FIVE QUALITIES OF PRACTICE IN SUPPORT OF

LEADERS DEVELOPING LEADERS

by

Lisa Anderson-Umana

B.S., Penn State University, 1982 Master of Arts, Wheaton College Graduate School, 1993

PRE-CLASS ASSIGNMENT

Submitted to the faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

ME 9250 Leadership Development & Culture, Jim Plueddemann for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Educational Studies

at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Deerfield, Illinois April 2008

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CONTENTS FIVE QUALITIES OF PRACTICE IN SUPPORT OF LEADERS DEVELOPING LEADERS................................................................................................................................. 1

Leaders developing leaders as relationship centric............................................................... 2 Leaders developing leaders as accompaniment .................................................................... 3 Leaders developing leaders and humility ............................................................................. 4 Leaders developing leaders in the context of community and team..................................... 5 Leaders developing leaders as a pilgrimage ......................................................................... 6

REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 8

FIVE QUALITIES OF PRACTICE IN SUPPORT OF

LEADERS DEVELOPING LEADERS

Carol Plueddemann asks: Would I be willing to share with her and Jim an

anecdote regarding cross-cultural leadership development for possible inclusion in their

upcoming book?

With that question fresh in my mind I climbed onto the bus with 35 other

leaders-in-training and off we went to camp. What followed were 48-hours of accompanying

program directors as they led camp programs using for “campers” leaders who were also

being trained at the same to serve as small group counselors.

I confess that my mind was spinning as I tried throughout the weekend to

recall specific anecdotes and because there has been so many, over so many years and in so

many different countries I could not pinpoint one in particular. I think my mind was

searching for some resting point, for some structure to hang the stories on like beautiful

Christmas decorations awaking the arrival of the pine tree in order to display their beauty.

I found the perfect tree.

I found it in the most unlikely of places.

I found the perfect structure to hang my stories on in a book called

Forgiveness and reconciliation: Religion, public policy, and conflict transformation

(Helmick 2001). It is not quite the resource one would naturally turn to discover the secrets

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of leadership development but in the following paragraphs I trust the reader

will agree that I have found the best of trees on which to showcase these gems. Given the

belief that there is no such thing as a Holy Grail of cross-cultural leadership development I

pose the following question:

What qualities of process appear to have been pivotal in engendering the

practice of leaders developing leaders in volunteer settings? (Lederach, 2001, 194).

Here are the five branches of the “Christmas tree” I found. Although Lederach

wrote these five qualities of process and practice for the context of reconciliation on the

global scale, I believe the same principles coincide perfectly to my area of passion and

interest.

1. Leaders developing leaders as relationship centric. 2. Leaders developing leaders as accompaniment. 3. Leaders developing leaders and humility. 4. Leaders developing leaders in the context of community and team. 5. Leaders developing leaders as a pilgrimage.

Leaders developing leaders as relationship centric

“Hmm, this is delicious, Norma, there is nothing like a home cooked meal.” I

had been living in Honduras for over a year, renting a room and mostly eating out so going to

Norma’s house once-a-week was a highlight for me. During our weekly visits, I got to know

her children, played basketball with her husband as we developed a close friendship. After

two years, Norma took over my role in Honduras as National training director for Christian

Camping International (CCI). She remained in that role for over twelve years, developing

hundreds of local church leaders to serve as camp counselors and program directors.

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Leaders are not formed just through training, having a relationship with them

is central. Within the family oriented Latin culture, that relationship best include their loved

ones as well.

Leaders developing leaders as accompaniment

With her characteristic gleam in her eyes, she exclaimed: “Lisa, I can’t wait to

tell you about this weekend! I accompanied Carlos as he directed a children’s camp for my

denomination.” Carlos graduated this year from CCI Latin America’s Institute for Forming

Instructors and Bessy walked alongside him as he trained the counselors and then led the

camp.

Since I knew what her schedule was like, incredulously I asked “How did you

ever manage to squeeze in the time to do that, Bessy?”

“Well, the same way you managed to do it with me”, Bessy replied with a

smile on her face.

Leaders develop other leaders using the very means and manner in which they

were taught. Leaders do not always do what you tell them, however, for better or worse, they

often do what you show them. Walking alongside a national affords you the opportunity to

see how they lead, allows you to learn from them, creates the space for them to ask your

advice, and then as need be teach them with your words and deeds what God has so

graciously taught you.

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Leaders developing leaders and humility

“Pide perdon.”

“Ask forgiveness.”

“Why?” retorted Evelyn.

“For having arrived late to the staff meeting.”

I had already worked in Latin America for ten years so I was well aware of

Latins view of time and punctuality. But I was bound and determined that things would be

run differently here in El Salvador. By insisting that late comers make a public apology, I

would create a different sub-culture here, similar to the one I had admired from a camp in the

United States.

All but one of the leaders subjected themselves to my humiliating request and

entered the room.

Evelyn did not. She remained outside.

Later that week, we had another staff meeting. But this time it was I who

asked forgiveness thanks to the forthright confrontation of the Salvadorians and their natural

resistance to “Yankee imperialism,” which is what they considered to be my insistence on

apologizing for being late. I count as one my most loyal friends and co-leaders that same

Evelyn who remained outside the room.

Nothing is as ineffective as a foreigner who comes and tells you how things

should be done. Given the prominent role North America has played in influencing its

southern neighbors in modern times, as well as the historic antecedent of having been

conquered by the Spaniards, Latins are used to being told what to do. That may give them the

propensities to either fight back or submit to outside influences but what it has not prepared

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the general population to do on a large scale is to examine, scrutinize and evaluate those

influences. Therefore, be careful how you lead. They might lead likewise only for you and

them to later discover it is not the best way to lead and be led. Humility would suggest that

our leadership development processes and practices be rooted and responsive to the context

and people. This type of humility has been sorely lacking in many of my efforts to develop

leaders over the last twenty-five years in Latin America.

Leaders developing leaders in the context of community and team

The spider web glistened as it hung between two trees twenty feel apart. I

would have stepped directly into it were it not suddenly highlighted by the sun’s rays. I

stopped and sat down to ponder its significance since we were at camp and our task for the

next hour was to observe God’s creation and discover His invisible qualities revealed in

nature. I stared in awe at the intricate connection between the finely woven strands.

Here is what I am still in the process of wondering about and postulating.

What if the leaders that leaders develop are their own family members or relatives? Latin

American culture is very family oriented. I gazed around at the thirty-five leaders we were

with at the training camp as we were all spread out individually observing God’s creation.

We had two pairs of sisters, one trio of sisters, a husband and wife, a brother and sister-in-

law, a boyfriend-girlfriend couple, my goodness, almost half of them were related. Without

our even capitalizing on it, people were telling their family members about our training

courses and were inviting them to get involved. Our team of leaders was experiencing a

natural growth in size; with each new event more were added, it was not the same leaders all

the time, there were new ones coming along in the wake.

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Hmm. So the spider web’s strands are interconnected like a family’s but it is

also stretched out between two very distant trees. So, maybe the lesson is that we must be

cautious to build a strong sense of Biblical community under which all of us would

experience a sense of belonging. I am aware that Latins are not community oriented. Your

team is your blood family, not your neighbors. So, our challenge as an Association of

Christian Camping leaders will be make the most of Latin’s family orientation to keep adding

new members as we strive to build cohesive teams where leaders develop each other,

creating a sense of belonging to a Biblical community.

Leaders developing leaders as a pilgrimage

There is no quite fix, no short cut, no Holy Grail, no software, no technology,

no magic formula that can guarantee us perfect results. A far more realistic approach would

be to acquaint oneself with the rather long process the God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac took

with raising up the leadership deficient population of Israel to move from slavery in Egypt to

world class leaders who were held in awe by their neighboring population once they moved

into the Promised Land. For leaders to develop leaders, with the support and accompaniment

of leaders from other cultures, “we need to develop long-term lenses and commitments, both

programmatically and institutionally. I believe we should move toward thinking in decades

rather than months or a few years” (Lederach 2001, 202).

For me, this part of the story is still in process. Although I have lived and

worked in Latin America for almost twenty-five years, at times I feel like I am still

wandering in the desert regarding cross cultural cues, how to form leaders who form leaders

and the myriad of other aspects that make up ministry. I am learning not to fear the feeling of

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being lost and not having all the answers as I strengthen my relationship and trust in the

Pillar of Light who guides us by day and by night.

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REFERENCES

Helmick, Raymond G. 2001. Forgiveness and reconciliation: Religion, public policy, and

conflict transformation, ed, Petersen, S.J. and Petersen, Rodney L. 2001. Radnor, Pa.: Templeton Foundation Press.

Lederach, John Paul. 2001. Five qualities of practice in support of reconciliation processes.

In Forgiveness and reconciliation: Religion, public policy, and conflict transformation, ed. Helmick, Raymond G., Petersen, S.J. and Petersen, Rodney L. 2001. Radnor, Pa.: Templeton Foundation Press.