Eight Ways to Kill an Organization
February 10, 2020
Leave a CommentDr. G. & Friends
Eight Ways to Kill an Organization
I’ve done enough consultations long enough and studied organizations carefully enough to recognize a pattern in some organizations. I refer here to those whose organizations, some young, some old, that ended their institutional lifespan. Though many were surprised by the...
+ Read More10 Books to Read with your Child
Along the Journey
10 Books to Read with your Child
Today is Read Across America Day!
Celebrated on the same day as famed children’s author, Dr. Suess, Read Across America Day was founded in 1998 by National Education Association (NEA) to celebrate reading annually in the U.S.
Here’s...
+ Read MoreWhat are the elements to effective instruction?
Dr. G. & Friends
What are the elements to effective instruction?
When I review video presentations for a project, I primarily screen them for delivery rather than content.
It’s amazing how many basic rules of good communication presenters break—consistently—even professional speakers and celebrated “master teachers.”
The other side of the equation...
+ Read MoreAwareness for Communities of Faith: The Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Impact of COVID
Along the Journey
Awareness for Communities of Faith: The Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Impact of COVID
Dealing with the physical aspects of COVID has received a lot of attention in media.
However, the mental, emotional, and spiritual impacts COVID is having, particularly among COVID survivors, needs far greater awareness than it is currently receiving.
... + Read MoreIn pursuit of transformative communities
Along the Journey
In pursuit of transformative communities
I want to make what is sure to be a contested assertion: The way that we celebrate Black History month will not result in a transformed or transformative society.
We live our lives as a collection of stories.
During Black...
+ Read MoreDeep thinking, powerful ideas
Dr. G. & Friends
Deep thinking, powerful ideas
Quick quiz: What philosopher said, “To think is easy, to act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult of all.”?
Answer: None. I pulled that quote out of a fortune cookie after lunch at a local Chinese restaurant....
+ Read MoreUnwinding Tornados: Three Conflict Transformations
Along the Journey
Unwinding Tornados: Three Conflict Transformations
Conflict can feel like a tornado.
A triggering event gathers energies, building momentum as it soon starts taking over everything, pulling everything up into swirling chaos.
Conflict with tornadic force can derail trains of thought and easily uproot the best-laid plans.
Like a tornado, conflict can rip through a...
+ Read MoreWho are we becoming?
Along the Journey
Who are we becoming?
I have been a faculty member at CTS since 1991.
I was not looking for a job when a senior professor mentor told me that the seminary was looking for an African American professor.
He knew that I had...
+ Read More15 Common Sense Practices for Pastoral Ministry
Dr. G. & Friends
15 Common Sense Practices for Pastoral Ministry
Emotional Intelligence is one of the fields of research applied to pastoral leadership.
I think it holds great promise for effective pastoral leadership because the nature of leadership in the context of congregations is more about understanding relationships in the...
+ Read MoreMy Most Meaningful Mission Engagement
Along the Journey
My Most Meaningful Mission Engagement
One of my most meaningful mission engagements was my first mission experience.
A van full of adults and two teenagers (my brother and I) left early one morning from East Tennessee for a day trip to an Appalachian region of Kentucky.
There we met another group of people, and we were all separated into two groups.
... + Read More