The Power of Story to Transform Your Leadership

We lead with our stories.  And our leadership is as effective as the stories we are capable of telling and of evoking within a congregation.

To be a leader means not just having a vision, but being able to turn that vision into a compelling narrative that can revitalize congregational practices and facilitate deep change. In telling our stories, their potential for personal and organizational vitality is set free, moving from private to public in transformative ways.

• How can leaders become more mindful of the role and power of narrative?
• What does it mean to practice "narrative leadership" -- to unlock the "Power of Story"? 

Drawing on his professional training in narrative therapy and his long experience coaching and consulting with congregations and their leaders and decision-makers, Senior Consultant Larry Peers will provide you with

• A clear picture of the basic principles and practices of narrative leadership -- The Power of Story
• An understanding of the relationship between “the stories we tell” and “the stories that tell us”
• A planning model based on the transformative potential of story-telling
• An approach to addressing adaptive challenges through the use of narrative leadership
• Strategies for honoring and shaping our congregation’s story
• Ways to escape captivity within a "problem-saturated story"
• A vision of the potential of "narrative leaders" to help re-author and discover alternate stories for their congregations.

Participants will develop a specific plan for incorporating what they learn into their on-going practices of leadership within their ministry settings.

EVENT SCHEDULE 

First Day:

12:00-1:00 Lunch

1:00-5:00 Program

5:00-6:00 Break

6:00 Dinner

7:00-9:00 PM Evening Session

Second Day:

8:00 am Breakfast

9:00 am Program begins promptly

12:00-1:00 Lunch break

1:00-5:00 Program

5:00-6:00 Break

6:00 Dinner

Free Evening

Third Day:

8:00 am Breakfast

9:00 am Program begins promptly

12:00-1:00 Closing Lunch

Larry Peers  is a senior consultant, clergy coach and seminar leader with the Alban Institute, with expertise in whole systems strategic planning, congregational growth and change, clergy coaching, and conflict management. He has also served on the adjunct faculty of Harford Seminary. An ordained minister for over twenty years, Larry has served local congregations, worked as a director of congregational growth and research for a denominational national office, and served on a Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Program with clergy. He has doctorates in congregational studies from Harford Seminary and in organizational change from Pepperdine University, as well as specialized training in narrative therapy, ontological coaching and Appreciative Inquiry.