How can an institution become more serving? Isee no other way than
that the people who inhabit it serve and work together toward
synergy—the whole becoming greater than the sum of its parts . . . . The
stimulus and support that individuals need to be open to inspiration and
imaginative insight often come from the nurture of groups.—Robert K.
Greenleaf The Power of Servant-Leadership: Essays (San Francisco:
Berrett-Koehler, 1998)
How can high priests interact and assist priest-hood members, groups, and
congregations in the creation of more effective priesthood and inter-personal
relationships and congregational and church enhancement? In response to this
critical question, Leonard Young, in his statement to the Quorum of High
Priests, "Becoming Ministers of Vision," (Quorum of High Priests Newsletter
(spring 2000), suggested that high priests are called to engage in at least one
of four areas of ministry: (1) building bridges between cultures and people, (2)
enhancing leadership effectiveness, (3) standing for peace and justice, and (4)
fostering spiritual growth and wholeness. He went on to say, "If high priests
are to engage faithfully in these ministries, it will be vital for us to support
one another. We are not talking hereabout 'just another meeting' filled with
rhetoric. We are talking about the experience of ministerial colleagues coming
together to open lives to each other as we share the journey, support one
another, and explore new possibilities for ministry."
The essence of what Apostle Young was talking about is building meaningful
human relationships with all the elements of our ministerial environment to
effectively share with and inspire one another and utilize available resources
to their fullest potential. Functioning together with the Spirit of God, two of
the key tools necessary to accomplish these ministerial goals are synergy and
comentoring. These approaches were fundamental to and thoroughly expressed
in the life and ministry of Jesus and his model of servant ministry that brought
life and fullness to all God's creation.
Relative to our high priest ministerial goals, this paper outlines a
step-by-step, practical, intentional process for building synergistic and
comentoring relationships between high priests and other groups and within such
groups, leading to team learning and community learning and
increasing the ministerial and congregational effectiveness of all concerned.
Synergy and Teams
Synergy commonly means that the whole is greater than the sum of the
parts. In a synergistic relationship, individuals and groups work
together to produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of their
individual efforts. In a genuinely synergistic group, members energize and
inspire each other. The diversity of ideas and openness available to them
provide the basis for newcreative ideas, knowledge, and problem solving (Murphy
and Lick, 2001). Examples of synergistic groups might be a symphony orchestra or
a healthy marriage, where the spouses create a mutual support system, fostering
each other's growth and ability to deal with problems and opportunities.
Synergy is the authentic team process within a group. A synergistic
group is a team with potential to be especially effective in its operation and
outcomes. Synergy is what differentiates an effective team from a typically less
successful group or committee.
The four prerequisites required for a synergistic group are (Conner, 1993)
1. Common Goal or Goals. A group agreeing to a common goal or goals,
putting them in writing, and sticking to them through out their efforts.
2. Interdependence. A group functioning in a genuinely
cooperative and mutually dependent fashion.
3. Empowerment. Group members have a sense of empowerment when they
believe that they have something of value to contribute to the situation and its
outcome. (Not delegation!)
4. Participative Involvement. When group members feel encouraged to
openly express, in a balanced fashion, their thoughts and opinions.
An illustration might be a high priest working with the planning committee of
a congregation to set the goal of developing a congregational vision statement.
Members work in a genuinely cooperative manner that shows respect for each other
and their ideas and opinions. All members overcome their sense of vulnerability
and share openly and fully, arriving at a compelling, supported, and inspiring
vision.
An effective four-step process for building synergy is (Conner, 1993)
1. Interaction—communicate effectively, listen actively, and generate
trust and credibility.
2. Appreciative Understanding—create an open climate, delay negative
judgments, empathize with others, and value diversity.
3. Integration—tolerate ambiguity and be persistent, pliable,
creative, and selective in determining the best solution or course ofaction.
4. Implementation—strategize, plan, implement, monitor, reinforce,
remain team focused, and update.
Applying the concepts and approaches discussed above should help create
synergistic relationships of high priests with other priesthood members and
groups and within such groups to increase their effectiveness. From time to
time, it is helpful to use the following eight sets of questions as a synergy
checklist for assessing the level of synergy in the group.
1. Common Goals. Has your group discussed, agreed on, and written a
clearly and precisely stated goal or goals for your efforts
2. Interdependence. Are your discussions, interactions, and sharing
interdependent (i.e., mutually dependent and genuinely cooperative)?
3. Empowerment. Does each member of the group feel a sense of
empowerment? Does each one feel that what he or she has to offer is important to
the group and possibly valuable to the final outcome?
4. Participative Involvement. Is each member of the group openly
participating in the discussions and activities of the group?
5. Interaction. Do all the members of your group, individually and
collectively, interactfully? Do they communicate effectively and actively
listen? Is there a spirit of trust andcredibility among the participants?
6. Appreciative Understanding. Does the group exhibit an open climate?
Does it value diversity? Does each member delay judgment and empathize with
others and what they are offering?
7. Integration. Do members of your group tolerate ambiguity and
exhibit persistence in deliberations? Are they flexible, creative, and selective
in considering the issues? Are they effective in moving toward accomplishing the
goals of the group?
8. Implementation. Is the implementation process being managed toward
a successful conclusion? Is there a written implementation plan? Is the action
plan continuously updated and evaluated? Have group efforts remained team
focused?
Comentoring and Team Learning
A comentoring group is one in which members of the group mentor one another
from their areas of expertise and knowledge. In a constructive comentoring
group, each person acts as a sponsor, advocate, and guide. Members teach,advise,
critique, and support each other to express, pursue, and finalize goals while
being competent, non-exploitive, positive, and involved (Cronan-Hillix, et. al.,
1986). Ideally, in a comentoring situation, each member of the group offers
support and encouragement to everyone else, which expands individual and group
understanding and learning—group learning—improving the group's potential
learning capacity, effectiveness, creativity, and productivity (Lick,2000).
As discussed earlier, synergistic groups are teams. Similarly, synergistic
comentoring groups are teams in which all members teach and mentor while at the
same time all are taught and mentored by other members. This approach provides
what learning organization expert Peter Senge (1990) calls "team learning,"
where there is "a free-flowing of meaning through a group, allowing the group to
discover insights not attainable individually" and where "the intelligence of
the team exceeds the intelligence of the individuals in the team, and where
teams develop extraordinary capacities for coordinated action. "Synergistic
comentoring provides a transforming vehicle for groups to have the potential for
becoming learning teams or learning communities.
Consequently, the significance of the synergistic comentoring approach to
high priestly ministry with groups and within groups is that it creates a model
of service where there is a co-learner relationship of high priest with others
and each per-son is receiving and contributing. By so doing, all are lifted up
to new levels of inspiration, understanding, learning, and effectiveness.
How to Begin
Creating an effective comentoring team of priest-hood members and others
requires initial planning, patience, and taking the necessary steps to build a
synergistic group. Developing such a team will necessitate high priests being
proactive and intentional in their ministry and leadership, requiring
substantial commitment and effort. However, these efforts and this powerful
approach to ministry have the potential for increasing the effectiveness and
quality of all ministry. As you move forward in faith and prayer, the following
suggestions will help you get started (Lick, 1999).
1. At an initial meeting, introduce the general concept of synergy, and
discuss how it can help the group become a team, an effective synergistic group.
2. If the group is amenable to synergy, the group and its members should take
time to learn about synergy and comentoring and their implementation. An early
understanding and application of synergy and comentoring can pay handsome
dividends later.
3. Once the understanding of synergy and comentoring has been established,
develop an agreement to the effect that the group and all its members will
strive to function as a comentoring team and together fulfill the synergy and
comentoring guidelines.
4. If someone exhibits nonsynergistic or noncomentoring behavior, this should
be diplomatically dealt with by the leader and members of the group, either
during the meeting or immediately following the meeting.
5. Periodically, the group and its members should apply the synergy checklist
and comentoring characteristics to assure themselves that the group is
continuing to function synergistically and in a comentoring fashion or to
determine which areas of synergy and comentoring require additional attention.
6. Follow the processes as outlined in this article, pray together often, and
allow the Spirit to lead you as a synergistic comentoring group—a learning team
committed to serving God’s people and building his kingdom.
Conclusion
As you prayerfully apply this new approach to ministry, you will be both
blessed by and a blessing to those who serve in various groups and, in turn, to
individuals, families, and congregations that receive their ministries. As your
synergistic comentoring group functions in an open, genuinely cooperative manner
under the guidance and support of the Spirit, the diversity of gifts,
experience, and calling will bless group members, their congregation, the
church, the world, and especially you.
Embrace the blessing of your many differences. . . . Be reminded
once again that the gifts of all are necessary in order that divine
purposes may be accomplished.—Doctrine and Covenants 161:4b
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