Learning how to be in community with people who have different opinions or experiences is essential in UU congregations.

Leaders understand that processes, tasks and outcomes will not necessarily be the same next week as they were, and they remain agile in approaching situations and answers to questions and issues that arise in their work with congregations; they know that they have to be continually learning and asking “is this the best way to get what we want to achieve at this time?”

Change Skills—one of the recommended leadership development competencies—include: Understanding the difference between unhealthy and creative conflict. Being knowledgeable about change theories and strategies. Understanding the difference between technical and adaptive challenges. Core Values We...

Conflict Skills are part of the recommended leadership development competencies. Conflict Skills include: Understanding the difference between unhealthy and creative conflict. Being able to diffuse unhealthy conflict. Being able to be present to and engage in healthy conflict....

Healthy and transparent communication needs to be mutual, with all parties taking responsibility for their words. Leaders should have firm policies against accepting anonymous feedback.

What is the difference between a technical challenge and an adaptive challenge? Rev. David Pyle gives a helpful example.

Organizations, like all systems, seek equilibrium. If a congregation is thrown out of balance by the prospect of change, most members will seek to restore order and sameness. This is natural and should not be a reason to judge one another. Healthy organizations have developed the ability to be receptive to change and resistance--to lean into the disruption to their equilibrium. This is where a congregation becomes a community of learning.

One key insight for leaders is to understanding how responses to change are not just intellectual, but emotional. This presentation provides a mental model using a rollercoaster to help you lead through change.

In marriage we have vows and in congregations we have behavioral covenants. Without intention and agreements on how to process disagreements and conflicts, vows and covenants can end up meaningless, or even harmful. In other words, we need to agree on how to fight, for fight we will. In this...

We’ll look at the challenges of working through change of all types in your program, from introducing new curriculum to adding a second service. The role of staff and leaders in change management will be examined and strategies for lowering anxiety will be introduced. (2015)...

Congregational leaders today are facing challenges that have no easy answers or quick fixes. Developing practices that enable the congregation to use its collective wisdom to experiment with different ideas and approaches....

It’s not your parents’ church anymore, that’s for sure. You may have heard that Unitarian Universalist religious expression will take different forms in the 21st century than it has in the past. Here are some things we know: The way we have been ‘doing’ congregational life is modeled on a...

The total eclipse of 2017 is nearly here, where the moon comes between the earth and the sun, upending all we thought we understood about the universe and our place in it. Science can explain the mechanics in ways that we humans can mostly understand but the enormity of this shadow play taking place...

Sometimes, living in a bubble can be a good thing. It can create a barrier between harmful things on the outside and precious things on the inside. In some ways, our congregational covenants operate in this way....

The new year offers a new opportunity to take stock of how your congregation is serving its mission. Invite your leadership team to take stock of your current program offerings. Is the program bringing in new life in the form of new participants?...

Your mission is what is hanging on the wall, Your system is what is happening down the hall....

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I spent several days hiking in the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia for my vacation. (It was a good opportunity to get away from the technology that is my constant companion during the rest of the year, since there are few cell phone towers in those mountains.) Many of the trails we...