Accountable for Building Sacred Community

I have always wondered about the narrative that precedes and follows the incident of the Golden Calf.  In Parashiot Terumah and Tetzaveh we find all of these instructions about how to build the ritual objects of the tabernacle. In modern terms, we are building the hardware for the system.  We learn about the crafting of the Menorah. We hear rich detail about the cloth and the bells around the hem of the priest’s garments. 

In Parashat Ki Tissa we learn that Moses has gone up to the mountain to get the law that will help provide the ethical software to bring the holy space to life. At the base of the mountain, however, the people are falling apart. They are unraveling. The people get anxious when Moses is gone for 40 days. Moses’ brother, Aaron, wants harmony. He is a people pleaser. He wants to quell their unrest. He agrees to make a golden calf to provide a tangible object of their lost leader (God and/or Moses). Aaron creates a mold to hold the outpouring of their gifts of fear. They react to his gesture by throwing their gold into the fire.

Moses reacts as well. When he hears the singing and sees the dancing around the calf he breaks the tablets of the law. The people are rebuked. Moses and God step back from the precipice and process the event.

When confronted by Moses, Aaron tries to remove his fingerprints from the crime scene.  On the retelling of the story, Aaron says that the people just threw their gold into the fire and “out came the calf.” He does not admit that he framed the situation, used his craft and made the mold.

God assures Moses that he will temper his anger. He will be “compassionate, gracious and slow to anger” (Ex 34:6). He commits that he will “go in their midst,” despite this betrayal, as long as they uphold the covenant (34:10-11). Good news!

Then, surprisingly, in the next parasha after Ki Tissa (Vayakhel), we pick up more details about the building of the tabernacle. “Why the bookend parashiot about building the tabernacle?” I wonder. My rabbi suggested, that as often happens, the texts may not be linear. He explains how the twelfth-century French biblical commentator Rashi argued for a different timeline:

Rashi’s Timeline

• The people mold a Golden Calf in Ki Tissa.
• God chooses to be compassionate. The people were weak and got poor direction.
• Now God provides detailed instructions for the structure in Parashiot T’rumah and Tetzaveh.
• In Parashat Vayakhel, God calls on the talents and gifts of the people.
• God chooses gifted leaders like Betzalel to build the tabernacle according to a plan.
• We hear about how the clothing of priests were constructed and how the tabernacle is built. We learn how the plan was completed.

The Sulam Accountability Plan

This now makes sense to me. In our Sulam Accountability Plan we follow a similar timeline from reflection to action:

Reflection

• We make an honest assessment about the ways we have failed to be a team with shared values, covenants and agreements. In the past we may have operated with unclear roles and expectations (like the Israelites in the story) which may have led to conflict. In the past, when things went badly leaders may have thrown up their hands and said, “We don’t know how our board became so contentious and dysfunctional” (i.e. “Out came the calf.”)

Action

• We design a set of structures that will help us move toward sacred team work.
• We call upon the gifts of all of those at the table to comment on what they expect from themselves and each other.
• We create a board expectations guide and then put these principles into action.  
• We conduct a self-assessment about how leaders are addressing these expectations.
• We make the expectations a living covenant by referring to them throughout the year.
• We provide them to the nominating committee so that we can ensure that new leaders are also committing to the covenantal board values.

Molding Sacred Teams

Sulam leaders take responsibility to mold their leaders into a team through reflection and action. In this series of stories we can contrast the leadership of Aaron and Betzalel. When the people complain, Aaron just reacts and gives in. Like many of our leaders, he enables the people. He buys some peace for a few hours. The cost for the people and their mission is high. In Rashi’s reading, Betzalel gets a chance to harness the gifts of the people and put them to work in an intentional step-by-step process. This process will allow them to contribute to the creation of sacred space for a committed leadership - a place God will dwell.

Leaders Help Teams Learn to Count on Each Other

In his recent book Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek uses examples from the armed services where leaders learn to build trust by putting the welfare of others first. This high level of trust is critical for their ability to operate in stressful combat situations. Soldiers need to count on each other.  You can listen to his Ted talk on the book here: 

In his book, The 17 Laws of Teamwork, world famous management consultant, John Maxwell, lists the Law of Countability (p. 117). “Teammates must be able to count on each other. In order for me to count on you I have to know what I can expect from you and trust that you will meet those expectations consistently.”

Unfortunately many synagogues’ boards lack up-to-date board expectations that really relate to the work they do. According to United Synagogue’s Succession Survey (2012), even those synagogues that have board expectations often fail to hold people accountable for those expectations.

Many synagogues are going through challenging and stressful times. A team with a strong shared vision, values and expectations can create a circle of trust and security for leaders to be their best. According to Sinek, when people get stressed out, they produce cortisol, which impairs their health.  When leaders create communities (circles) of trust, they produce healthy chemicals. So for Sinek, team chemistry really matters. In our Sulam leadership process, we take these team-building expectations seriously.

Our Sulam Team-Building Process: Shared Expectations

• Shared Ownership: Involve the board in the creation of expectations. Expectations should be realistic. Board members are not realistically going to commit to go to daily minyan. Expectations should be fair. Each board member engages in board service in different ways. Some may be very active in social justice, others in volunteerism and some in ritual. Expectations should honor these different paths to service.
• Relevant Values: All leaders need to know what values driven leadership looks like. Leaders often talk in generalities (respectful and accountable) but do little to show what these values mean in practice.  Effective boards use their board expectations throughout the board year. When the president is recruiting people to be on the bimah or to solicit for the annual campaign, they should do it with this board covenant in hand. This is what some call “The Teachable Moment.”
• Reflective Leadership: Board members should take a self-assessment that helps them reflect on how they have progressed during the year. This will prepare them to talk to the nominating committee about their desire to continue for the next board term.
• Accountable Culture: Nominating Committees can use these categories to reflect on the performance of board members. Leaders are shaped by what they focus on. In terms of Sulam Leadership strategies, it is inconceivable that the nominating committee would not have board expectations in hand when they recruit leaders on the way in or at moments of assessment.
• Supportive Colleagues: Teammates help one another. Some synagogues train mentors to help develop new members to be more effective teammates.

The Sulam of Service

In Sulam Leadership we often say that we seek to be “steady in purpose, but flexible in strategy and tactics.”  We have some core values which we bring to the table and we expect kehillot to engage them:

• We expect each congregation to come up with their own board expectations. We are not neutral on the importance of expectations. We expect them to be created.
• We are open as to how the board engages with their expectations. We are not neutral on the need to engage with them. We expect an on-going process.
• We are open on the many different places people begin when they join the board. We are not neutral on the direction. We expect growth.

“Sulam” is Hebrew for “ladder”. A leader may come into leadership at different rungs of the ladder. What is important for us is that a leader role models a commitment to continuous improvement. It doesn’t matter if a leader has the same Torah study practice as I do. It is important that they have some aspiration to learn more. John Maxwell argues that effective business team members need a personal growth plan. If this in true in business, how much more relevant is a personal growth plan for leaders of a synagogue?

In our Sulam for Emerging Leaders program we end the 6 session program by helping emerging leaders create a Sulam Personal Growth Plan. If this is important for emerging leaders, how much more important is it for leaders at the top of the organization? Judaism argues that the higher your authority, the greater your responsibility. In our Sulam for Strategic Planners survey, we found that approximately 17% of the respondents strongly agreed that they would like support in order to increase their level of Jewish learning. When a board creates the expectations that they will be a learning and growing team, they send a powerful message to emerging leaders and aspiring members. We are all committed to growth.

Synagogue leaders can learn valuable lesson from high functioning teams. Board expectations provide one example of shared values. We encourage leaders to learn about the personality preference and management styles of their teammates.  We encourage leaders to have Briefing Books on key facts they need to know. They should understand the vision and strategies for the congregation. While just one element of a successful team, board expectations lay the foundation for other steps along the way to a cohesive and accountable team.

Getting Down to the Business of Teambuilding

“Who is Wise? The one who learns from everyone.”  (Mishnah Avot 4:1)

Over the years I have been consciously trying to build a sense of teamwork among synagogue leadership teams. I have tried to identify synagogues and leadership groups ready to make an investment in leadership development. My first book was called Byachad - “Working Together.” I even named my blog “Byachad Leadership.” Despite all this, though, I have often been put on the defensive by leaders who want to know why I am wasting time on teambuilding. They know I was once a businessman. They want to see me “get down to business.”

At Alban Institute we emphasized the importance of action and reflection. Leaders should be encouraged to try new practices and then take time to reflect on what they learn. With new learning in hand they step forward with new initiatives. In The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge describes this process as the “wheel of learning.”  The balanced leader would take time to reflect on past experiences, connect that learning to the organization’s environment and challenges, decide on a course of action, and do something- take action. This rotation would be followed by additional reflection.  In my early consulting career, teambuilding tool kit in hand, I ventured out to a Long Island congregation. As I began to review the agenda, one leader looked at the topic of reflection and said to his friend, “Reflection?  We brought this guy from Ohio for reflection?”

In a recent article, “Why Some Teams Are Smarter than Others,” management scientists argued that teams with emotional intelligence performed better than those who have participants with greater individual IQs. The authors write, “The most important ingredients for a smart team remained constant regardless of its mode of interaction: members, who communicated a lot, participated equally and possessed good emotion-reading skills.”

Sure, smart problem solving is important. Financial and other analytic tools are critical.  How we go about doing things can be equally important. Three qualities of emotionally intelligent (SMART) teams were:

• They help leaders to communicate
• They strive for more equal participation
• They learn to read each other's emotions

In USCJ’s Sulam for Current Leaders curriculum we build in text study, case study, interactive exercises and readings to increase the relational capacity of leaders. We hope that an outcome of this work will be new team strengthening practices.

The following are some examples of Sulam team building practices that seek to nurture SMART teams:

Strive for more equal participation - let them be heard:

• Put leaders in pairs to tell their stories to a partner practicing active listening
• Create board practices that ensure key committees all have access to share their goals
• Create meeting designs that allow everyone to speak once before others speak twice
• Teach brainstorming techniques where all voices count

Help leaders to communicate - encourage leaders to share vision, values, strategies and goals:

• Invite the executive committee to describe the kind of leadership community they seek to become. I press them to describe this community in rich details so that they might imagine what leaders would be doing, saying and feeling. 
• Give leaders an assessment in which they reflect on their commitment to board expectations and share their commitments.
• Assess and share their experience about their committee work.

Learn to read the emotions of others:

• Encourage leaders to take assessment on personalities that would help them see some of their preferences in both paid and volunteer work. Through self-reflection, leaders will be better able to read the preferences of others.
• Help leaders diagnose their approach to conflict so they can better read the approaches of others.
• Give leaders tools to understand why they find some leaders difficult to manage and try to increase their coping skills

Without a Vision of Teamwork, Leadership Development Perishes

As we approach a leadership community we try to engage them in a leadership vision activity. When leaders are invited to dream about the kind of community they seek, they often talk about collaboration and teamwork but do not have a firm understanding of how either can be successfully accomplished. In order to engage leaders in SMART team building, they need to affirm that leadership teamwork is part of their vision. They need to reflect on their practices and look at the gap between their vision and their practice.

Most leaders focus on the next 3 months, not the next 3-5 years. Few look at the long-term goals of developing leaders. Leaders can be defensive about their current practices. They may resist outside programs or outside consultants that challenge them to reflect on what they are doing. Without leadership vision, the will to improve leadership practices perishes. It withers under the force of resistance from those who feel leadership development is a waste of time.

If new ideas are seen as coming from a few leaders or outsiders the change agents can become the lightening rod of resistance. Our Sulam exercises were designed to help create shared vision, shared goals, and shared sense of accountability. The key word is shared. By doing the same exercises and using a common vocabulary, individuals begin to think as a “we” rather than an “I”. We have worked on slowly increasing teamwork intelligence and it has laid a foundation for better work. These Sulam principles have been at work whether we were building teamwork in a planning committee, an emerging leaders study group or an executive committee.

The Quick Fix

Despite the success of Sulam programs, I am constantly pressured by certain lay leaders to cut back all this teambuilding “stuff.” “Bob,” they ask me, “can’t we do this in 30 minutes? Why do we need 60 minutes? How important is this? Our leaders want to ‘get down to business’ and ‘”fix the board.’” When leaders show up late and it looks like we will have less meeting time than we planned, the first things these leaders want to cut out is the segment on teambuilding so they can get down to what matters.

Sulam Leadership’s approach is informed by the contrast between technical change and adaptive change. A surgeon may create technical change when they fix a broken arm. Their personal IQ and expert skill are by far the most important factors. The patient is passive. In contrast, when a person goes to see a nutritionist they understand that they need to work together. The nutritionist must provide information and support but the client needs to develop a new practices. The client needs to work with the nutritionist on goal setting and the rate of change. They both need to disclose what they are experiencing and give each other feedback in order for adaptive change to occur.

Who is wise? The one who learns from everyone.  (Mishnah Avot 4:1)

Sulam for Current Leaders negotiates with board leaders to give up three hours of board meeting time over a 12 month period. These three hours require the board to allocate about 15-20% of their time for leadership development for one year. Congregational leaders learn to share (disclose) what they are learning and give us feedback on our programs. Adaptive change requires Sulam Leadership and congregations to learn something together.

Judaism is very process oriented. It cares a great deal about how things are done. If leaders are going to speak with authenticity and integrity they should be challenged to grow in learning and in service. They should be judged by how they develop and nurture emerging leaders so that leadership can continue l’dor v’dor, from generation to generation. What modern business research is showing is that leaders who understand and care for each other, strive for participation, and communicate their vision and goals do better. Teamwork is not just good Judaism, it’s good business. The next time one of our leaders is challenged for taking time for teambuilding study and reflection, hopefully they will remember to say, “I was just trying to get down to business.”

Pursuing Peace

Pursuing Peace- Creating a Framework for Engagement

"Depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it" (Psalms 34:15)

My rabbi began his High Holiday speech by saying, "This has been a very difficult summer for most of us." Of course, he was talking about Israel. He talked about what it was like to live under the tension of rockets. We all remember when major airlines refused to fly to Tel Aviv. We also saw the incredible instability of the Middle East- Egypt, Syria, Libya, Iraq. I was in Paris in July this summer when the anti-Israel demonstrations were going on. I saw police cars parked in front of synagogues. In every bistro in Paris the TV sets were showing pictures of Gaza. I walked by signs that explained that this was a corner where Jewish children had been gathered up for transport. I felt their vulnerability. It felt vulnerable again.

For those of us that make a hobby of following the politics of the region it is extraordinarily difficult to keep up with the complex weave of events. In Israel, these are not just intellectual issues- they are existential issues. Many people want to pressure Israel to take a leap for peace because they think that the leap could make things better or make things right.  While a Palestinian state on the West Bank might provide a breakthrough that allows Israel to gain real sustainable peace this risky leap could put a Hamas oriented regime 10 miles from major population centers.

Tal Becker

Recently I heard a presentation from Israel peace negotiator, Dr. Tal Becker. Becker is a senior policy advisor to Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs and was a lead negotiator in the Annapolis peace talks. He described three main possible paths going forward: "Meltdown, Muddle Through and Miracle." Becker said that 80% of Israelis still hope for a two state solution. At the same time most Israelis don’t believe a miracle is possible. So this summer rockets flared. Children had nightmares of terrorist coming out of the ground to snatch them. Although parents try to comfort their children, when they talked with their friends they were uneasy. They saw no miracle path to comfort-just ongoing tension as they muddle through and hope to avoid a meltdown.

My rabbi noted that many of his colleagues had chosen not to speak about Israel for the High Holidays. They were uncomfortable. It was just too divisive. He disclosed that he had lost some members who felt he had not been strident enough in supporting Israel. A few had quit because he had not condemned Israel enough for the war in Gaza. In my work I see more rabbis choosing to avoid this topic. While the connection to Israel is a core pillar of Conservative Judaism, many rabbis have chosen to flee the topic.

My rabbi decided, despite the risks, that it would be "rabbinic malpractice" not to speak about Israel during these High Holiday. He also announced a series of programs about Israel to continue the conversation. As I listened to his High Holiday sermon I became uncomfortable. I am a co-chair of the Israel Zionist Book Group at the synagogue. It was time to pick a book. I read several books this summer. Each expanded my knowledge but they were too polarizing. I stand in the middle of most of these debates. I pride myself in wanting to understand both sides of an issue. With passions high, I just did not want to make a choice. In the end, I decided it would be Zionist malpractice not to pick a book. We are meeting November 3 to read Turning David into Goliath.

Tal Becker noted that Israelis audiences have become used to living with unresolved issues. In contrast he noted he has found that American audiences always wanted to be left with some hope. While his analysis was not particularly hopeful, his stance provided me with some hope. He talked about how important it was to listen and empathize with the other parties' story and not to shout over it. It does not pay to ask Palestinians to "get over" their sense of loss from the events of 1948 anymore than it is reasonable to ask Israelis to forget 3000 years of persecution or the Holocaust. He said the effective diplomat needs to imagine how he would write his adversaries' "victory speech." Negotiators need to be able to see how their plan might provide a plausible path for the other side to accept a settlement.

I encourage leaders have to balance their stance of advocacy (winning the case) and inquiry (learning about the situation).In practice, I lean to the pole of inquiry, or as Steven Covey argues, to "seek first to understand before being understood."

Becker noted that the Torah challenges us to "seek" peace, not to "achieve" peace. We are all challenged to be seekers of peace, even if - and when - the issues around the achievement of peace may be out of our control.

Peace, Becker argued, came when boundaries and resources were negotiated. The agreements were not made by people who loved or trusted each other. The peace accords created a structure that allowed the better actors in both communities to evolve. By taking a balanced stance for engaging Israel, my rabbi created a structure where members could stay engaged, continue to learn, and maintain some hope. He encouraged me to seize the opportunity to step up and engage my book group. That was an action within my control.

Securing Our Future - Choosing Life

Last week in parashat Ki Tavo, we read about the “blessing and the curses’ that will follow depending on how the people of Israel maintain their part of the covenant. This week in parashat Nitzavim, we read that the people are gathered as they prepare to enter the land with Joshua and reminded of the covenant is made with all the people and their descendants.

We Stand Together

Moses tells the people that they stand here not just with their elders, wives and children but even with their guest workers, “from woodchoppers to water carriers” (Deuteronomy 31:9). Moses is making it clear that the covenant moves across lines of class and across age and gender.

The covenant also moves back vertically between our ancestors and our future generations.

 I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are not with us this day. (Deuteronomy 29:13)

This covenantal mission is not just with the current leaders but with their descendants.

My Alban Institute colleague Dan Hotchkiss used to ask congregations, ”Who owns the congregation?” Leaders normally would tell him, “Our members own it.” He challenged them by suggesting that in fact it is the congregation’s mission that owns the congregation. He then suggested that if prospective members and those not even born could stand and be counted, then congregational votes might be different.

When the people enter the land they need to be accountable. When they cross the Jordan the manna stops falling. We need to let go of our dependency and open our hearts to accountability.

Then the Lord your God will open up your hearts and the hearts of your offspring to love the Lord your God with all you heart and soul in order that you may live (Deut.30:6)

A short version of this mission statement might be, “We help people follow these teachings so that might live.”

How do leaders ensure that they can fulfill this mission today and tomorrow?

Next generations may rightfully question current synagogue leaders should they find problems they have inherited:

• Long term endowment funds have been tapped for current operations

• Preventive maintenance on the facility has been long deferred

• Too many board meetings continued with ineffective meeting strategies, unaccountable leadership and personal agendas

• Youth programs were cut back at a time where they were needed more than ever

• Adult education programs had been allowed to wither. We need not create more teachers and students.

As a synagogue leader, I need to weigh the balance of what I have done to provide an inheritance for future generations and what I have failed to do.

A High Holiday Reflection

These texts have helped me think about the upcoming High Holidays. I am reminded that I will stand with the entire congregation this week- old and young- rich and poor. I will be reminded of the covenant God had with my ancestors. The liturgy remind me to seek God’s compassion based on the merit of those who have come before us and for the way in which we ensure community for future generations.

It's often said that American leaders “kick the can” down the road (especially with issues like social security, national debt, etc.) for someone else. How can we ask the next generation of leaders to invest in our community if we are not stepping up to secure their future?

In the theology of the High Holidays we learn that repentance requires four steps:

• Recognition
• Remorse
• Confession
• Resolve

photo credit: nymag.com

This brings me to last Sunday’s climate march in NYC. I recognize that we have been “kicking the can” down the road and I am sorry that we are jeopardizing the lives of our descendants. As I talked about the march I got several responses. One business person asked why we should step up when other countries don’t want to do their part. Another just felt there was nothing they could do. Some attacked me personally for bringing the issue up - they wanted to ignore it.

The High Holidays remind us we are just temporary guests. Our lives are finite. God’s creation is meant to be enduring. Moses teaches that what is asked is difficult but not impossible:

 “It is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who amongst you can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth, in your heart, to observe it” (Deuteronomy 30:11-12).

At the march, we stood with those who choose to recognize the facts and regret what we have avoided and covered up. Joining others to take a stand is “not beyond our reach.” We continue to stand with those who are willing to speak up and resolve to take a stand. The answer is not in heaven. I can choose to be a better recycler. I can stand this day with others - rich and poor, young and old. I can look to stand up on any platform (this blog). I can advocate for our mission to “help people follow these teachings so that they might live.”

Don't Forget to Ask Why

As the sales manager in our family cleaning products business, I knew that buyers did not focus on features; they looked to see why they would benefit from the decision... How would this product help them meet their goals? On sales calls, our sales force would often slip into making long lists of product features. To be honest, I often lapsed myself. I wanted to share the percent of water we could wring out with each squeeze of the O-Cedar Twist N’ Mop.

When I left the cleaning business and moved into congregational consulting I assumed leaders would focus more on selling the intangible- “the why.” Why be Jewish? Why belong to a synagogue? I assumed we would appeal more to emotion. What I found was that most synagogue leaders made their appeal based on features- “the what!”

Typical mission statements often announce that a kehilla is "a Conservative synagogue serving the Eastern New Jersey area." They list their offerings - “their what.”

•  Shabbat Services
• Holiday services and programs
• Adult education
• Pre-school
• Religious school
• Teen programs
• Opportunities for social justice
• Caring committees

They seldom focused on “The Why!”

Why Start With Why?

Simon Sinek has written about that the importance of asking why. You can get a quick overview of his ideas by listening to his TED Talk. 

Sinek believes that we make most of our major decisions with our gut. Our decisions are shaped by the part of the brain that controls emotion. This is a view that is shared by Daniel Goleman. (Primal Leadership). Sinek argues that we make many decisions with our emotions and then find logical rationale to support what we feel. Anyone who has observed our polarized American politics can document this pattern.

Given the importance of emotion in gaining hearts and minds of people, Sinek argues that it is critical that we explain people “the why?”.  We need to get them to buy into the dream. In his TED talk he uses the example of Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. King did not focus on every detail of the civil rights agenda. He focused on the dream. People of all ages and races came to Washington because they embraced the vision of a God-given sense of individual dignity that might be more powerful than the political and economic might of the ruling order.

Given this lesson, Sinek suggests that innovative and inspirational leaders start with their purpose first and then explain “How” and “What”.  Sinek describes three steps:

Sinek-Normal Process	Sinek-Innovative and Inspirational  Process
What?	Why?
How?	How?
Why?	What?

 

Synagogue Leaders With A Purpose

Jewish communal observers have noted that today’s young Jews are less ethnic. They are not going to join a synagogue just to be with fellow Jews or to escape from anti-Semitism.  They believe that they are the final arbiter of what they should do.  They are also less conforming. They are not going to join because society says they should. In such an environment synagogues have to show why belonging to a synagogue will make a difference in their lives. It has never been more important than ever to explain why, to have a sense of purpose.

In United Synagogue's Sulam Leadership Program, we went to the trouble to create a new framework for describing goals. We called them P.A.C.T Goals. They start with purpose.

P- Purpose- Why are we doing this? How does it relate to our mission, vision and purpose?

A- Action- What are we going to do?

C- Capacity- How will we do it? What people and resources and knowledge will we need?

T- Timeframe- When will we do it?

Let’s look at what this might look like:

Example: Share Shabbat Program

PACT Process	Example
P- Purpose- Why are we doing this?	Help members take time to share the beauty, joy and holiness of Shabbat with other families
A- Action- What are we going to do?	Create a “Share Shabbat” program that helps families share Shabbat by matching hosts and guests. Share family Shabbat resources (guides to prayers, songs, parsha).
C- Capacity- How will we do it?	We will create a committee to share the responsibility to organize 4 weekends
T- Timeframe- When will we do it?	Once a month starting January through April

Vision to Action

 Leaders may want to just write their goals “what, who and when.” In the Sulam for Strategic Planners program, we spend a lot of time on Vision. We have worked hard to make the connection between vision and action. Vision can certainly inspire action. It can’t inspire action, however, if it is buried away in a binder that says “Work Completed.” In order to insure this connection we need to nudge our leaders to take the time build a bridge between the why and the how. If they do they may find they have more followers stepping forward.

Did You Acquire Wisdom?

In his book The Seven Questions You’re asked in Heaven, Dr. Ron Wolfson draws on the rabbinic writings of Abba ben Joseph bar Hama (280-352 CE), known as Rava, to describe the questions you will be asked in heaven. As a baby boomer approaching my 63^rd birthday, I find I am spending more time thinking about ultimate issues. How best should I use the last quarter of my life?

These questions, according to Wolfson, were designed to “reveal how you lived your life on earth.” Wolfson notes that the third question asks “Did you set a time for Torah?” The fifth question in the book deals with wisdom and knowledge. It asks, “How did you learn? How did you study?”

Wolfson writes, “Our teacher Rava imagines that the Fifth Question You’ll be Asked in Heaven is in a two parts:

Pilpalta b’chochmah? - Did you seek wisdom?

Havanta d’var mitach davar? - Did you understand one thing from another?”

Wolfson argues that Rava’s two questions “seem to be a kind of instruction guide for his students as they swim in a sea of Talmud, a lifelong pursuit.” Wolfson goes on to argue that knowledge comes from three sources (The Seven Questions You’re Asked in Heaven, Dr. Ron Wolfson, Jewish Lights, pp 80-81):

• Da’at refers to factual knowledge - the what, where, when and how
• Binah refers to analytic ability
• Chochmah refers to the kind of knowledge that comes from experience, i.e., wisdom

The pursuit of analytic ability, knowledge and wisdom are important qualities for all people but they are very important to the strategic leader. One of the goals of USCJ’s Sulam for Strategic Planners program is to help leaders access all of their leadership learning skills.

Data Gathering

Da’at

We have the planners create a FACT book of all of the relevant internal and external facts relating to the synagogue.  We help planners conduct a congregational survey of their member’s wants and needs.

Binah

We have  planners create a SWOT analysis that looks at the congregation’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This exercise helps sharpen the ability of the planners to analyze data and to see the relationship between different elements. When the congregational survey data is complete, we give planner a Survey Debrief Worksheet so that they can learn to listen for the big insights. What assumptions did they have? How have they changed? What are the implications? These exercises are designed to help planners “learn to study”.

Chochmah

We offer planners exercises that support analysis. The Strategic Planning Committee depends of the accumulated experience of the planners to make sense of all the information and to determine what is most important. This accumulated wisdom grows over the 12-15 months of planning. That is why it is so important the steering committee members make the commitment to finish the work together.  As consultants we sometimes refer to this as “the wisdom of the room”. A plan cannot just a book of facts or a  laundry list of actions- it must prioritize. It must identify what is most important and what is needed most now. It must lift up what is of greatest value.

Wolfson addresses this question about wisdom by quoting a famous rabbinic quote:

Before his death, Rabbi Zusya said, “In the coming world, they will not ask me, ‘Why were you not Moses?’ They will ask me, ‘Why you were not Zusya’?” (Tales of the Hasidim, Volume 1 page 251).

Outside consultants and resources can help support leaders, but in the end congregational leaders must determine the path that is best for them. The seventh question that Wolfson discusses is as follows: 

• Did you live your life trying to be someone else?
• Were you true to yourself?

We assign all planners the book Holy Conversations by Dr. Gil Rendle and Alice Mann. The authors speak from years of experience walking with congregational leaders. They learned that the goal of planning is not to fix congregations but to help them be the best that they can be:

Planning does not fix a congregation. Planning does not make it something that it is not. As leaders invite the congregation into a planning process, it is important that the participants understand that the structured conversation at the heart of planning is not meant to make the congregation look like some other successful congregation. Rather the structured conversation is meant to help the congregation be the people that they most effectively can be, given their history, their resources, and their call.

In Sulam for Strategic Planners we argue that planners need to manage the tension between three poles: Their enduring mission, vision and values, the unique challenge of their congregation’s environment and context and their capacities. We define these capacities as what a congregation is good at, what it is known for and what it is capable of. A strategy is a plan to help them fulfill their vision within the constraints of the context and capacity.

There is no mathematical formula for this work. It takes wisdom to learn from each pole. It takes courage to live in the tension between these poles and to navigate your own path. With a commitment to learning and practice, leaders can hope to answer some of these ultimate questions for themselves, their leadership community and their congregation. When planers look back on their time on the planning committee we hope they will feel that they acquired some wisdom.