That we live in turbulent times goes without saying. It’s a time in which we need leaders of all kinds to step up and usher society into a new paradigm, a new way of being. More than ever before, your organization, whether it’s a faith community, non-profit, neighborhood committee, or corporate America, needs leadership that is self-differentiated. Your community needs you to be a steadying force, a purveyor of hope, and a bellwether for change.

Join LeaderWise consultants and coaches Mary Kay DuChene and Cindy Halvorson as we explore what it means to be a self-differentiated leader. Examine your own competency and explore new ways of differentiating yourself within the complexity of your organization and community. Along the way, we will learn a bit about Bowen Theory.

We’ll gather for four two-hour sessions. In between sessions, you will be invited to join small groups to dive a bit deeper into your own leadership, and support each other on this journey.

LeaderWise can also bring a Self-Differentiated Series to your organization tailored to your specific schedule and needs. Please contact Mary Kay for more information.

If Interested, Please
Contact Mary Kay DuChene

Online via Zoom

When you hear the word conflict, what reaction happens in your body? Is it possible to have a healthy relationship with conflict? How do you develop the capacity to enter into conflict well? These are some burning questions that we’ll explore with you in this conflict workshop. 

Regardless of whether you are in the midst of conflict yourself, helping others wade through conflict, or trying to decide what to do about the conflict in your context, understanding your relationship with conflict is always step one. This workshop will help you understand conflict more deeply and give you the space and time to think about your conflict styles (using an assessment prior to the workshop) and how to develop new skills in conflict.

Prior to the 3-hour zoom workshop, you will take the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI). You’ll walk away from our time together:

• Having a healthier understanding of conflict

• Understanding the different conflict styles and when they are helpful and not

• Understanding your default tendencies in conflict

• Having a plan to develop skills in different conflict styles

Conflict is everywhere in our world today. Join us and feel more confident when you find yourself in conflict.

LeaderWise can also bring a Conflict Workshop to your organization tailored to your specific schedule and needs. Please contact Mary Kay for more information.

Future online Conflict Workshops are scheduled for:

• September 28, 2023

Click here to sign up for notifications about future Conflict Workshops.

JUNE 7
(1:30 Pm to 4:30 pm Central)

Online via Zoom
$99 (includes cost of TKI)

Join this cohort experience to develop a holistic plan to flourish in your retirement.
Cut through the overwhelming clutter of retirement planning advice to identify what you need to be fully alive in your retirement years. Over the course of six 90-minute sessions, participants will apply a framework for thinking about retirement, understand questions to ask themselves, discern what “call” and purpose mean during retirement years, and, most importantly, learn from colleagues. If you’re approaching retirement and choose to go it alone, you may miss opportunities to flourish in this season of life. You can make the most of your retirement years by learning best practices from others who have managed this transition well.

Flourishing in Retirement, is designed to explore – with a cohort of colleagues – what flourishing in retirement could look like.  Over the course of 6 coaching/cohort sessions the group will:

• Learn best practice from others who have managed this transition well

• Study theories that can guide our thinking about retirement

• Discover the questions we need to be asking ourselves to thrive in retirement

• Find our guiding metaphors for this time of transition

• Discern what those theological and human yearning such as “call” and purpose means in our retirement years

• And most importantly learn from colleagues, who are traveling a similar path, in the season of life called preretirement

Register today!

LeaderWise can also bring a Retirement cohort experience to your group tailored to your specific schedule and needs. Please contact Mary Kay for more information.

six 90-minute sessions
BeGINNING JUNE 21
1:00 PM Central (2:00 PM Eastern)

Online via Zoom
$350 for the 6-session cohort experience

Join this workshop to develop a more fully integrated sense of your identity as an administrator within your ministry. Managing Conflict Before it Happens will help you reimagine the work of administration to see it as an integral part of your pastoral ministry. Together, we will use Biblical, theological and practical lenses to explore the value of administration in church settings and how spiritually grounded and effective administrative practices can actually prevent conflict. Your LeaderWise facilitators have decades of combined experience in ministry settings and know firsthand that not tending to administrative issues yields continued frustration and unnecessary conflict. LeaderWise wants to help you reconnect with the reason you work in ministry in the first place. Participate in this workshop and learn how to find spiritual grounding in the tension between the how and the why of administration as ministry.

Participants will walk away with:

• A more fully integrated sense of their identity as administrators within their ministry

• A spiritual grounding in the tension between the how and the why of administration as ministry

• An opportunity to reflect on their administrative skills

• An opportunity to reflect on their conflict style and questions to ask when in the midst of a conflict to stretch rather than shrink

• Resources for strengthening administrative skills

LeaderWise can also bring a Managing Conflict workshop to your organization tailored to your specific schedule and needs. Please contact Mary Kay for more information.

May 18
(1:00 Pm to 3:00 pm Central)

Online via Zoom
$55

LeaderWise’s online boundaries training workshop is lively and interactive, full of reflection and conversation. Attendees have given us feedback that our boundaries training was a great experience, AND caused them to re-evaluate some of their own practices.

This live online boundaries training is 5 total hours split over 2 consecutive days (2.5 hours each day). Following the first session, participants are asked to engage in a bit of reflection work in preparation for the second session. This online boundaries training will be conducted via secure Zoom video conferencing.

LeaderWise can also bring a Boundaries Training session to your judicatory tailored to your specific schedule and needs. Please contact Cindy for more information.

The following Boundaries Training sessions are scheduled for 2023:

• October 23 & October 24 from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm Central

Click here to sign up for our weekly email, which includes information about Boundaries Training registration.

AUGUST 22 & AUGUST 23
(9:30 Am to 12:00 pm Central Both days)

Online via Zoom
$85

What’s more predictive of effectiveness in the workplace than your academic training, administrative acumen, or native intelligence? Whatever the occupation, research consistently points to emotional intelligence – the ability to manage your emotions and to relate effectively to others. Not only that, but also research has shown that emotionally intelligent leaders are more resilient. In ministry, given its highly interpersonal focus, it’s especially true. This workshop will give you a clear understanding of how emotional intelligence relates to leadership in ministry in specific ways. It will also offer you a chance to measure your emotional intelligence through a standardized psychological test, identify areas for development, and provide practical suggestions for improvement.

It seems as though crises/challenging times (e.g., the oppression of Black, Indigenous and People of Color, political climate, pandemic, climate change) shine a spotlight on our emotional intelligence and leadership skills. So many church leaders, parishioners, and students report struggling with the arduous demands of caring for others and themselves. Attending to your emotional intelligence is more important than ever during this period of adaptive challenge and change. But what space do you have to explore these vital skills in the midst of the layers of stress, fear, grief, and sadness? Join LeaderWise staff members Danny Elenz and Cindy Halvorson for a 3-hour time set aside to focus on YOU!

We’ll explore together what emotionally intelligent and resilient leadership means in these tumultuous times. You will complete the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQi), a psychological inventory assessing numerous aspects of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-confidence, emotional expression, assertiveness, independence, problem solving, empathy, impulse control, stress tolerance, flexibility, and more), providing personal feedback on your strengths and areas of development. You will learn about the critical importance of emotional intelligence and its vital role in coping with the challenges we are facing.

You will leave with a deeper understanding of emotional intelligence as well as an increased self-awareness of your strengths and growth areas with respect to EI. You will be able to apply this more nuanced awareness to how you navigate personal and professional relationships, decision making, problem solving, and stress. 

Without emotional intelligence, you might feel you are navigating troubled waters with no compass. You might feel lost in trying to manage these tumultuous times without attention to your emotions and how you might use your emotions to inform your every move. 

You have the potential to feel more equipped for the demands of ministry! Say yes to that, and join us, to learn more deeply about your own emotional intelligence and make a plan to develop it further.

LeaderWise can also bring an Emotional Intelligence Workshop to your organization tailored to your specific schedule and needs. Please contact Mary Kay for more information.

Future online Emotional Intelligence Workshops are scheduled for:

• November 2, 2023

MAY 16
1:00 PM TO 4:00 PM (CENTRAL)

Online via Zoom
$149

Values are what we deem important and worthy in life. They inform how we spend our time and energy. We often inherit values from our:

• Home country cultures

• Families of origin

• Religious morals and ethics

• Political affiliations

• Ideological persuasions

As we age, all of us add, swap, and / or modify our values based on education, important life experiences, personal / professional commitments, and so on.

When we encounter a major life event (such as a global pandemic), many shifts occur, including a shift in our values systems. Therefore, we must create space to reassess what we deem significant and life-giving. If we do not have a clear understanding of what makes us tick, then we may have a hard time navigating crucial pieces of our identities and authentically responding to others in a healthy manner.

This workshop is aimed to dynamically engage participants in the following processes:

• Brainstorming

• Discernment

• Prioritization

• Divergent thinking

By utilizing these constructs, individuals will come to learn which values inform their current, day-to-day life. 

Participants in this workshop will uncover and name core values so as to enhance understanding regarding the impact they have on their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Awareness first; choice second.

Please contact us if you’re interested in LeaderWise bringing this workshop to your organization.

With clarity of vision, identity and character, we can build a strong core. Intentionally developing relationships, strategies and partnerships allows us to deepen flexibility. A strong core along with increased flexibility become a foundation for impactful ministry as salt and light for the transformation of our communities. Without a strong core, even vibrant outreach is not sustainable. Likewise, a strong core with no flexibility results in the spiritual journey being disconnected from the flourishing of community. 

If there is one constant, aside from the grounding love of God, it is that all things change. The root for the word form in Greek is the same we use for metamorphosis; that is, the process of transformation from one form to a more mature form in two or more distinct stages. CrossForm equips pastors and congregational leaders to embrace transformation through an intentional process that honors both the inward and outward journey.

CrossForm is designed around five one-day immersions, over an 18-month period, with monthly team coaching via Zoom. As coaches, our goal is to equip you by: 

• Strengthening your core around identity, vision and mission, 

• Developing flexibility around program and structure, and 

• Increasing missional Impact for the flourishing of community. 

Immersion Day 1 Assessing and Strengthening Core
Improving is not enough. We need to also embrace new ways of being the body of Christ. This immersion will guide you in moving across the current and emerging lifecycles. All too often, we begin with what is wrong. This is a time to claim who we are and let go of what no longer serves. We will look to examples of what is already working and (re)claim passion at the center of our ministry and mission.

Immersion Day 2 Five Roles for 21st Century Leadership
We each have a role to play! In this immersion, you will be introduced to five roles for 21st century leadership that will support your congregation, in responding to internal and external changes, while building on your strengths. Together we will explore each member's strengths with regard to facilitating positive change. You will then create a map of your congregation's orientation towards initiating and creating congregational growth. We are very excited to have Judi Neal, Founder of Edgewalkers, with us. To learn more about Judi: www.Edgewalkers.org.

Immersion Day 3 Leading to Thrive!
It’s no longer about survival. Adaptive change invites us to live in the dance between what is and what is seeking to emerge. We will draw upon the essence of our strength and our call to lead boldly and confidently into unknown spaces. Open to hearing God’s call, we will experiment with new ways of being.

Immersion Day 4 Engaging Culture & Community
Saturday, June 10, 2023 (9am - noon CST via Zoom)
No significant change happens without risk.  It’s time to step into community to expand awareness.  In this immersion, we equip you to journey into community to bridge mind and heart as you engage culture.  We will offer tools and process for you to experiment and play with partners in your community to create the context in which flourishing can happen. 

Immersion Day 5 Flourishing Together: Partnerships & Collaboration
This is not a solo journey. As leaders today, we are increasingly aware of this. We will provide resources to deepen partnerships and nurture collaboration, with a focus on the flourishing of community. We will also look back at the journey and recognize that which has been transformed for the sake of self, congregation, and community, even as the journey continues… Becoming Salt… Light… Leaven… it’s as simple and difficult as that! 

Core, Flexibility, Impact
We live in a time of rapid, discontinuous and chaotic change. Our structures are not sufficient to support the transformation that change demands. Our training has not equipped us for the journey on which we find ourselves. Yet chaos is often the prerequisite for the in-breaking of God's new creation. For such a time as this, God has called us to CrossForm!

Your CrossFORM Coaching TEAM

Mary Kay DuChene, MA is a leadership coach and consultant, facilitator, teacher, and strategist with experience in management, leadership development, marketing, and business management and development. She has particular expertise in adaptive leadership. Mary Kay is also a deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

Graham Hart, MDiv, ThM has served as a pastor, a mid council executive leader, coach, congregational consultant, and conflict mediator. An ICF-trained coach, he is known for asking provocative questions that press for renewal of both the church and the community. Graham serves on the Faiths team for the Pivot Projects, a global network committed to the flourishing of people and planet. 

Cindy Halvorson, MDiv, DMin is a church consultant, workshop facilitator, retreat leader and gifted speaker. Committed to helping leaders be their best selves, Cindy also encourages faith communities to become emotionally and spiritually healthy.

Okokon Udo, PhD, BD, MA is a pastor, business owner, international change management and leadership consultant, certified executive coach, process facilitator, public speaker, instructional designer and master trainer with experience in organizational effectiveness, intercultural effectiveness, diversity and inclusion, and leadership and team development. He is also a strategist and educator.

The Shape of Leadership

The Shape of Leadership is designed for clergy who want to renew their leadership so they can make a significant impact on the future of the church.

The past three years have been incredibly difficult for ministry leaders. Clergy are tired, if not burned out, and need safe places where they can reflect on all the demands of ministry and develop their leadership for whatever is next for the church. They need brave spaces where their whole being is accepted as it is and where they can, therefore, show up authentically and vulnerably before taking their learning back to their contexts. 

In this ecumenical program, Shape participants retreat together four times throughout a year to develop their leadership in adaptive and experiential ways: by experimenting with innovative practices, deepening self-awareness, and learning to navigate change, conflict, and the daily challenges of ministry leadership. Shape facilitators work hard to cultivate an ethos that allows leaders to wrestle with new ideas in the safety of a generous and compassionate group.

Participants integrate theological and biblical commitments with innovative practices in leadership from a variety of disciplines,  especially the adaptive leadership framework. The program is highly experiential and collaborative and offers the opportunity
to develop long-lasting support systems among high-potential leaders in the church.

In the Shape program, each retreat is two nights.  Between retreats, participants meet in small groups to journey the year together, supporting each other and deepening the learning.

Retreat Format

The large group gathers for 4 retreats (2 nights each) over the course of the year. Between retreats, learning communities meet to deepen the learning and support each other. Note that adjustments will be made if meeting in person is not advised due to pandemic concerns.

What past participants say about Shape . . .

Shape is the best thing I’ve done since seminary (which was wonderful). Each retreat has renewed and enriched me. Thank you!
–Beth

Shape has been a wonderful asset for me professionally and personally. The relationships and
leadership skills I have gained are invaluable.
I would encourage all . . . in church leadership
to invest in this process.
–Annemarie

The learning and the presentations
were great. The format of going through a year, rather than a short week conference, is really good. …  one of the great gifts of Shape is the colleagues you get to know so well and learn to trust. There is a network of support beneath that
I can call upon to work through challenges in ministry, and that is a really great thing.
–Jon

I was concerned that the leadership
literature would be dry and lifeless,
and instead experienced approaches that honor just what the church needs to be about in this time of change and challenge:
self-knowledge, experimentation,
relationship building, risk taking, creative conflict, and undergirding it all: purpose.
To share this journey over time with
brilliant colleagues has made for deep learning and courage for change.
–Jill