas of Interest give us great insights into how to maximize a person’s full potential by shaping our rewards to fit their unique aspects. As an organization, we must also be very aware of what we indirectly reward or punish, as this is a primary source of organizational cultures.
Process – By grasping the Birkman components of Structure, Change, Freedom, Thought, Activity, and Acceptance, we can begin to identify why processes are in place. When we evaluate the leadership putting the processes into place under this microscope, we can potentially identify why conflicts may occur. We also have then the opportunity to see potential gaps or stressors based upon the given system. From the Birkman LifeStyle Grid, an important aspect to evaluate is the directional movement from the diamond (Usual Style) to the Circle/Square (Needs/Stress). This would show us what needs to take place for the leader to be most effective, also allowing us to evaluate how those needs are being met by the processes which are in place.
Structure component – Structure here is defined as the roles, responsibilities, and relationships among functions. This means that grasping the core of relationships defines how we are willing to interact. Evaluating Birkman components of Esteem, Acceptance, and Challenge will give us greater depth of understanding. This understanding will allow us to see if there is true misalignment, or perhaps simply frustration due to failed relationship. In addition, this is a true opportunity to address the supernatural need areas based upon the Team Styles and Primary Functions.
Strategy component – Strategy is organic, or relationship and people based. Therefore, for us to understand the direction of the organization or the long-term vision, we must closely evaluate who God has given us. This can be done through our gifting, our usual style/diamon from the Lifestyle Grid, and even our Organizational Focus. Once evaluated, we are able to begin the discussion of what strategy suits the organic nature of who God has given to us.
Organizational Development is a process of discovery, feedback, process development, intervention, evaluation… and then do it all over again. Its goal is to create effective systems and organizations, while keeping the individual as central to the process. The Grip-Birkman can be a very powerful tool for this to happen in many organizations. It may not always be the answer, but through proper diagnosis and discovery, God may clearly guide to utilize some of these aspects in your next opportunity to use the Grip-Birkman.
I recently had the
pleasure of completing my Grip/Birkman coaches training. Paul
Ford came out to the Pacific Northwest, and he and two Southern
Baptist Convention men, and I spent four days discovering who we
naturally are, how the Holy Spirit moves powerfully within us, and
how we can help other people discover these same things for
themselves. Plus my favorite part, how in doing so, we can bring
truth and life to humanity as we invite people to engage more fully
in Kingdom living with God through this process.
I have to admit I was unsure of what to expect from this training. I
knew I wanted to do it. I knew that I had experienced so many “Aha!”
moments when GBB Trainer Hal Burke had taken my team in South
Africa through the process last year that I had to somehow become a
part of this organization. I needed to have access to these tools so
that I could extend the same freedom and grace that comes from
understanding [and affirming!] who you really are to other people
struggling like I had been.
What I didn’t realize is that I would be deeply affirmed for who
I am. As a woman with a specific calling from God to serve in
mission – inviting people to deeper and deeper experiences of His
Kingdom on earth – I’ve had what at times has felt like an uphill
battle. Other strong-willed women can probably relate to my
experiences, i.e., ministry has been a man’s world for hundreds of
years.
So what do we do when our spiritual gifts move us from a non-direct
blue into a super direct red? What do we do when our gifts end up
being those of a visionary leader? A role over-prized by men, and
yet frequently kept only for them. Then you have my brother Rick
Derby, one of the amazing pastors I had the pleasure of being in
training with. His heart for people, his concern for individual
needs, his gifts of service, helps, mercy, and especially pastoring
give him the affect of a shepherd any person could trust. Yet he has
felt so much pressure for not being the “man with the plan.” I have
been like Deborah [Judges] and he has been like Stephen [Acts] and
our traditions would rather we were Mary and Paul.
I think my favorite part of this experience was each individual
personal revelation. Matthew Young, another coach in training with
us, seemed surprised that his interests lay in the outdoors,
science, mechanics, and art… and then he told us of the pergola he
built outside. Since we are Facebook friends now I happen to know
it’s a beautiful piece of art in addition to being mechanical,
outdoors, and needing science in order to accomplish it. I look
forward to someday hearing if he has the wisdom gift, one he had not
considered, that we that discussed as well.
At the end of our time together I think we had a newfound respect
not only for ourselves, but also each other, this process, and what
God may have in store for the people entrusted to us. I’m so
appreciative I’ve had the opportunity to take this first step into
the Grip/Birkman organization [organism?], and look forward
to many more.
Evangelical Congregational Church Denomination:
154 churches concentrated in PA, but spread from New Jersey to
Illinois. On any given Sunday morning we will have about 10,000 in
worship in these churches.
Within the Evangelical Congregational Church we are in the beginning stages of using the Grip/Birkman Blueprint. Our intent is to use it as a basis for leadership development and pastoral deployment. To begin to see this happen, we have asked all of our people who are involved with pastoral assessment, pastoral credentialing, and pastoral assignment do a component level GBB and participate in a two hour debriefing as a group of about thirty five.
We have decided to have all prospective pastors do a base level GBB before entering into the assessment process. The assessment process is a four-day interactive experience with a team of assessors. We will build into the four days time to coach the prospective pastors through their report. For those who assess well and will be deployed as assigned pastors, we will order a component level report.
Our purpose is two-fold. We will build the concept of self-assessment through the GBB into the DNA of our denomination as we introduce it to all incoming pastors. We will also have another tool in our hands as we seek to deploy pastors to churches in the best possible way to energize both pastors and churches.
The concept of self-assessment will be followed up as we build “Baseline Coaching” into our DNA. Our goal is to see everyone who is willing to “fit and flourish” in ministry. The GBB gives us a starting point whereby to begin the lifelong coaching process that will facilitate this goal.
In doing pastoral deployment, we work by a somewhat modified system of “stationing.” A Stationing Committee matches up pastors and churches according to what we know of each. We then seek first the pastor’s willingness to interview at a church and then that church’s willingness to interview that particular pastor. We have developed some tools whereby we can understand both pastors and churches. It seems to be in everyone’s best interest to do this well. The GBB will be a valuable addition to our “toolbox” as we seek to know our pastors as well as we can.
To date we have six trained GBB coaches. We hope to expand this base as we corporately realize the value of a coaching model built on the Grip/Birkman Blueprint.
Mark, a GBB Coach and Certified Lay Pastor, is the
Director of Outreach and Discipleship in the church referenced
below,
Editor’s note: this is the first successful lay mobilizing model
developed that utilizes the Grip/Birkman Blueprint
At First Presbyterian Church in Minot, North Dakota we have equipped
50 laypersons to date using the Grip/Birkman Blueprint model
through five classes over the past two years or so. We have done our
mobilizing process using several
formats, the best being to meet on back-to-back weekends. We meet
7-10 p.m. on Friday night, from 9 to 4 on Saturday; we follow the
same agenda the following weekend. Since we have four coaches (two
couples) we are able to divide up the training (couples alternating
sections), which always allows two of us to listen for opportunities
to add additional clarification or insight. We also advertise it as
one of our foundational small group offerings to people in our new
member’s class.
When we interview people who have completed the GBB training
we do a lot of affirming, listening, and encouraging. We listen and
watch where the Holy Spirit is working in a person’s life. We ask
what where the most important things that they took away from the
process. We give them plenty of time to really connect with what the
Spirit is doing in their heart. We probe a little deeper into every
area they mention trying to draw out from the depths of their heart
– using that same affirming, listening, and encouraging model. In
the last part of the interview, we ask they if they have a ministry
burden or passion that they feel they must do, start, or wish be a
part of. From there we have a pretty good picture of how they have
been shaped and bent by God and where they might fit into ministry.
We offer at least 5 possible areas of ministry that might fit who
God has made them to be. We ask them to give the consideration time
for prayer and thought, to really let it resonate in their heart.
We primarily use the Base Level GBB instead of the
Component Level GBB so that participants are not scared away by
cost. After they find out the value of the assessments, many pay the
additional cost to get an upgrade to the GBB Component Level.
I personally find the Primary Leadership Function piece from
the Leadership Grip most helpful for me – it helps me define
what role God has designed for this individual as it relates to the
big picture. An example might be in what ministry opportunity will
this Active Listener have the biggest impact base on his/her
passions? I find the need (invisible)/stress (visible) combination
to be one of the most helpful pieces from the Birkman Foursome.
Knowing this about the people I value and team together with helps
me with greater awareness of my and their needs so that I can be
more proactive in my relationships.
The value in releasing people to their God-ordained callings could
never be fully calculated – I love watching the Holy Spirit grab
hold of people! Recently we released a dear brother to facilitate
our Financial Peace University Classes. Everything from his
Birkman Foursome, Your Leadership Grip, and Ministry
Burden/Passion pointed to this being tailor made for him to step
into. The result – many people are being set free in their finances!
Introduction to Primary Functions of Stewardship in Detail Chart
(Read
It Here)
By John Blake
People
all define and describe the Primary Functions of Stewardship
a little different. According to Tim Roehl, it is “How God stewards
my gifts to accomplish His Kingdom purposes.” Paul Ford says it as
“How I steward my part in the Body of
Christ.” I tend to explain it as more of our outward expression of
our gift combination. All of us are right. It’s all true; which is
partially what led us to the necessity of further unpacking this
powerful third angle of the Gifts Triangle.
As Steve Hoke, Paul Ford, and I sat around a table, sketching on a flip-chart each of the Primary Functions, the depth hit me in a whole new way. This significance hit me for a variety of reasons:
(1) For the next generation, who struggle for clear role definition in life and ministry, this equates our supernatural gifting into a functional language. How I function powerfully serves as the accurate and appropriate counter-piece to being defined by a role;
(2) The Primary Functions of Stewardship shows us powerfully the embodied function of our gift combination, or gift “mooshing”; it becomes a simplified descriptor of the Body Life ligament action we get to embrace (Ephesians 4:13-16); and....
(3) The Primary Functions of Stewardship challenges us in a new way to embrace our upfront or alongside role in the Body as well as gain further clarity on who we need. All of these contribute to the necessity of greater understanding, coaching, and teaching through this stewardship corner of the Gifts Triangle.
Through this added sheet of information regarding the “Role or Function”—the underlying “Motivation,” and the “Indicators of Functions Fulfilled,” we hope to create a greater clarity and depth to your current understanding of the Primary Functions. If you attend a Coaches Recertification event this year, you will have added teaching on additional specific uses of this chart and the Primary Functions’ depth. Though not all of this may resonate strongly with you, our prayer is that as you wade through this new information, nuggets of truth with be discovered, owned, and passed on in you coaching, teambuilding, and living out of your own Primary Functions of Stewardship.
Retaining
the “Glocal” Dimension of the “I” to “We” to “They” Paradigm
By
How many of
us, while working with local churches or ministry teams here or in
other countries, have seen churches
committed to obedient outreach but missing the mark because their
understanding of the DNA of the missional church was off by a
component or two?
To put it more practically, why are we GBB Coaches helping
individuals and teams understand and steward who they are? Let me
remind all of us of the big picture to which God has called us as we
continue to coach and train stewardship in the “I” and the “WE”
while utilizing the Grip/Birkman Blueprint.
Going Glocal is moving from “I” to “We” to “They”
Former associate pastor of The Church on Brady (now Mosaic), and
current Church-mission consultant Carol Davis coined the term
“glocal” in 2000 to connect the two inseparable biblical spheres of
church outreach—the local and the global. Now Pastor Gene Wood has
captured that same biblical, holistic integration in his book, Going
Glocal. It is a marvelous coalescing of different perspectives and
paradigms into one shared framework.
“Glocal” is a word that fits nicely into the “I” to “We” to “They”
progression that ChurchSmart and the NCD (Natural Church
Development) paradigm have adopted. It’s a single word that reminds
us that the two dimensions of local and global are organically and
relationally linked; too often we have failed to see that. That has
allowed us to go off on tangents because we thought “our passion”
was the most important.
Recapping the 3-step progression. The Grip/Birkman
Blueprint is a critical tool linked with a coaching process that
enables us to expand people’s awareness of their own Spiritual
Gifts, to see how those Gifts play out on a particular team setting,
and how those Gifts are the divine compulsion for the particular
Equipping Function in the Body that each person contributes.
Paul uses the term, “the Stewardship Three-Step” to describe the
process by which people realize how their “I” fits into the “We” of
teams and groups in the Body of Christ, and leaders then relate to
“groups of we.” That’s three steps into a more organic understanding
of oneself and one’s gifting in the Body of Christ. This tool is
fundamental to helping people see their role and ministry identity
in the first two steps of the “I” to “We” progression.
Next, Paul’s book, Knocking Over the Leadership Ladder, brings to us
a discussion of how seven specific cultural values lock us into
cultural prison that has kept us from seeing the freedom found only
in the Body Life Design Team model. Paul traces how the values of
narcissism, entitlement, dissatisfaction, sarcasm, the “ladder
mentality,” rebellion glorified, and blame become road blocks to the
relational growth and maturity the Spirit wants to bring in every
church.
Re-Framing the Third Step. Thus the “I” to “We/groups of WE”
then adds the “They” framework, which plugs individuals into teams
and groups in the Body of Christ, and then links them to the
“they”—those people currently beyond the reach of God’s tender
mercies, whether local or global. As no other church growth or
missional church paradigm has done to this date, this new three-step
progression helps North American churches realize it is the biblical
DNA from which all subsequent growth extends naturally. Without all
three, any model of missional church or growth is flawed.
Seeing the Big Picture
The “apostolic genius” (to use Alan Hirsch’s term) of the Church is
that God has gifted each Body to be out-reaching locally and
globally from the very outset. He has given specific gifts to
accomplish that glocal ministry from its birth. That is why it is so
vital that every member know and embrace their gifted strength as
well as their weakness—the people with the gifts they need to
function effectively on the Body of Christ. No one person has to or
can do it all. The local ministry advocate needs the gifting and
insight of the global champion to be fully balanced and effective.
At the same time, the global missions champion needs to see how they
need the gifting and passion of the local enthusiasts for the
outreach of the church to be truly biblical and balanced.
So, what’s the point of this discussion? Simply to remind us who are
GBB coaches and Trainers to keep “the main the main thing.” Always
point to the “Big Picture.” Don’t forget that helping people
discover their ministry identity by moving from “I” to “We” is only
the first two steps. The journey stretches to the nations.
• Clarity on giftedness and role is to help believers discover their
place in the Body Life Design Team.
• Clarity on Team Styles and Equipping Functions enables believers
to begin making a supernatural contribution in the vitality of the
Body.
• As the “I’s” become “WE’s,” body life takes its next powerful step
to wider, deeper impact
There is even greater impact to be had from this point! Significance
of “I” to “We” is ultimately realized when every church or ministry
takes its responsibility seriously to mobilize its members in glocal
ministry so that disciples are made among every people group. Tom
Clegg of CoachNet and author of Lost in America, says it succinctly:
“The “I” and the “We” is for the sake of the “They.”
The Global Resource Team Looks Toward a New Year, A New Decade
By Hal Burke, Team Leader
Some
Some GRT member referenced in article (left to right):
Hal, John, & Steve (Hoke) in back row, and Lois in front right (with
coach Lisa Womble)
In anticipation of a New
Year and decade, I asked the members of the Global Resource Team to
share some of their dreams and goals.
Here is just a small sampling of the care and creativity of
this wonderful group of men and women committed to resourcing you,
our coaches and trainers.
Bruce Lininger
(Albuquerque, NM) states “We cannot impart what we do not possess so
I will be guiding our team to utilize aspects of the team building
principles (we teach) on our bi-monthly calls.”
Steve Potter
(Bradenton, FL) says “Knowing that GBB coaching is all about
relationships, I hope to see that more developed among coaches.”
John Blake
(Atlanta, GA) wants “2010 (to be) a year of implemented
systems-honoring our coaches and trainers through the newly
developed recertification process.”
He goes on to say “I hope that our focus never becomes that
of an assessment, but how we can take that knowledge and directly
apply it to greater Kingdom impact.”
In a similar vein
Chet Ainsworth (Idyllwild, CA) wants “to make the GRT/GBB
process more supportive of coaches.”
One practical way of helping accomplish that is how
Lois Hoogeveen
(Sioux Falls, SD) sees “the GRT (using) a simple, user-friendly,
proven and effective software program that helps communicate
efficiently with GBB coaches and trainers worldwide.”
Steve Hoke
(Ft. Collins, CO) reminds us of the importance of “prayer for the
Spirit to descend, fill us, empower us and lead us out into expanded
dimensions of supernatural service.”
It is safe to assume Steve is not just referring to the GRT
but all of us who serve the Bride of Christ as GBB coaches and
trainers. I,
Hal Burke
(Sarasota, FL) have decided the most important thing for me to do is
model what we teach, so my main focus is going to on deepening
relationships on the team.
One way I am going to do that is to complete a GBB Summary
sheet on each team member so I understand each one as God made him
or her naturally and supernaturally.
Otherwise we aren’t doing all we can as the GRT to model what
we give so much time and energy to teaching and helping you do.
Please intercede for your team as
Steve Hoke says so
well “praying that the Spirit would baptize our team with ‘fresh
wind, fresh fire’ to move in greater supernatural power…to be the
servant-stewards Abba has called us to be.”
Thank you for the privilege of serving our Lord by serving
you. Please let us know
if there is anything we can do to resource you.
May God grant you a blessed year of helping people be who God
created them to be “until all of us come to…maturity, to the measure
of the full stature of Christ.”
Ephesians 4:13
“Here’s What I Think of You!” Makes a
Comeback...
Subtitled: A Reasonably Priced Christmas Gift
By Paul Ford, GBB Trainer
Check
out the new, downloadable pdf’s of the
“Here’s
What I Think of You!”
worksheet and scoresheet on our
GBB Coaches Resources page. If your
clients take the Your Leadership Grip portion of our process
online, you will want to make certain that you send them this
important 360 tool. While this assessing piece remains in the paper
workbook, it is NOT in the online questionnaire and results.
Pleased. We have been so pleased that the Your Leadership
Grip process has been available online now for several years.
This has been particularly important for those who utilize our tool
in other parts of the world, meaning that no paper workbook needs to
be shipped. We are also excited that we now have our first-ever
Birkman-like report on the Your Leadership Grip side. Anyone
who takes the Grip/Birkman online now will see our new
“Double-Check” pages and the “Dotted Diamond”
introduction. We have come a long way as we grow through input from
so many of you in our learning community of 160+ active coaches and
trainers.
NOT Pleased. We did have a difficult discovery along the way
to going online with Your Leadership Grip. We found out the
hard way that the “Here’s What I Think of You!” assessment
and feedback tool did not work. It gummed up the whole online
process, so it was removed. It is still in the workbook but no
longer could this input be gathered online.
But wait a minute. This input from three to five people who have
observed you in ministry is way too valuable! We heard from coaches
as far away as Istanbul with comments like this: “This 360 input
piece helped me to suddenly realize that I had the gift of faith. I
would have never seen this without input from those who watched me
serve.” Agreed. “This feedback from others is essential to my
effectively coaching people toward good stewardship of who they
are.” Bingo. We need to have this invaluable 360 feedback so that
people can soberly estimate how others see them, even as they
evaluate their own Spiritual Gifts, Team Styles and Primary
Functions.
So now, please visit the newly updated “Here’s
What I Think of You!” worksheet and scoresheet on our
GBB Coaches Resources page.
Just send these two pieces to anyone whom you are coaching
individually or working with as a team and require them to have them
completed by the time you coach or teambuild with them. It is as
easy as pumpkin pie, to be calendar relevant just now. The input
from others will likely be as invaluable for them as it has for
thousands of others who have gone through our process,
Truth be told, I still do this worksheet for myself whenever I work
with folks who know me – probably have 40 copies of the worksheet
that have been done on yours truly. Recently I am considering
whether or not I have the gift of wisdom/word of wisdom – because of
input from others through this worksheet!
How’s this for a nice, inexpensive Christmas gift? Merry Christmas!
First-Ever Week of GBB Trainers Gathered
by John Blake
Trainer Re-Certification Group: Steve Hoke, Ron Ward, Hal Burke,
Gail Davis, Matt Zamzow (from Birkman International),
Su Berkeley, Mike Johnson, Tim Roehl, Susan Gay, Larry Gay, Paul
Ford, John Blake (missing: Kathy Fouts)
The tagline for “Google
Scholar” is “stand on the shoulders of giants.” We had an
outstanding group of Grip-Birkman giants – some of the best
practitioners and scholars from around the world – gathered together
at home office of our publisher ChurchSmart Resources in St.
Charles, IL last week (October 20-23). As you looked around the
room, people traveled in from multiple nations representing a number
of major Christian organizations to share in the inaugural two-day
GBB Trainer Re-certification, immediately followed by
the first-ever GBB Trainer Gathering.
History was in the making as Birkman International supported our
Global Resource Team in conducting this first ever Trainer
Recertification event. Why is this significant? Those recertified
not only met all of the requirement pieces for the Your
Leadership Grip-Birkman process, but also for the renewal of
the Birkman Level 1 Consulting requirement (every three years). We
were honored to have Matt Zamzow, the Director of Training for
Birkman, join us, and he offered key insights and profound depth to
our trainers in understanding and using the Birkman side of the
Grip-Birkman process.
Dr. Hal Burke, Dr. Mike Johnson, Dr. Steve Hoke, Dr. Paul Ford and I
all had the honor of bringing critical information to our GBB
Trainers in areas like teambuilding and team dynamics, cross-overs
from the natural to the supernatural, dotted diamond, new Gifts
triangle discoveries, and greater understanding of the Birkman
components. This event by itself would have been a “giant” event.
The Trainer Gathering, however, was the highlight for me. Dave
Wetzler, President of ChurchSmart, hosted us and honored us in a
number of ways. He involved himself throughout the two days, even to
eat meals with us. Hear from one of our trainers via email since the
event.
I was also deeply touched at the standard displayed by Dave
Wetzler. ChurchSmart is a real blessing in the attitude and
prayerful care extended into the business world. That has helped me
appreciate the standards more deeply. I have always been impressed
at Bob Rummel’s representation of the organization, as his courtesy
and patience are amazing. But in context of Dave’s attitude that
takes on more meaning, The generous and godly spirit is something
rarely seen in business and so even more valuable when found.
We spent two quality days together sharing how God was using the
Grip-Birkman process throughout the world in our ministries. How
broad is the Grip-Birkman being used right now? Well, simply stated
from those represented in the room, the trainers had worked with
people using the GBB in 45 countries. Of those 45 countries, these
trainers had trained GBB Coaches who were now living in twenty
different nations. In that room of thirteen trainers, there were 13
different organizations represented who were actively using the
Grip-Birkman. It is humbling to confess that I had not previously
grasped how profoundly God was using the Grip-Birkman process
throughout the world for His purposes.
Our hearts were challenged at a new level, however. Rather than
simply looking back and praising, and looking at where we were and
praying and praising, we wanted to intentionally look ahead. Through
strategically looking at coaching, teambuilding and leader
development, we discussed the future improvement and further
development of serving our Lord with the Grip-Birkman as a tool.
Over the next months, changes and communications that you see from
the GRT and trainers around the world will be a direct result of
these profoundly impacting days. A room full of giants, brought down
to size once again understood our minuscule size next to the
Almighty and His Purposes.
Using GBB in Supervisory Relationships
by
Name
withheld
I couldn’t understand it. I was frustrated. He was under stress. I was giving him room and time to process (just like I would want), why did he keep calling me about the minutest decisions? Everyday, I would get a phone call with another question even though I had told him in an email what my expectation were. Why couldn’t he get it?
Oh, yeah, check his Grip/Birkman, maybe there’s a clue in there. Boy, was there, how could I have been so blind?! Unlike, me, my friend, Bob (name changed), when under stress can’t stand indirect communication. While his usual style most certainly puts him in the blue in which he displays an introspective nature without a lot of direct, verbal communication, when he’s under stress, he moves up into the green, the exact opposite of the way I would want someone to deal with me in stressful situations. While I would desire time to get away, to read an email at a later time so I could process and think through a situation, this person for whom I am responsible to supervise, wanted someone to talk to. Hard to believe that someone who is so quiet would need so much verbal, but there it is in all it’s “greenness.”
This ah-ha moment was a watershed for me in my supervisory relationships. I’m responsible for overseeing the work of missionaries scattered across 5 countries in Central Asia. Simply put, we all live in a pressure cooker. We live in our stress response. Learning about stress/needs response in the GBB is one of the most important supervisory tools I’ve ever had. Learning how people want communication while stressed out has improved my effectiveness as a supervisor, but also helped me to “learn” – be a better student of - these servants of the Lord.
After learning this about Bob, I decided to create a simple Word file that listed each supervisee’s needs/stress response that I could quickly access. Now, I have a good idea of the kind of communication that these people need to do their job, not what I assume they need, which is obviously indirect, written communication, like any “normal” stressed out person like me would need.
So, now when dealing with those who supervise others in coaching situations, I’ve added a fourth question to the famous troika of “How are you strong? How are you weak? Who do you need? My quartet is complete if I ask, “How do you stress?”Knowing this will help you find those quiet-types that desperately need to talk to someone when the going gets tough. Thanks, GBB, that’s just what I needed!
Perspectives on the Administration Spiritual
Gift
by GBB Trainers Paul Ford
and Steve Hoke
“Have you ever invested a lot of time and energy into designing and planning an event, and God blesses and 800 participants show up instead of 400?” (GBB Coach Lois Hoogeveen)
“You spend hours and hours designing procedures, creating forms and checklists, but at the end of many days and weeks feel that you have been diverted from our primary passions and contribution.” (Steve Hoke)
“Have you ever spent hours of days each week in administration, filing and bringing order to a system, but sensing very little joy or power. But someone has to do it? (Coach Lisa Womble)
Which of these persons
would you say has the gift of administration?
We have observed that many ministry leaders have administration in their top four scores of their Spiritual Gifts questionnaire results. But they attest to not deriving much joy or fruit or power in the exercise of the perceived gift. So, does that mean that fewer really have that spiritual gift because they experience minimal, if any, joy, power or fruit?
Here are some observations and suggestions for better understanding this gift:
1. When the administrative is not the lead gift, i.e. it is secondary, you won’t see yourself as an administrator, and you won’t value administration as to focus of our serving, managing, or leading or equipping. Why? Because it’s not about the administration. It’s about the value the administration serves that is purposed in the use of your other gifts and passion.
2. When a person’s lead gifts are Equipping Gifts, they see the gift of administration through their lenses is through equipping, not administration or the broader Serving Gift category. So they will tend to downplay the administrative dimension.
3. What will it look like if it is a Gift that really drives your heart? One or more of these points will be true:
You will thrive in the process of piecing together, framing, systems
building parts of your work
You will find fulfillment in simply serving others by covering the
details
Seeing a conference or event “hum” and no one notices brings you
incredible joy
You will love the chance to free another person’s gifts by releasing
him or her from administrative details that may be bogging them down
4. You may not have the gift of administration if:
You find little joy, fruit, or power in fulfilling the details and
systems work noted in #3
KEY: One or both of your usual style (diamond) and/or circle
(needs) in the Birkman Lifestyle Grid are in the
yellow quadrant – that is, your natural behavior is systems or
detail oriented
You do administrative tasks because you have to in your role and not
for the fun of it
I (Paul) have found literally scores of people who have been told all their life and ministry that they have the gift of administration, but actually have a systems or detail-oriented personality. That is, there is little or no power, joy or fruit in the doing of administrative tasks or systems work. They can do such naturally, but it is not the power of the Holy Spirit. The Grip/Birkman “sober estimation” process has proven really helpful in delineating which it is: powerful gift or natural talent.
SO, when you are preparing to coach an individual or work with a team, here’s the most important cue. When you see a person who lists administration as one of their top four gifts, AND they have their diamond and/or circle from the Lifestyle Grid in the yellow – or yellow is their longest Organizational Focus bar – then be very watchful! Be prepared to ask the fruit, joy and power questions. When it’s NOT a gift, people will find great freedom in being released from the expectations of such. When it IS a gift, people will be greatly confirmed in the joy, fruit and power they experience when using this gift of administration.
Talents can indeed be used for the glory of God. But they do not bear the fruit, joy and power that one experiences when functioning in the power of the Holy Spirit through one’s Spiritual Gifts.
By Steve Potter, GBB Trainer who has started Coaching for Change
During the mid-April Grip/Birkman Users Group meeting, Lois Hoogeveen presented a model for using the GBB as coaching tool for couples. She provided a description of her process and a guide which she put together as a result of her experiences with couples. It contained both preparation questions for the couple and coaching questions for each section of the Grip/Birkman Blueprint which focus on the marriage relationship.
Lois’ presentation and tool gave me the confidence to venture into
coaching a couple very close to me, a
great chance to test out Lois’ guide. I knew there were limits to
what I might accomplish as a coach, yet I also knew there was power
in the GBB which could make a start for them in growing their
marriage. So I offered them a gift of the GBB. Little did I
realize how much of a gift it would be.
COUPLE #1. My first insight in this experience was that the GBB provides an objective and non-threatening picture of the differences among us, and it enables a constructive conversation about those differences. As the WE begins to honor the differences which each I brings to the WE, the I’s can build strategies for stewarding the differences into a stronger WE.
But what about differences that are so far apart and completely unappreciated, even discounted as valid behaviors? When coaching this couple through the Lifestyle Grid, they discovered that her lower right-corner Blue and his upper left-corner Red interests were unappreciated by the other. They realized that these were strengths and could provide a basis for contributing to the success of their life and work together. They are now building strategies around expanding both their home business and new weekend activities in which they each can express their diverse interests. What now seems amazingly simple to do, they were blind to before seeing distinctive pieces from their Birkman Foursome.
A second major insight came in comparing their eleven Birkman Components. They were able to build some very useful planning tools in their daily routine which satisfied their need for structure and time for managing the unplanned changes to their full routine containing home schooling and home businesses. The insights gained into their needs revealed both similarities and differences they had not previously understood with the clarity needed to develop behaviors that supported each other’s most effective style. They were so excited by this that they created a document containing all the actions they planned in order to provide the best needs environment for each other’s most effective style. They really got the idea that their best would come out when they effectively created an environment supportive of each other instead of trying to fix each other.
COUPLE #2. Gaining confidence, I offered to do GBB coaching for a pastor friend and his wife. After exploring their Gifts Triangles, I asked them to also look at their Birkman Organizational Focus. In the resulting dialogue, it became clear that they had a significant ministry calling together, beyond being a couple with the wife supporting the husband’s vocational ministry calling. Their most powerful insight came when they saw their gift mooshing move their Dotted Diamonds into overlapping fans in the green quadrant. Approaching retirement in a few years, they realized that the mission field where they met would become their calling in retirement from their current vocations. This insight was a powerful moment to watch as they previewed their future in ministry together.
Through this new arena of working with couples, I have experienced a new depth of understanding the power of the GBB in our growth from I to WE through being obedient to God’s prompting to coach a couple very close to me. That experience and the guiding Lois provided at the User Group have been a blessing as I now coach other couples through their GBB and to new depths in their relationship.
Two Reflections from our Coach Re-certification Process in mid-April
#1 - Specific Training Modules
by Lois Hoogeveen, a "Life Connections Coach" from Sioux Falls,
South Dakota
The first module of
training that was particularly helpful for me was "Going Deeper
with the Dotted Diamond." The Apostle Paul encouraged his
spiritual son, Timothy, to fan into flame the gift of God
(2 Timothy 1:6a). As we visually illustrated how our
dotted diamonds move when we are functioning in the areas of
our spiritual giftedness, fanning my usual behavior into a
new range of potential behavior enriched the meaning of
these words. The result of fanning into flame my personal
gift mooshing is that my usual style fans into new ranges.
Adding not just a dotted diamond, but a dotted fan
provided me greater appreciation for the impact spiritual gifts have
on a person's usual or naturally effective style.
"Mining the Components" was another powerful "aha" for me during the coach re-certification process. Although I feel like I am still just scratching the surface of the Birkman Components, the re-certification teachings took me into a deeper level of understanding what the components reveal about a person. Learning how to use the report to clarify relational and motivational patterns as well as reveal elements of one's significance was valuable to me.
A third element of the re-certification that was significant for me was the benefit of learning from four different presenters. Hal, John, Steve and Paul each have their own unique passion and presentation style, and the four-trainer-combo indeed provided us with the "best of the best!"
#2 - General
Reflections
by
Lisa Womble, Ministry
Advancement Program Coordinator at Saint
Louis Christian College
I must admit I came into the April GBB Coach Re-certification event in Waxahachie, TX exhausted. Even though I knew the re-certification requirement was a good idea and that I needed to understand the tool more fully, I was feeling fairly overwhelmed with the timing of it in my schedule. I had left behind a mound of papers to be graded and reports to be read for the work I do at Saint Louis Christian College. I issue grades to over 300 students and the week I was in Texas was the due date for all their reports to me. But before your sympathy pours in, I am happy to say the time with the GBB folk was truly refreshing.
The Lakeview Conference Center is a beautiful, relaxing location. The approach of the leadership team was personable, humorous, and encouraging. The interaction with fellow coaches was also helpful. I truly enjoyed the relationship building that was part of the process.
As all of us who work with the Grip-BirkmanBlueprint know, the depth of information in the report leaves one feeling like they have just scratched the surface with clients even after a two day seminar or personal coaching sessions. The same is true for learning to use the instrument. The more I know and understand about it, the more I grow to appreciate its value. I have chosen to use the GBB above other assessment options specifically because of the depth and holistic nature of the report, so it makes sense to me that I need the extra learning experiences of the recertification process in order to help me utilize it most effectively. For that reason, I benefitted from the coach re-certification event. I am excited to think that the things I'm learning will help me to better prepare my students for life and ministry.
Testing our new GBB Teambuilding Outline in
South Africa
By Hal Burke, Global Training Team Leader
Recently, March 16-26, I went to Pretoria, South Africa, and had the
privilege to work with the Nieu Communties South Africa, a part of
Church Resource Ministry’s work there. I got to use our new
Teambuilding
Workshop Outline here.
One of the special things about Nie Communities that made this
particularly relevant is they have added four new, permanent staff
to the five already there, as well as hosting 8 new apprentices.
The apprentices are young men and women in their middle 20's to
early 30's who are spending ten months to determine the next steps
for their lives in serving the Lord.
I spent four hours a day for three days with all seventeen members,
using the new outline. We were able to get through six of the eight
modules with the realization that they would do the other two under
the leadership of Arthur and Melissa Stewart, among our newest GBB
coaches. The group was very involved in the process from the very
beginning, being most engaged when they had the opportunity to
discuss the subject at hand in pairs or threes. The "breakouts" are
a tremendously effective tool for allowing the participants to
discuss and apply the principles shared — i.e. to work on
teambuilding. They quickly grasped the “Stewardship 3-step”
concept because it is already applicable to them: staff, apprentices
and all together! This group included several S Africans of various
ethnic groups, a person from Zimbabwe and a variety of folk from the
U.S., so the discussion concerning “Cultural Values” was very
interesting with the conclusion that these are indeed no longer
values of the West only.
Since Arthur and Melissa are new GBB coaches, they took the
responsibility for individually coaching the apprentices in
preparation for the training. That way, all were acquainted with
the basic concepts of the “Gifts Triangle” and the “Birkman
Foursome.” They were ready to dig in to deeper discussions and
applications. The “Lifestyle Grid” floor exercise was a LONG
discussion time because they were going beyond the basic
understanding and applying what that meant to them. For instance
there was only one person (of 17) with interest in the red and one
in the yellow. Even though we had a big square blocked out, there
wasn't enough room in the blue when we got to the need/stress
section. What a blast!
The group was also particularly responsive to the “Dotted
Diamond” and the “Team styles.” Several made some
changes when we introduced the “Integrity of the Corners”
concept; that was helpful in getting them to carefully examine
earlier choices on their gifts, team styles and primary functions.
We used several segments from the new video series. This tool
wasn’t as helpful as hoped for this group of young adults, due to
some editing issues (being worked on already at ChurchSmart!). They
did find some of the content very helpful, especially the
presentation of the “Parable of the Creme-filled Cookie.” In
fact, I brought closure to the whole process by giving each person a
creme-filled cookie as they left the room the last day and asked
them to consider how they were going to apply the concepts of their
spiritual gifts and right relationships to living out the truth of
the Gospel.
We have a great teambuilding process here, ready for your usage as
well. And the new video resources will be ready for you to use very
soon.
Applying the Grip/Birkman
Blueprint Organization-Wide
Note: OMS has substituted the Discovering Your Ministry
Identity workbook for Your Leadership Grip)
By Gail Davis
OMS is about 10 months into the official process of integrating the DYMI/Birkman Blueprint throughout our culture. This is our second report to you on this (see 11/08 Coaches Update). We are learning a lot about ourselves and the process as we systematically apply it at every level of our organization.
The
Plan. We began assessing and coaching (step #1)
new missionary candidates and missionaries in transition. Within a
short period of time we were able to offer teambuilding events
(step #2) at the departmental and field level. We are
excited by the potential for people in our organization to grow in
their understanding of DYMI/Birkman Blueprint and begin to
contextualize the insights they are getting about themselves and
each other and apply those insights to their own discipleship and
ministries. As our missionaries are deployed to their ministry
assignment and learn first-hand what it means to apply the “I to We
principle” (Ephesians 2:19-22) in the context of the team, it opens
the door for greater unity and effectiveness in ministry.
The Leader as Good Steward, a new hybrid seminar (step #3),
challenged our top leadership to evaluate how they are doing on
stewarding the resources within our organization.
Insights Gained. As I’ve reflected on what has been learned this past year, of greatest significance, would be the “I to We” process. I’ve learned that we must identify early the purpose of the assessments as they relate to God’s intentions for body life, so that we don’t accidentally promote a sense of entitlement – “I deserve to use my gifts and fulfill my ministry burden/passion.” If this happens it becomes very difficult to acknowledge God’s larger purposes and their need for others.
Because we are committed to a culture of empowerment in OMS, we must be watchful so that we can see God’s larger purposes by acknowledging who He has brought in order to understand what He intends. For us, this means: acknowledging the significance of every member of the organization (Romans 12:4-6), understanding what part He has designed each to play (1 Peter 4:10) and by demonstrating we value team unity by our actions (Ephesians 4:13-16). We each play a part in shepherding unity in the ministries and in the roles where God has placed us.
Next Steps. In the year ahead we will be focusing on three key areas for greater organization wide application: assessment and coaching of leadership at all levels, baseline coaching skills training for all leaders to further develop our culture of empowerment, and continued team building for departments and fields worldwide.
TEAMBUILDING THROUGH
THE GENERATIONAL GAP
John Blake
Generational Teambuilding is bridging communication lines for the young
and the old to function most powerfully in their ministry team context.
As the driving force of organization’s organic growth and development,
it syncs the passion of youth with the experience of age. Therefore, as
leaders and teambuilders in ministry contexts today, we must understand
the gaps between the generations to facilitate greater understanding,
and ease leadership transitions.
From experience in working with teenagers through recent college
graduates, I commonly hear “They just don’t get it.” “They don’t
understand where I’m coming from.” “They just seem like workaholics.”
These and other similar statements are heard over and over from the
younger generation as they fumble through high school, fight through
college, and begin discerning their next chess play in life’s seemingly
overly complex maze of communication.
As teambuilders, the generation gaps are a real issue. The generations
may not be headed in different directions, simply their way of getting
there may be different. And at times, their methods are not even as
overwhelmingly different as once assumed; rather, it is the
communication of their heart. Big picture ideas and ideals often bring
people to the same teams. The living out of individual values, however,
may be extremely different from one individual to the next.
Therefore, in teambuilding we must re-evaluate our methods of
interaction, growth and coaching and adapt them to the mentality and
wave-length of the younger generation. Connecting with Gap-ers, Gen X,
Y, Next, Boomers, and any other generational description we like to
label each other with, requires connection points. Sounds fundamental,
though we often limit our own effectiveness by failing to consciously
address the following three principles:
1. Ask over Tell
Help the team to reflect. Challenge the team to think. Guide team
discovery. Facilitation of this requires a firm hand to handle the
over-talkers, and patience to allow the quiet and reflective members to
process their thoughts. In situations of team mediation of conflict
resolution, avoid the trap of simply stating, “Put yourself in their
shoes.” Rather, ask questions that are grounded in the reality of their
team’s situation, but that stretch their thinking to deeper levels:
“Where is the ministry overlap with your personal and team mission in
your intended activities?”
“Interpret what God may be doing through His design of your team through
your specific team members.”
“What does this mean for your interaction, affirmation, and investment
in your team?”
Through this simple progression of questions, we are able to allow them
to evaluate their mission as it relates to the team’s; see what’s God
heart may be within this context, and grow their investment in the team.
The most effective questions will guide participants’ thinking out of
the maze of individual differences back to the values, goals, and common
points of the team. Once we understand differences within the context of
team, we can grow our understanding of the value of each individual God
has placed on our team.
As we go through this process, however, the reactions will be varied.
Potentially with the younger generation, they will use phrases of
“always,” “never,” and “they don’t get it.” These responses demand a
firm, loving, and immediate clarification of “When”, “Who”, and “What”
to free us from the extremes to meet on common ground. They will talk
through the “experience” and “emotions” that were evoked. Allow time for
this, while maintaining sprinklings of “reality” questions: “How was
that seen?” “Who seemed to experience that, and how was that clear to
you?” In facilitating discussion with this generation, moderation is a
key component.
The older generations issues of teambuilding are founded in routine and
experience. Their communication and conflict resolution may struggle in
learning to listen to the younger generation through their inexperience
and passion. Older ministry leaders often have a level of understanding
they cannot easily impart to the next generation. Therefore, the result
is often phrases like “inexperienced,” “passionate without substance,”
and accusing of “action without think-through or structure.”
This remark, however, should spark our reaction as Teambuilder to their
imperative role in growth, learning, and development. At times we need
to guide our questions and responses to validate the accomplishments of
the younger generation, the value of their passion, and even the benefit
of potentially less structure.
In addition, some will struggle with the idea of discovery over
answer-giving, and may become impatient with the process. Because of
their high-paced life, they may overlook the process, and choose to
function as answer-giving consultants. This has the potential to
turn-off or stunt the growth of the young team members. “I can’t seem to
get our youth group to grow. No one is involved.” This leaves the door
open for two distinct options:
1. “You need to do this, this, and this.” Directive advice shuts the
developing team-member out of the thought process, the creativity angle,
and the ownership of the ideas.
2. “What ways have you tried to get the group involved? What are new
ways to draw in the type of student you are trying to reach? What end
result are you trying to get to? Who can support you in this process?”
This angle of questioning opens up reflection and allows emotional
release while starting to look ahead to growth. This, however, takes
more time, and can be frustrating for the question-asker.
Fundamentally, this becomes a joint issue of coaching as well as
teambuilding; or, perhaps more accurately “teambuilding coaching.” The
skills of coaching must be engrained into our leaders to facilitate gap
closure between generations. Teambuilding becomes a catalyst of a
coaching culture. I do not see how they are separable, as the skills
developed are so interrelated and built on the foundation of solid
communication skills.
So, from a teambuilder’s perspective, we must require reciprocity of
generations. Tolerance is not the goal. Mutual complacency isn’t our
target. Older mentors being appreciated for their experience isn’t the
our desired. Young leaders getting their passion-filled way isn’t the
solution. Teambuilding effectiveness is joint appreciation of difference
for Kingdom growth. Therefore, whether young or old, the surrender of
your personal agenda to the furthering of the Kingdom is preeminent.
Foundationally, remember the goal of the teambuilding isn’t that
everyone becomes alike. Rather, the goal is that all would see their
small part as it interacts with others in the Kingdom ministry at hand.
2. Utilize Experience with Content
Experience comes in two basic forms: atmospheric [the ethos of the]
experience or the feel of the experience (ethos), such as “that
conference was such a great experience with the worship, the speakers,
and the atmosphere.” The other is tangible experience, such as “that was
great activity for me to remember that key point of the training.” It is
the impact of the learning experience. Both must be addressed in our
approach to meeting the generation gaps.
Some classify the “Need to be entertained” as a new phenomenon. I don’t.
I simply state that the younger generations have greater options when it
comes to creating the experience to impact the content. Powerful story
tellers of old would sometimes use props or puppets. We’ve morphed that
into Veggie Tales and cute PowerPoint’s to give us Karaoke worship at
some churches.
However, most effective connections to facilitating teambuilding will
occur through humor, illustrations, and visuals. Creating atmospheres of
learning must be based upon our audience. Wrong assumptions have been
made that high tech programs and flash images are all that connect with
the younger generation. I don’t believe this to be true. Rather,
facilitating through a variety of methods will address the unique
personalities and learning styles within your teambuilding. Attempt to
use things like pictures, comics, humorous illustration, movie clips,
life experiences, quotes, poetry, music, and physical activity—such as
hikes. All of these create a complete atmospheric experience only when
they embrace the issues being addressed. Nothing is worse than an
ill-suited “experience.”
The second issue is that of the tangible experience. Teambuilding has
often been dumbed down to simply become ropes courses and ice-breaker
games… Why? We are trying to provide interaction to enhance the impact
of the message while using the physical stress of an outdoors setting.
It has shown to be a more powerful cohesive factor, including simulated
stress, anxiety, demands for teamwork and mutual assistance, than
sitting around talking about it.
I believe we need to use a slightly different model. Teambuilders should
find experiential opportunities within their own context. This doesn’t
allow for cookie-cutter activities, but rather presents a challenge of
unique, custom designed experiences. Some ideas might include:
role playing a church function;
planning a ministry project together;
doing a ministry project;
creating a play dough model of their frustration;
illustrating your uniqueness through a magazine picture.
The tangible, hands-on experience (what adult educator Jane Vella calls
“learning tasks”) must be followed with key discussion questions and
group interaction debrief which address what the facilitator just
observed. “I saw some frustration when we realized that Jeff didn’t
agree with the approach to the ministry project. Why was that? Jeff,
what did you feel? How did the non-verbal reaction of the group make you
feel? Group, where was your frustration and how could you have addressed
it differently?” These questions will hit on the cords of conflict which
are greater than simply the activity.
Design appropriate and customized experiences. Creativity is required.
It’s not the goal of the time, but it’s a way of honoring those varied
learning styles, and those with short attention spans.
3. Allow Service over Structure
The younger generations love to serve. They love to give of themselves
for causes they see worthy of attention, focus, love, finances, and
time. The significance of finding one’s “Sweet Spot” in ministry isn’t
simply for greater results. Joy, power, and fruit as we serve the Lord
are the issues at stake.
If this is true, then joy, power, and fruit become objects of our
new-found accountability for the younger generation. Busy-work or
mandatory meetings are part of a failed-system. But some fear to
question it. Coming alongside and coaching through their areas of
greatest spiritual pleasure is the new model we must embrace.
Understanding someone on their terms means that we will have to approach
their world, getting our hands messy with their passions in order to
effectively relate, communicate, coach, and hold accountable those
around us.
Change is required. Change could mean eliminating a meeting to replace
it with a rotation of ministry experiences. The new way of addressing
teambuilding is “doing unto others as they need done unto them.” Find
what structure, accountability and communication team members need to
fit and function within the team most effectively. This will require a
definition of team and an understanding that team is not optional.
Teambuilders create opportunities of team growth in the harvest fields
and not in the offices. For some who fall short in communication but are
powerful in action, this will allow us to appreciate, value, and affirm
them in a new and exciting way. This results in clarity to the vision
and scope of the ministry.
In order to be most effective, we don’t need to overanalyze the
generational norms. We don’t have to complexify communication.
No. We need to ask before we tell. We need to create an experience which
addresses the needs of those we are reaching out to, and we need to be
willing to meet people in their areas of passion.
Generation gaps are real. Teams struggle with this. However, as
facilitators of clear communication, we must embrace this challenge of
transferring knowledge, experience, and passion from one team member to
another.
Grip-Birkman Hybrid Teambuilding Outline Unveiled
John Blake and Steve Hoke
So, what do you do as a Grip-Birkman Coach when you have a group or team
on a church, mission or organization staff who want to know how the GBB
might help them become a more effective and powerful team?
What is a high-impact way to gain entry into a church or organization that both serves an immediate need for unity and teamwork, while providing a “taste-and-see” of more?
Voile! The Grip-BirkmanTeambuilding Workshop!
At the heart of the Grip-Birkmanis how God uniquely created us naturally and supernaturally so we can fully understand our fit in the Body of Christ. If the GBB process is relationally based, then wouldn’t it make sense for us to develop a powerful teambuilding experience (and tools) to equip people to fully understand their role within the context of their immediate Body? And in so doing forge a stronger, better linked team that really “gets” each other?
For those of you who have been waiting, it is now within your grasp!
The Teambuilding Workshop outline is a toolbox of training, laced with group interaction, activities, and quality discussion. Set up as eight different modules, the freedom of this tool lends to customizing (or contextualizing) your training to meet the specific needs of whatever group with whom you may work.
While conducting training with a pilot group of European missionaries, I (John) was overwhelmed by the response. The power of clear communication and transparency, made possible by uncovering one’s personal Grip/Birkman Blueprint results allows others to see your heart in a new and powerful way. Some had worked together for many years, and yet were amazed to find out new discoveries. They began to see the overlap in their ministries as it related to how God had wired them, creating opportunities for ongoing discussion about Body Life among team members.
We weren’t able to complete all eight Modules in our allotted time with the Europe group. However, even this became a powerful tool as it forced ongoing interaction in their team meetings regarding some of the other pieces.
In each of the three Teambuilding workshops I’ve facilitated (Steve), there has been a similar and immediate “Aha!” dynamic as members gain breakthrough insights into each other, as well as a whole list of questions for further exploration and discussion for the leader to pursue. This Teambuilding outline presents in a clear, easy-to-use format, the opportunity to translate the depth of the GBB into the heart of a team. With both the Facilitator’s Guide and the Participants Guide, this outline should be a great resource as teambuilding is often the “in-road” for many coaches and trainers to establish ongoing coaching relationships.
As you discover new insights and begin to use this tool, please share your experiences with all of us. Email Steve Hoke (steve.hoke@crmleaders.org) or me (john.blake@jmblake.com) with new insights, ideas, or possible changes you would like to see. And may God challenge you to address Body Life issue in many new group settings.
A template PPT will be coming within a week or so—an early Christmas present as it were.
We look forward to hearing from you as you use it and find ways to improve and adapt it for other groups.
Coaches and users can access the Teambuilding outlines both facilitator’s and participant’s, on the Resources page.
Coaching Birkman Stress AND
Spiritual Gift Liability issues hand-in-hand
GBB Coaching Tip #1
Paul Ford, GBB Trainer and Pioneer
One is obvious while the other is not. One we train actively in our GBB Coaches Training. The other quietly slips by and is usually not even acknowledged, much less addressed.
Here’s
the new idea to consider from today forward: think in tandem about both
Birkman stress responses AND spiritual gift
liabilities. We are not only coaching individuals to stay out
of stress responses by addressing underlying needs. We also can coach
them to be watchful and address liability behavior that is tied to their
spiritual gifting, often unrelated to their baseline
personality. My oh my, we are giving them a “twofer” – two for the
price of one!
Coach the Circle/Square. The initial side of the coin reveals one of the most valuable pieces of the Birkman Method, the circle/square from the Life Style Grid. Here the Birkman Method does successfully what I have found in no other assessment tool. It reveals that stress responses in our behavior are directly tied to our underlying needs, portrayed on the Life Style Grid as the “circle/square.” The ultimate reason that the circle and square are together is because there is a direct cause/effect relationship between the two. If I seek to meet the underlying needs present in who I am, I can minimize, if not remove, specific stress behavior in eleven different parts of who I am.
The Stress Pages report is one focused tool that deals with this in-depth, but we also see relationship between specific stress and related need in any Birkman report where the circle and square are shown or where the need and the stress response categories are shown (Strengths and Needs Graph report, Needs Graph report, etc.). We have a number of tools to coach someone to understand.
Coach the Gift & Team Style Liabilities. Seldom noticed by most of us is the other side of the coin. Each of us has another complete category where stress-like behavior is revealed. On the spiritual gifts side, though, we call them gift liabilities. You actually have two sources from which to look at yourself and others. The first is the “Gift Liabilities” category in the “Equipping Gifts” and “Supporting Gifts” sections in the Your Leadership Grip workbook or pdf download. This gives you separate lists of the distinctive liabilities that may come with each of your confirmed spiritual gifts.
We also have a second access point to your spiritual gifts as they moosh (i.e. meld) together. The “Potential Liabilities” column on the Team Style Evaluation page actually gives you a list of liabilities you may portray because of your spiritual gift combination. This column of information is not showing personality stress responses as with Birkman. Rather, it clarifies what happens when you try to exercise your spiritual gifts in your own strength OR when you are struggling in your daily Christian life and have pulled back from the Lord. What is amazing in this is that each one of us will find that we have different liabilities due to our gifts than what is found in the Birkman Stress Pages report.
Evaluate yourself. To practice, look at your own stress responses in the various Birkman reports referenced earlier. Note several that strike you in particular. Then do the same with the Gift and Team Style liabilities. As you compare and contrast, you will find stress and liability points that are distinctively different from what you may have expected given each category.
Review another’s results. Now you have a new area in which to coach a person! Review his/her stress behaviors and do the same with his/her Gift and Team Style liabilities. Be prepared to ask questions about each to bring out sober understanding. Then consider with them, by way of application, how to move away from the stress and/or liability behaviors. By working from both categories and not just the stress behaviors, you coach the whole person and not just the natural, behavioral issues that need addressing.
We now have opportunity to coach the
whole person, natural and supernatural, in regards to stress
points and liabilities. We are addressing not only underlying needs,
but also providing checkpoints on spiritual health and ongoing spiritual
maturity. Happy coaching!
Using the Grip/Birkman Blueprint
organization-wide in a mission agency
by Gail Davis, GBB Trainer
Director, Member Development
OMS International
I started using the GBB – for us it is actually Discovering Your
Ministry Identity/Birkman – process in the pre-field preparation and
cross-cultural training of our missionary candidates. The GBB is an
excellent tool for helping missionaries to better understand themselves
(gifting, interests, usual style, needs and potential stress) as they
anticipate moving into a new culture. Little did I know of the
tremendous potential this tool had for broad application within our
organization. A lot is being learned along the way as we work to apply
this in every area.
Both parts of the sober estimation process, the natural and supernatural
are incredibly useful for team application. Everyone in the
organization, from the field missionaries to the home office staff who
serve behind the scenes need to get a better grip of what it means to
serve as one among, all must learn how to move from “I to we” if we hope
to advance the Kingdom.
 Gail Davis with Steve Potter and Tim Roehl at April's 2nd Annual GBB Texas User's Group |
Getting a better grip on what is involved as we move from “I to we”
(Ephesians 2:19-22) involves identifying the negative cultural values
that must be discarded, and choosing healthy biblical values instead so
that ”we” can be builders of God’s kingdom. It requires a sober
estimation of ourselves, not in isolation from but in relation to
others, the body or the team in which God has placed us. Our task is to
learn how to extend grace to those who have different styles from us,
learning to speak each other’s language so that the body is built up.
EXERCISE #1 (now found the Coaches Training/Facilitator’s
Guide, page 15).
As we work with teams through this process we use two methods to talk
about the transition. As we talk about the natural side of who we are,
we like to do the floor exercise to enact the Life Style Grid (now found
in the Coaches Training/Facilitator’s Guide, page 15). As people
position themselves on the grid and see themselves in relation to each
other their eyes are opened and they begin to understand the
implications. It isn’t long before they are using the Birkman language
to describe what they see. Click on the Resource link, or go to
www.gbbcoaches.net/resources.htm and open “Coaches Training Outline -
Facilitator’s Notes” if you want to see the guide for doing this.
EXERCISE #2 (my own idea...). We also use giant post-it
notes to capture both the natural and the supernatural side. Using large
triangles at the top of the sheet each team member adds their spiritual
gifts, team styles, primary functions. The bottom of the sheet is for
the Lifestyle Grid. Then we typically do an exercise called, “What do we
look like as a ministry team?” We then group up our giant post-its to
observe the gift mix on the team & what our Group Grid looks like. They
make observations and answer questions like, “What gifts, team styles
and primary stewardship functions are strongly represented on the team?
Which are not?”
If the group is large (more than 6) then we multiply into smaller
groups. After we observe the natural/supernatural side of who we are, we
can move into more strategic thinking, identifying how who we are
contributes to our overall vision and goals.
When not
to use the Grip-Birkmanwith Client
Steve Hoke, CRM and GBB Trainer & David Dougherty, OMF and GBB Coach
Editor’s Note:
at the end of this article, you are requested to respond to Steve on
specific questions. We welcome your response as our GBB le
arning
community continues to grow.
In a recent conversation with my missionary training colleague, David Dougherty of OMF, he observed this parallel between his design of a “train the trainer” workshop and the GBB: “I've been doing some design work on our Training for Missionary Trainers workshop, and one element that I needed to incorporate was when not to use the approach we've been recommending. Seeing your recent e-mail on “misuses of the GBB in assessments” caused me to reflect on whether or not you had considered doing something similar for mission leaders on your program?”
Hmm, I thought. That is a novel and helpful idea.
David continued: “Here are
some situations in which I wouldn't advise using our "Training for
Missionary Trainers" workshop (a highly interactive, participant-task
driven, ala Jane Vella) approach to design training for adult learners:
When your participants are neutral or hostile to servant-style leadership and need to be "in charge" of every situation.”
When you want to primarily inspire, challenge, or exhort to action
When you want to warn or comfort participants
When you have limited preparation time
David summarized: “What we
are doing is a great method for doing the kind of teaching you are doing
in your workshops, but I wonder, based on my own situation, if there are
several areas where the GBB might be the best choice to use?” He
suggested the following four criteria as worthy of our consideration:
When you are in an on-going relationship with participants
When you have opportunity for on-going coaching, preferably in person
When people are mostly conceptual (as opposed to concrete) thinkers
When trainees are more sophisticated thinkers (able to process multiple issues simultaneously)
David concluded: “I don't recall if you have done any writing in this area, but if so, I'd be interested in what you may have come up with.”
So, let me ask all of you
GBB Coaches and Trainers if you have yet considered these possible
focusing or, on the other end, limiting factors?
* Under what conditions or with what kind of persons might the use of the Grip-Birkmaninventory and coaching process not be ideal?
* What signals that might alert us to the fact that the client may not be ready for the GBB?
* What
situations to avoid do these criteria suggest? For example, When there
is no opportunity for follow-up or on-going coaching to understand the
results of the report.
Let me know what feedback or pushback you might have. What we discover might save others some headaches and unnecessary pain.
Steve Hoke
steve.hoke@crmleaders.org
 |
Misuses of the Grip-Birkman Blueprint in Missionary and Church Planter Assessing by Steve Hoke and Tim Roehl |
Example 1: Aaron, a 20-something church planter who recently joined a coaching network for emerging church planters in the US, completed the Grip-Birkmaninventories with great interest. He looked forward eagerly to what the report would reveal. But he left his assessment crestfallen, when his coach told him, “It’s evident that you should not be a church planter.” His dreams were dashed. What had God been telling him?
Example 2: Rob, a 30-something missionary in Eastern Europe, is finding incredible fruit in selecting and raising up young seminarians to plant churches and coaching them as they venture out into forming new cells and churches. When re received his Grip-Birkmanresults, his coach observed with interest: “Your yellow asterisk and circle/square, linked with your blue diamond, might have suggested that you should never have been an initiating leader development. How do you account for your effectiveness?” Rob responded humbly but confidently, “I guess it’s all about calling! The Spirit has provided all I’ve needed to be effective in this setting through my spiritual gifts.”
These two examples raise the critical question, “Are there misuses of the GBB in assessing missionaries and church planters of which we should be aware?” Several biblical and spiritual dynamics influence our interpretation of the GBB for Christian workers.
First, is the issue of calling. God often calls men and women out of the comfort zones of what their personality profile might dictate, so that we will trust Him and Him alone....
Second, is the issue of ministry burden and passion. God implants heart passion for people and places that far supersede natural inclinations and tendencies…
Third, is the dynamic movement of one’s “dotted diamond”—the direction in which the diamond moves when supercharged by the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit consistently overrides our natural abilities to move us toward people to whom He wants us to minister. That clearly was the case in our second example of Rob...
Fourth, a caution about the boundaries of effective assessments. Assessment processes for missionaries and Christian workers are actually times set aside for group discernment, not merely report interpretation. It should be the Spirit’s voice we are listening for, not only the general implications of the GBB report. Further, an assessment team should be in unanimity in the Spirit in speaking to an assessee with questions and suggestions, never delivering a final judgment. The GBB never decides in or out for an applicant, but rather creates the opportunity for critical questions to be asked based on sound assessing information.
Fifth, it is important to note a person’s competencies demonstrated by consistent fruitfulness. A behavioral interview alongside a GBB profile is a powerful way to find the “skills inside the stories” of a person’s life. GBB profiles can give us tremendous clues about what to ask in a candidate interview.
Sixth, there are other helpful areas that
are important when it comes to assessing someone for church planting.
Here are some issues that are important to note when assessing a leader
to see where he or she might best fit and
flourish in ministry.
Ministry orientation: are they more pastor/shepherd or planter/pioneer?
Affinity group: who are they best suited to minister to redemptively?
Ministry Strategy: flowing from the leader’s personality, gifts, fruitfulness and passion more than a particular planting model.
Family needs: stage of life and other issues to be considered to care for the family.
Geographic/cultural affinity including cross-cultural indicators for the place they will minister.
Aaron, in the example above, appears to be the victim of a possible misuse of the GBB report. The report does not “tell” a person whether they are qualified to be a church planter. Neither does the GBB report definitively determine whether or not Aaron should be a church planter. Too many other factors and circumstances have to be considered. There may be factors Aaron needs to address, but effective questions from GBB observations and the sixth point above will help focus those issues toward resolve
Suggestions:
1. The Grip-Birkman coaching session is to be just that—a coaching session in which the coach facilitates the personal discovery of the coached.
2. Ask open-ended questions that invite the coachee to critically reflect and inductively discover new insights about themselves from the findings. Do not resort to answer-giving when asking questions will move toward helpful discovery and application.
3. Probe for personal interpretation: “What does this mean to you? What experiences have you had in this area? What fruit have you borne as you reflect on this issue or insight?
4. Help the coachee take time to listen by asking: “What do you hear the Spirit saying to you about this?”
5. Help them integrate what may be divergent streams of input into their life: “How do these findings support or apparently move against what you feel the Spirit is saying to you? For example, do these findings suggest the ministry role you are considering? Why or why not?”
6. If, as in the example of Rob above (a strong Yellow with Accounting/Controller experience), the pattern and location of the symbols indicate a career style that appears to be in conflict with their prospective ministry role, ask: “Tell me about how the Lord has been speaking to you and guiding your toward this role? What are some of the specific ways you think that the Holy Spirit will provide what you need to be effective in that role? What spiritual gifts do you believe that you have which would empower you in this new role?”
7.
Dialogue with the coachee about any critical issue, seeking to draw them
into verbalizing what they may have thought or felt but not yet
articulated. The “Aha!” experience often comes as you help them
articulate fresh insight in their own words!
Third Annual Users Group - Dallas, Texas
Front
row: John Blake, Boyd Pelley, Paul Ford, Kathy Fouts, Gail Davis; Back
row: Mike Johnson, Steve Hoke, Hal Burke, Dennis Hair, Steve Potter,
and Dan Perrine (not pictured: Tim Roehl)
Report on Annual User’s
Group
Steve Hoke, GBB Trainer
The Grip-Birkman User’s Group met outside Dallas, TX for this annual
gathering April 7-9, 2008. Attending this year were John Blake, Hal
Burke, Gail Davis and Kathy Fouts (OMS), Paul Ford, Steve Hoke, Dan
Perrine and Tim Roehl (CRM), Mike Johnson (Ascending Leaders), Steve
Potter, and Dennis Hair, guest.
Grip/Birkman Blueprint User’s Contributions
The following participants brought at least one fresh coaching idea they
had developed over the last year to share with the broader group:
> John Blake: presented several creative teambuilding exercises
and activities;
> Hal Burke and Paul Ford: presented new GBB leadership and
teambuilding Outlines;
> Gail Davis: explored “Contextualizing the Coaching” and shared
her thinking on how the GBB needs to be adapted to both organizational
and cultural settings;
> Paul Ford: hosted an “Ask the Author” session discussing
observations and feedback to Knocking Over the Leadership Ladder;
> Steve Hoke: talked us through his approach to Coaching and
Spiritual Direction using the “Navigating the Journey of Faith” metaphor
for Spiritual Formation and Direction;
> Mike Johnson: helped us “Taking a closer look at the
Components” of the Birkman Report, and introduced a helpful summary
outline he has developed.
> In Breakout Groups, one group brainstormed fresh approaches to
marketing GBB, while the second group outlined an approach to help a
mission agency adopt the GBB tool as a leadership development tool.
Personal Reflections:
Fellowshipping with this group of like-minded GBB Coaches was delight in
several ways.
First, it is s fun to be able to “talk shop” with colleagues who have
more experience and different gift-related insights. I most valued
listening to how others interpret the triangle and grid positions of
their coachees.
Second, it is always valuable to gain personal insight on myself by
picking up interpretive insights from other experienced coaches.
Finally, sitting in this group a year ago I never would have imagined
that I would be able to coach 40 people through their GBB, and I could
not have imagined that I could have learned as much as I have about the
process. I finally feel more competent and insight as I study a report
and as I coach them through their reports. This is a gratifying feeling
after fearing that I would never be able to deliver insights with
effectiveness.
October 2007
A New Era in Grip/Birkman from your new Blueprint
Intern,
John Blake
A new era in the life of the Grip/Birkman Blueprint (GBB) has begun. The
Global Training Team (GTT), led by Dr. Hal Burke, commenced its
objective of connecting GBB Coaches and furthering the use and knowledge
of the GBB around the world. We invite you to be a part of this growing
adventure! Items you should know:
Within the next 3 weeks, www.gripbirkman.com will be fully functional
for use as an end user website to share with people who are looking and
contemplating using GBB in their church, missions organization, business
or school.
Please send all feedback,
whether content or appearance related, to me, John Blake, GTT Intern (john.blake@gripbirkmanblueprint.com).
We will still use the www.gbbcoaches.net website for all needed
resources for coaches. If you would like your information listed as a
GBB coach on the Grip/Birkman website, please send all contact
information to the email above.
- Throughout the months ahead, I will be spotlighting certain coaches.
It is our desire that we get to know one another so we can all work
together in making our knowledge and uses of GBB more powerful and
impactful for the Kingdom. If you would like to share how you have used
GBB or coaching tips you feel could benefit others, please don’t
hesitate to share.
Notes from Dr. Hal Burke
Listed below are dates of upcoming opportunities. The User’s Group and
Recertification provide a great opportunity for fellowship and
development of skills. The Recertification will be led by Dr. Tim Roehl
who will be sharing some principles for being an effective coach. This
is the first opportunity for recertification, which is required every
two years. If you have been a coach for two years or longer, you will
need to take advantage of this opportunity to complete your
recertification. More specific information will be coming out on the
website about re-certification by mid-November.
- Upcoming Coaches Training:
Wichita, KS – Hope Community Church – October 22-25
Denver, CO – Dr. Mike Johnson Training – October 23-25
Chicago, IL – ChurchSmart – November 12-15
- Upcoming User’s Group:
Waxahachie, TX (Dallas Area) -- April 7-9, 2008
- Upcoming Recertification:
Waxahachie, TX (Dallas Area – April 10-11, 2008
Parting Thought…
While recently in Uganda, Africa, Paul and I discussed the importance of
releasing all of the glory to our Savior. “God will not share His Glory”
became an anthem for me to release my work, my will, my efforts, my
significance, my success and my failures completely to Him. Studying
through Lamentations, I came upon these verses, guiding me to this very
principle,
“The Lord has done what he planned; He was fulfilled his word, Which he
decreed long ago.” (Lam. 2:17)
So…“Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.” (Lam.
2:19)
He already had it planned, purposed, so completely give and release it
to Him.
Have a blessed and powerful month,
John M. Blake
GBB Coach
GTT Intern
A Great New Resource for
Blueprint Coaching from 2 GBB Trainers...
“You’ve just coached someone through
their Blueprint…what a wonderful experience for them and
for you! Yet, you know that for that person to continue to experience
the many layers of insight and blessing of the Grip/Birkman
Blueprint, they will need to revisit it again and again whether
you can be with them or not. To help the growth process continue, we
now offer a 30 day “Blueprint Journal.” The
Journal, written by Debbie Scroggin and myself, will allow
people to continue to process their profile personally or as part of a
small group over a period of four weeks. You can also have people you
coach use the Journal to do some “self coaching” and still be able to
check in with you as needed. We believe the
Blueprint Journal
will be a useful tool as we help
people glean more benefits from the Grip Birkman Blueprint.
Get it here!
....plus
zillions of Coaching Questions!
Debbie and I have also compiled a list of new questions for utilizing
the Grip/Birkman with different kinds of groups: couples, teams, etc.
Check it out here:
Blueprint Coaching Questions
or on the Resource page.
Tim
Roehl
Director of Re-Certification
Global Training Team
August 2, 2007
A VISION FOR THE INTERNATIONAL TRAINING TEAM
by Dr. Hal Burke, Team Leader
The Grip Birkman Blueprint (GBB) Global Training Team is in the early
stages of formulation- a work in progress. If you have ever encountered
a sign "Construction Ahead" while driving, you know that, although you
(hopefully) will be able to move ahead, it may not be at the rate you
were hoping for. We are consciously working to be sure there is a good
"base" to build on. Although I have been working with Paul on GBB
development for more than five years, there is so much more to learn and
develop. I come to this place in time with excitement and anticipation-
I just have never been here before!
Below is a synopsis of the working document that is still "under
construction".
I. My Role as Team Leader:
I desire to lead this Training Team whose purpose is to train, develop
and encourage coaches and trainers in the Leadership Grip-Birkmanprocess. I intend to exercise my gifts of exhortation, pastor,
and teacher to build up this new team. I desire to positively
influence the Global Training Team (GTT) members and the coaches and
trainers whom God calls to be a part of this exciting and crucial
ministry.
II. The Core Values that will drive the Team:
A. God's Grace before God's Guidance. We will be diligent to
develop our relationships with Him before asking for direction. We will
focus first on how God is working in our lives as a team and individuals
and then look at how He will lead us in His purposes. Matthew 6:33
B. Relationships before Roles. Paul has often said "It is all
about relationships." We will incorporate this into what we model as
well as in what we teach. We will build relationships first and allow
that to influence the process, direction, and functional roles on the
Team. John 13:34-35
C. Better before Bigger. When I began my ministry with college
students, I sensed God tell me to concentrate on quality and He would
then bring quantity. I saw that happen and yearn for that to be true in
this ministry. It doesn't mean that we wait until everything is perfect
but we will not move at a pace which compromises the integrity of this
God-given tool. Philippians 1:6, 9-11
III. The Vision:
The Team will lead in four sequential and cyclical processes: ENLIST,
EQUIP, EXPAND, EVALUATE.
A. Enlist- We will see whom God has brought and continues to bring into
our spheres of influence and share the vision, then see whose hearts and
minds He touches to come alongside us.
B. Equip/Release- We will be involved in a continuous process of
educating ourselves and our coaches and trainers in: the principles of
God's Word, the best techniques for learning, and the materials we are
using. We believe that equipping and releasing is God's idea (Ephesians
4:11-16) and that it is an ongoing process. We will therefore strive to
provide on-going opportunities for education with application.
C. Expand- We believe that this is not as much about a product as a
process of discipleship and mentoring, which presumes meaningful
relationships. These relationships are the fuel to expand GBB
exponentially through the principle of multiplication. We desire to help
fulfill the Great Commandment and Great Commission by training and
equipping Christians in understanding and developing who God created
them to be and to do what He has called them to do. God's Kingdom has
always been intended to grow, not to be static or declining, therefore
we believe that God intends for us to expand GBB globally -- something
already well in process.
D. Evaluate- We will be constantly and critically involved in improving
relationships, materials and processes in order to stay fresh and
relevant to our calling.
IV. The Team:
The Global Training Team is composed of a Team Leader (Hal Burke); an
Advisor (Paul Ford) and six members who have accepted the following
responsibilities: Administration (John Blake), Budget (Kate Bommarito),
Communication (Boyd Pelley), Development (John Vandervort and Bruce
Lininger), Equipping/Re certification (Tim Roehl),
I encourage you who are reading this to write me
hburke2547@aol.com with your comments and suggestions. Please join
me in praying that we will be found faithful to ourselves, each
other and to our calling.
Hal
Dr. Hal Burke, Team Leader
Global Training Team
Grip-Birkman
One Blueprint Coach’s Story
My name is Kate Bommarito, and for those of you who don’t already know me, my husband and I served with CRM (Church Resource Ministries) for ten years in Budapest, Hungary. When we moved back to the States in November, 2003, I really had no idea what God would have in store for my future, especially as we re-entered American culture, coming to a state that was foreign to us both. The one thing I was sure of: God had placed a burden on my heart for people – especially women – to understand who they truly are in Christ and how God has uniquely fashioned each one for ministry in His Body. In the midst of transition, in September 2004, I attended one of the Grip/Birkman Blueprint Coaches’ Training events.
Fast forward to the next spring, 2005, when Paul Ford came to visit us
in North Dakota. Paul, Ann Persico (a friend and fellow G/B
Blueprint coach here in Bismarck), and I spent an afternoon down
at the University of Mary with a wonderful nun named Sister Kathleen
Atkinson. Sr. Kathleen had just been given the job of heading up the
University’s brand new Center for Christian Leadership, as the
university pursued its goal of becoming “America’s Leading Servant
Leadership University.” We dreamed and planned together. I presented
information on the Grip/Birkman Blueprint method (called
Blueprint from here forward) to a few different ministry
groups, and my husband and I took a small group at our church through
the process. I also led a couple of the university’s administrators
through the Blueprint, and while they raved about how
wonderful the tool is, by that fall, little seemed to have come of the
big picture plans.
Things stagnated somewhat for about nine months, when all of a sudden late this past spring, several different people began approaching me about the Blueprint. I took some more people at the university through it, and through that, we were able to get a grant for one of the university’s classes. This fall, I had the privilege of teaching for a week in a Theology of Christian Service class, taking all of the 26 students through their component-level assessments. One professor, who recently finished her PhD on Servant Leadership, sat in and would like to use the Blueprint in her classes as well. I am on the leadership council for a women’s evangelism ministry here in Bismarck, and my friend and council leader Fran is excited about using Blueprint to help train our leaders. I also volunteer at the local Teen Challenge, and we will be taking women there through the Blueprint as they near completion of their nine-month program, to help them evaluate their needs and gifts as they enter back into life in the “real” world. Another friend of mine’s husband started having me do assessments for business associates as they make hiring decisions. Our church leadership will be going through the process and asking the Lord how we can use it with our church body.
But the most exciting opportunity of all came at Shiloh, my children’s private Christian school. Another good friend of mine heads up the “Freedom in Christ” ministry here in Bismarck, and we have talked about dovetailing the two ministries together: Find out who you are in Christ, and then find out how you are uniquely gifted in His Body. This year Shiloh has been taking all of their staff and students through “Freedom in Christ” materials. My greatest joy came when the head administrator asked me if we could use the Grip/Birkman Blueprint materials next year, and kick off the year by taking their forty staff through the process!
So, here I am three years later, October 2006, and to be honest, I am still not sure what lays before me, but I am still certain of what God has put on my heart: finding out who you are in Christ and who you are in His Body. I feel truly blessed and privileged that throughout this season of upheaval and transition, God has given me the Blueprint ministry window to see glimpses of His work in others’ lives as well as my own.
NOTE: Click here to see Kate’s personally designed Blueprint brochure.
Look
All Around You...Our New Website, with more changes to come!
August
2006 is the beginning of a new season for the Your Leadership
Grip/Birkman Blueprint. No longer is the coaches website within the
website of Dr. Paul Ford. It has its own new url and its own new look
-- thanks to the awesome look given us by webmaster
Allan Gunneson of
Gunner Web Group!
Before you read our two features for July/August below, please look
around the website, starting with the Home page. And more changes will
be coming.
The biggest change is
that, by the end of 2006, I will not be driving the website's
development as I have since its inception about 14 months ago. It now
has a solid foundation with lots of possibilities upon which to build
The Grip/Birkman Blueprint AND the Coaches Website are no longer simply
extensions of my ministry -- because of the quality investment of you
all! Thus it must begin to reflect more and more of
you rather than just my creative edge.
I'm not going anywhere. But I do look forward to the new things God
brings to our process through a number of you who are trainers and
coaches for the Grip/Birkman Blueprint, some of you who want to help
create something more than what is. Be watching for an important mailing
and questionnaire about this toward the end of August....
For the Kingdom,
Paul
 |
|
Welcome our New
Coaches from June in L.A.... Back row: Boyd Pelley, Sharon Lubkeman, Chad Meyer, David Dougherty, Lisa Womble, Ramona Woods, Charlene Eshleman. Not pictured: Lloyd Rodgers. Front Row: Trainers Rick Tansey, Paul Ford, and Steve Hoke. |
 |
|
...and our New
Coaches from July in Sarasota, FL.... Trainer Hal Burke, John Vandervoort, Andy DeGuire, Steve Potter, and Ron Ward |
Personal Impact from the Grip/Birkman
Blueprint Coaches Training in Los Angeles in June
The Coaches Training for the Grip/Birkman Blueprint (Torrance, CA) was
both valuable and insightful. The instruction time that included
individual hands-on activities was extremely valuable. Most valuable to
me were the opportunities to expand our knowledge and understanding of
the information and skills presented by both discovering/uncovering
God's giftings "in us" and assisting others in their
discovery/uncovering process.
I will never forget, what became a word for me: "I" can not
exist/function without "the whole". Although I have been in ministry
for more than 40 years, and have preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ for
better than 30, the truth and reality of the message of Christ was never
so real and revolutionizing as during the training, hearing teaching
about the "oneness" of the Body being the plan of God.
This
was not just a passing thrill or moment of excitement that lasted a few
days and waned following the mid June training. The message and truth
of it was another part in the healing process that the Lord has been
working in me about "people" in general, and the Body in particular. My
profile and temperament bear out the truth that I am not nor want to be
dependent on people for anything. The grace of our Lord has allowed me
to see that not only are self sufficiency and isolation not an option,
they directly oppose the message of Jesus Christ and I do so want to be
more like Him. The leaders of our Church are experiencing the results of
this revolution in that no matter the training or teaching I do, they
are being inundated with the Body message instead of being massaged by a
"solo" message that would make it comfortable to be exclusive and not
involved.
Thank you [Steve Hoke, Rick Tansey, and Paul Ford] for allowing the Lord
to prune and use the gifts He has made in you for the Body.
Ramona Woods,
Pentecostal Pastor
Note: As the Lord begins to expand the Grip/Birkman Blueprint into
many more lives and events than just coaches training, we will see and
hear more of the following stories. PF
From Rodney Nicodemus
Youth Pastor, First United Methodist church
New Port Richey, Florida
I took the Empowering Leadership mini training at the Gathering
[Trainers Hal Burke, Tim Roehl, Debbie Scroggin, and Brad Sprague with
Paul in Sarasota, Florida] in January of 2006. It was like a light went
on in my head that said,
"Of course this is what leadership is all about.
Raising up
people to be leaders using the gifts that God has
blessed
them with and made them powerful through."
I took this radical theory back to the youth ministry I have been
working in for 6 years and changed the way I delegated responsibiblity.
I no longer just hand out projects, I give ownership of the ministry to
the young adults and youth who are spiritually gifted in those areas.
This has freed me to focus on the areas of ministry that I am gifted in
and the ministry has taken on a life of it's own. God has been blessing
and doing things through people that I could never have done.
Each person brings a passion and excitement to the ministry they are
over. I am in the middle of summer and I am more stress-free this year
than I have been in 13 years. I have learned to discover who I
need, instead of what I need, to make me complete. I no longer
have to do all of the work of the ministry myself. My goal in ministry
is to develop youth to be all that God has created them to be NOW. They
do not have to wait until they get older to do great things for God.
Thank you for giving me clarity on what leadership was intended to be.
We will always be greater than me.
Thank you [training team of Paul Ford, Debbie Scroggin, Brad Sprague,
Hal Burke, and for giving of your time to invest in the lives of kids
and adults you will never meet by changing my and others' mindsets.
Rodney
Feedback from First Grip/Birkman Users Group Meeting April 28-30
Six of us formed the nucleus of this first-time-ever event. Here's feedback
from the participants: Trainers Larry and Susan Gay, Hal Burke, and Coaches
Darrel and Shirley Seale:
1. Iron always needs to be sharpened by iron. Dialoguing with others who
might have similar challenges and/or experiences simply is not adequately
done in emails, blogs, or articles on a Website.
2. We are beginning to see the need to establish and maintain standards of
training!
3. New insights and innovations....We pick up nuggets from each other.
4. We had some misunderstanding about how to use the "Dotted Diamond" as it
relates to the Birkman Lifestyle Grid. As we all discussed it, we gained
new, unified insight on how it could be better explained (see summary
article below by Susan Gay).
5. Relationally we gained depth with like-minded, like-hearted people, so
that we can work together better now and in the future.
6. We came up with very specific suggestions to offer to Debbie Scroggin,
National Training Team Leader, on a framework for guidelines for certifying
and re-certifying both Trainers and Coaches.
7. We were able to address this key, ongoing question: "What needs to be don
to make the process more workable and user-oriented?"
Great summary statement: "I need the one-to-one or small group dialogue
FACE TO FACE so I can argue, question, share my gaps in understanding in
person."
Paul Ford's comment:
We had a great time and the group unanimously
confirmed that we need to continue the yearly event as a primary continuing
education commitment for trainers and coaches. Specific suggestions are
going to Debbie Scroggin, National Training Team Leader, as to suggested
certification and re-certification standards for both Trainers and Coaches.
We are almost to a critical mass where such is essential to our growth and
health.
We also established a suggested summary understanding about the "Dotted
Diamond," put in summary form below by Susan Gay. This is good stuff!
God's Spirit Working Powerfully Through Your Personality:
The Dotted Diamond and Your Birkman Usual Style
by Susan Gay, Grip/Birkman Blueprint Trainer
What happens to our Birkman Usual Effective Style when the Holy Spirit works
powerfully through us in our spiritual gifts?
Paul
Ford’s concept of the dotted diamond begins to answer that question. At the
April 2006 User’s Group meeting in Albuquerque, the group dialogued about
what the dotted diamond means and the advantages and limitations of sharing
this concept in training.
At the user’s group meeting, we reviewed some cases where the person’s gifts
are almost totally compatible with their personality and others whose gifts
are very different from their natural personalities. The dotted diamond
concept is especially helpful for those of us whose spiritual gifts enable
us to operate in areas that our natural personalities do not reflect as seen
in the Birkman profile.
One of the questions we discussed is whether the dotted diamond always
travels in the same direction in the same individual. Could it be that God
moves our diamond in one direction under certain circumstances and in
another direction under others? Of course--because God is sovereign and He
is the one who gives us the gifts in the first place! “He (the Holy Spirit)
gives them (the gifts) to each one just as He determines.” (1 Corinthians
12:11).
While each gift or combination of gifts tends to move our diamond in a
general direction, it is God, in His sovereignty, who works powerfully to
use each of His children as He determines. We can never put God in a box or
limit His working in an individual’s life. Thus, the dotted diamond is not
necessarily in a fixed or permanent position on the grid. We will encourage
identifying general direction in how the Spirit may move the usual or
effective style (diamond on the LifeStyle Grid), but not make serious
attempts to be exacting in that movement. That confirms that the Spirit is
ultimately the One who determines the exact movement.
April 2006
Faith & Discernment of Spirits:
A New Way to think about these Two Spiritual Gifts
Tim Roehl, Trainer
As we help people process their understanding and application of their
supernatural empowering, we have them process two particular spiritual gifts
in a special way…Neither really fits effectively in the "Equipping or
Supporting Gifts " categories. So, I offer the following as a way to see
each :
Faith is the “turbo-charger” or “energizer” of other spiritual gifts.
Whenever faith is present, it gives a supernatural boost to a person’s gift
“moosh.” Even more than that, it also helps to “turbo-charge” the gifts of
others on their team! For example, my gift “moosh” is “wise encouraging
leadership energized by faith.” As I get feedback from other brothers and
sisters, they tell me that my gift “moosh” could also be described as “wise
encouraging leadership that energizes the faith of others.” When faith is a
part of the mix, both can be true! Faith energizes your other gifts, but it
also turbo charges the faith of others! If you have faith in your “moosh,”
pay attention to its implications, and similarly encourage others who have
this gift.
“What about the gift of discernment of spirits?” The question came from an
earnest person who did not see where the gift of discernment of spirits fit
into our equipping vs. supporting language, team styles and primary
functions of leadership. Out of some good discussion, a new insight we
developed during January's Blueprint Coaches Training in Minneapolis was:
the gift of discernment of spirits identifies the source of spiritual input
(whether from God, the sinful nature or Satan). It also “sets the table” and
helps “focus” the other gifts that believer may have. For example, a
person’s gift of discernment of spirits may “set the table for” and “focus”
their gifts of teaching, prophecy, or other gifts.
The gift of Faith = turbo-charger
Discernment of Spirits = table-setter
As you process these issues with believers, let these tips about the gifts
of faith and discernment of spirits further enhance their understanding and
operation of their leadership grip!
Stress and Sin:
A Grip/Birkman Perspective
Larry Gay, Trainer
Is there really any difference between sin and the stress behaviors
identified by the Birkman questionnaire?
The Birkman helps individuals to identify their own usual or most effective
behaviors as well as stress behaviors in eleven component areas. Acting out
of our stress behaviors is not necessarily sinful. Sometimes we must use our
stress behaviors to accomplish our goals or interests—in an emergency, or to
meet a deadline. But if we spend all our time in our stress behaviors, we
will not be as effective as we could or should be in accomplishing our goals
or interests. In that sense, stress behaviors are bad and can be sinful
against ourselves or others.
MOTIVE helps to define sin. The Birkman does not measure motive, but in some
way the seven cultural values Paul Ford has listed might point in that
direction. All of these cultural values are inherently selfish in their
essence:
• Narcissism...it’s all about me
• Entitlement...I deserve what I want because...
• Dissatisfaction...because I am just not happy with most of life
• Sarcasm...a highly prized cultural ability, humor at someone’s expense
• The “Ladder Mentality”...moving up is what is most important
• Rebellion glorified...always with us in the past, now it’s praised
• Blame...someone else must pay for my problem or situation!)
If my motives are selfish (acting out of one or more of these cultural
values) or if I am acting out of pride or fear (two sides of the selfish ego
coin), then my behavior is sinful.
Another area related to sin has to do with the definition of need or
expectation. Often, our expectations have to do with how we expect others to
act toward us. Selfishly I would expect the other person to know my needs
and behave according to how I think he/she ought to act toward me, but
Birkman insists that the individual is the one who is responsible for seeing
that his/her needs are met. Of course, I could still act out of a selfish
motive in expressing my needs or expectations to others.
Cornelius Plantinga described sin by looking at the term shalom. Shalom is
more than simple peace, it is the norm that God intends for his creation by
design and for redemption. Shalom is the way it was meant to be and sin is
Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be. (Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.,.Not the Way It’s
Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.) In my own
case, I recognize that things are not the way they are supposed to be
whenever I am acting out of stress as seen in the Birkman components,
because it keeps me from acting in my usual, most effective way—the way it’s
supposed to be.
Our usual behavior (as normed by our spiritual gifts) is by definition our
most effective behavior. This is where living in the Spirit becomes so
important for the Christian and why looking at spiritual giftedness along
with the personality is so important to us. One of our jobs as coaches and
feedback facilitators is to help people explore why they act one way or the
other and how they can be more effective in the body of Christ by being true
to who they are in the body. When I am living in my stress behaviors, I am
not very likely to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace,
patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control). In
fact, a good test for whether the behavior is sinful or not might be to ask
the question “What aspect of the fruit of the Spirit are you exhibiting when
you act this way?”
February 14, 2006
Greetings Coaches & Trainers,
It is a new season for the Grip/Birkman Blueprint! My publisher and
partner
in the Blueprint process, ChurchSmart Resources, had their ten year
anniversary conference, The Gathering. in Tampa, Florida January 10-12.
ChurchSmart used this venue to announce the Grand Opening nationally for the
Grip/Birkman Blueprint, and over half of the 400 attendees attended one of
my three "taste and see" workshops, two focused on the Grip/Birkman
Blueprint. Each of the participants had been given a gratis "Base Level"
report and, with Coach Bob Rummel's strong support from the ChurchSmart
staff, the majority had that report in hand for the workshop. It was
AWESOME!
Joining me in this were four of our Trainers, "the best in the world" is how
I introduced them! Brad Sprague, Debbie Scroggin, Tim Roehl, and Hal Burke
were alongside me the workshops. Hal and Debbie give you some perspective
and COACHING TIPS below on what we did. God gave us great favor as the
response was overwhelmingly positive. We are seeing fruit born actively
already from the event. Brad, Debbie, Hal, and Tim are also doing follow-up
phone calls with many of the 140 denominational leaders and pastors who
participated. Thanks you four for standing with me in introducing our
resource to North America in a public forum for the first time! Pray for
depth of insight and for God's favor as the calls are made....
NEWEST TRAINER. Tim Roehl is our newest Trainer, officially
validated in a training he and I did together in Minneapolis in January. The
coaches we trained were ALL from Tim's tribe, the Evangelical Church, so the
event really became a kick-off for introducing the Blueprint resource as an
assessing resource denomination-wide for them! Congratulations and welcome
Tim!
UPDATED COACHES TRAINING OUTLINE. From that event, Tim and I
made some changes in our Coaches Training outline --
click
here to see the newly updated "Grip/Birkman Blueprint Coaches
Training" outline. Please note changes in the presentations in #2 and #6, as
we have changed the order of how the Birkman Foursome pieces are presented.
Some of you will find value in this new order as you coach individuals or do
teambuilding events.
Thanks for being a part of our team....God's hand is on this process as we
continue to be good stewards of the new relationships God gives us with whom
to utilize the Grip/Birkman Blueprint.
For the Kingdom,
Paul
Hal Burke...
TRAINING & COACHING. We saw the demonstration of the principle
that Paul so
passionately espouses: it is all about relationships! This was
true as we coaches gathered around him to pray and advise in preparation for
the large group presentations. We also saw it demonstrated as we
individually coached the break-out groups of 12-18 at the end of each
presentation. The participants appreciated the opportunity to process with
us in smaller groups. Otherwise
I think they would have been too overloaded
with information without the chance to assimilate and apply. I continue to
marvel at the "ah hahs" of immediate insight and, at the same time, the
potential to discover more and more by delving deeper over a period of time.
"LAY MOBILIZING" APPLICATION AREA. This particular workshop
demonstrated to me that a major target group for coaching in the G/BB
process is those in churches who have responsibilities and resources for
implementing lay mobilization. They have both motivation and the means to
follow through with the training.
I went away from this training more convinced than ever of the efficacy of
the process!
Debbie Scroggin...
EQUIPPING & RELEASING MODELED. From the large group teaching
to small group
breakout we saw surprisingly in-depth impact in a limited
amount of time (five hours total in "taste and see" format). What a great
way to engage a large group while making them feel like a part of a personal
encounter. As Hal said, Paul introduced four pieces of the Grip/Birkman
Blueprint resource in the large group, and then had the large group break
into smaller groups with each of us four trainers so they could apply and
learn on a more personal level. In doing so, Paul modeled for them the
bigger picture of equipping and releasing others -- us four Trainers -- to
play their parts. Attendees walked away having experienced valuable
teaching, modeled application, and personal introspection.
"COACHING AS LISTENING" APPLICATION POINT. I had my doubts as
if anything of great value can be accomplished in such a short time frame.
By days end each day, my doubts had abated. Learning to sit back and watch
the group minister to each other was of great benefit. This group context
provided for several perspectives and observations to be expressed. By
sitting back and allowing them to help each other, I had the privilege of
watching a young octogenarian enjoy learning a new thing or two. I
experienced the joy in observing a women realize that she had been operating
in her stress behavior for so long that those who knew her thought it was
really her usual behavior. It amplified the benefit of following instruction
from James 1;19 to be quick to listen and slow to speak. I have no way of
knowing where the outcome of these discoveries will lead.
I do know that those in attendance discovered new ways of seeing themselves
and had plans for positive change. That in itself continues to be the
driving motivation for pressing forward in using this valuable resource.
February 14, 2006
Greetings Coaches & Trainers,
It is a new season for the Grip/Birkman Blueprint! My publisher and partner
in the Blueprint process, ChurchSmart Resources, had their ten year
anniversary conference, The Gathering. in Tampa, Florida January 10-12.
ChurchSmart used this venue to announce the Grand Opening nationally for the
Grip/Birkman Blueprint, and over half of the 400 attendees attended one of
my three "taste and see" workshops, two focused on the Grip/Birkman
Blueprint. Each of the participants had been given a gratis "Base Level"
report and, with Coach Bob Rummel's strong support from the ChurchSmart
staff, the majority had that report in hand for the workshop. It was
AWESOME!
Joining me in this were four of our Trainers, "the best in the world" is how
I introduced them! Brad Sprague, Debbie Scroggin, Tim Roehl, and Hal Burke
were alongside me the workshops. Hal and Debbie give you some perspective
and COACHING TIPS below on what we did. God gave us great favor as the
response was overwhelmingly positive. We are seeing fruit born actively
already from the event. Brad, Debbie, Hal, and Tim are also doing follow-up
phone calls with many of the 140 denominational leaders and pastors who
participated. Thanks you four for standing with me in introducing our
resource to North America in a public forum for the first time! Pray for
depth of insight and for God's favor as the calls are made....
NEWEST TRAINER. Tim Roehl is our newest Trainer, officially
validated in a training he and I did together in Minneapolis in January. The
coaches we trained were ALL from Tim's tribe, the Evangelical Church, so the
event really became a kick-off for introducing the Blueprint resource as an
assessing resource denomination-wide for them! Congratulations and welcome
Tim!
UPDATED COACHES TRAINING OUTLINE. From that event, Tim and I
made some changes in our Coaches Training outline --
click
here to see the newly updated "Grip/Birkman Blueprint Coaches
Training" outline. Please note changes in the presentations in #2 and #6, as
we have changed the order of how the Birkman Foursome pieces are presented.
Some of you will find value in this new order as you coach individuals or do
teambuilding events.
Thanks for being a part of our team....God's hand is on this process as we
continue to be good stewards of the new relationships God gives us with whom
to utilize the Grip/Birkman Blueprint.
For the Kingdom,
Paul
November 1, 2005
Greetings
Coaches. There is much going on right now, and important time for the
Grip/Birkman Blueprint!
Three major events are coming for your awareness, prayer and, with #3, your
welcomed attendance...
(Webmaster note...the two pictures above send shivers up my spine. Who would have thought Paul would have a body double? Uncanny, huh? On with the show...)
1. Three of our Blueprint Coaches are going
through Birkman Certification in Houston next week, November 7-10.
God continues to give increase in the number among us who are taking the
steps to become full-fledged Grip/Birkman Trainers!
Gail Davis (featured below)
Director of Missionary Training, OMS International, Greenwood, IN
Mike Johnson
President of "Ascending Leaders" training organization, Houston, TX
Rick Tansey
CRM trainer and author/Director of "MaxHealth" leadership training, San Pedro, CA
2. Grip/Birkman Blueprint Seminar
outline "4MAT"ing process in San Bernardino, CA December 12-14...
We are taking our current training outline and strengthening its quality and
breadth of presentation or, we are further untying the outline from the
pioneer Ford guy and making it more user friendly to all Blueprint
trainers!!
4MAT process? Check out
www.aboutlearning.com/what_is_4mat.htm.
Buck Rogers, a CRM teammate and expert 4MAT trainer, is leading Ford, Hoke,
Roehl, Scroggin, Sprague, and Tansey through this two day process.
And now, your invitation to the formal "Coming Out" of the Grip/Birkman
Blueprint resource at ChurchSmart Publisher's 10 year anniversary
Conference....
3. The Gathering, January 10-12,
near Tampa, Florida
(click
here to see the brochure)
Six intro workshops spread out over the first two days - sign-up numbers so
far have been fantastic! At least five coaches or trainers are already
coming....
This Month's TRAINING FOCUS:
the GIFTS TRIANGLE portion of the Grip/Birkman Blueprint
Sub-titled: How this Blueprint coach
keeps learning about her own teammates with Post It poster paper!
Gail Davis Reports...
We just completed a Team Building workshop where we were training OMS
in-house teambuilding facilitators. I learned something valuable about each
of my co-workers that has changed the way that I interact with them. I will
focus on just the gifts half of the Grip/Birkman Blueprint for my purposes
here.
I am a visual learner and was helped so much by putting all the data from
the workbook (i.e.. the gifts triangle, who we need, etc.) on large Post-It
poster size paper on the wall.
We now have a
self-help tool for doing this (click here).
Our
team could immediately compare the posted ”data” to the behavior of our
co-workers. This led to many expressed “Umms” and “Aha’s” as we understood a
little better about the motivation behind actions.
The most significant learning for me came when I realized that a co-worker
of mine is not likely to initiate action but will happily join me in
ventures that I initiate. Seeing her gifts triangle on the poster and
working side-by-side with her helped me to see and understand that for the
first time. Understanding her gifting mix helps me not to expect her to act
in ways that are unnatural for her but second nature for me. It gives her
the opportunity to be the alongside helper that she is and helps us work
together more harmoniously. I appreciated the opportunity during the
break-out session to share with her what I was seeing. She was really
appreciative that I had seen her correctly and it was a turning point in our
relationship.
HOW we gather the information about the people we coach is indispensable to
this process. Insight comes through:
- carefully phrased questions that
confirm the results of the process
- allowing them to describe moments when they felt God was at work through
them
- putting the data carefully on the Post It paper or newsprint on the wall
There is a powerful moment when we connect with who that person really is,
when they feel validated and understood, maybe for the first time in their
lives. It is such events that make coaching such a wonderful experience.
