How to Lead When You Don't Know Where You're Going: Leading in a Liminal Season

by Susan Beaumont author of How to Lead When You Don't Know Where You're Going

Overview

How do you lead an organization stuck between an ending and a new beginning—when the old way of doing things no longer works but a way forward is not yet clear? Beaumont calls such in-between times liminal seasons—threshold times when the continuity of tradition disintegrates and uncertainty about the future fuels doubt and chaos. In a liminal season it simply is not helpful to pretend we understand what needs to happen next. But leaders can still lead.



How to Lead When You Don’t Know Where You’re Going is a practical book of hope for tired and weary leaders who risk defining this era of ministry in terms of failure or loss. It helps leaders stand firm in a disoriented state, learning from their mistakes and leading despite the confusion. Packed with rich stories and real-world examples, Beaumont guides the reader through practices that connect the soul of the leader with the soul of the institution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538127698
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	09/17/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	184
Sales rank:	817,845
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Susan Beaumont is a consultant, coach, and spiritual director. She has worked with hundreds of congregations and denominational bodies across the United States and in Canada. Susan is the author of Inside the Large Congregation and coauthor of When Moses Meets Aaron: Staffing and Supervision in Large Congregations. She is known for engaging cutting-edge organizational practices, filtered through the lens of careful spiritual and theological reflection. Read more about her work at www.susanbeaumont.com.

Table of Contents

Preface

1 An Introduction to Liminality: Neither Here nor There 1

2 Leading with Presence: Holding Steady

3 Tending the Soul of the Institution: Finding Soul in Place

4 Deepening Group Discernment: Seeing What God Is Up To

5 Shaping Institutional Memory: Tell Me Our Story

6 Clarifying Purpose: Who Do We Choose to Be?

7 Engaging Emergence: Are We There Yet?

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

Susan Beaumont has written a book that gives great insight on a time in the church that seems both precarious and hopeful. By naming the characteristics and markers of liminality she gives a name to what has already changed, and why many church leaders feel unsettled. But then she continues on, in a way that only someone with her coaching and leadership experience can, to give clear examples and case studies of how leaders can listen to the Holy Spirit to be led through the mist to the future through leadership development and communal discernment. I am grateful for her thoughtful work in this area.

Dawn Alitz

Leadership in today’s world has more unknown and never-seen-before challenges. When we look at the old models and solutions, the answers simply no longer work. What is a leader to do? Understanding why leadership is different from ever before is the starting point to success. In this volume, Beaumont defines the liminal season of organizations and helps to normalize the new realities so many of us face. If you feel uncertain about next steps and confused about what is happening to your congregation or organization, you will find help to navigate the challenges you face. I encourage you to pick up this helpful volume.

Phill Martin

The still, small voice of God tells me not to be afraid. Susan Beaumont’s book tells me how. In a time when if-then scenarios and step-by-step solutions no longer satisfy, Beaumont provides guidance on the postures and attitudes that, combined with intentionality and attentiveness, serve to render leaders effective in an era of chronic uncertainty.

Sarah B. Drummond

If you long to link spiritual sensitivity and vital leadership, this book is a remarkable resource. Beaumont writes for an in-between time for which none of us is prepared. With marvelous examples, she draws upon authenticity, discernment, memory, and purpose to give hope and direction for congregational leaders.

Lovett H. Weems