The Flourishing Culture Podcast Series Creating a Culture of Leadership Development June 6, Doug Nuenke

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1 The Flourishing Culture Podcast Series Creating a Culture of Leadership Development June 6, 2016 Doug Nuenke Al Lopus: Hello, I m Al Lopus. Thanks for joining us. Today we re going to explore the question I have often been asked by executives in Christian organizations who want to build their organization s inspirational leadership. The question is, How do we develop the kind of Christian character and competence in our leadership in a way that builds a healthy, even flourishing, organizational culture? Today, we re going to talk with a leader who looks to answer that question every day. He s a leader of a large ministry known for establishing life-on-life discipling relationships and equipping people to make an impact on those around them for God s glory. He has also authored the books Making Waves: Being an Influence for Jesus in Everyday Life and Five Traits of a Christ-Follower. We have the pleasure of talking with the US president of The Navigators, Doug Nuenke. Hi, Doug, and welcome to our podcast. Doug Nuenke: Hey, Al. It s good to be with you today. Al: We re glad to have you. Tell us a little bit about yourself, Doug, and The Navigators. Doug: My wife, Pam, and I have been married going on 35 years now. We have three adult children, two grandkids, and three grand-dogs. It s a wonderful thing. We live in Colorado Springs, and at least two of the kids live up in Denver, so they re close by. The Navigators are over 80 years old, and for 80 years we ve been giving ourselves to the idea of intentional generational disciple-making. A lot of people have heard our tagline, To Know Christ and to Make Him Known. In recent years, we ve actually added on another phrase, To Know Christ and to Make Him Known, and to help others do the same. So that idea of generational disciple-making. Today, our international work is in over 100 countries. Our US work, which is what I lead We have over 2,500 staff and many, many, many more volunteers. We have ministries that are on college campuses, military establishments, in cities, neighborhoods, workplaces. We work with hundreds of local churches. We re in some under-resourced communities. Best Christian Workplaces Institute 1

2 In addition, in our US work we have NavPress, which is our publishing arm, which many people even just know The Navigators from that, as well as Glen Eyrie, our conference center, and Eagle Lake Camp, where we have thousands of kids pass through each summer. Al: Glen Eyrie is one of the most beautiful places in the world. There s no question. You re fortunate to have your headquarters right next door. Doug: It s an amazing place. We take it too much for granted, I think. I mean, right there by the city. I was telling somebody just the other day it seems like it s a stone s throw away from I-25, and yet you feel like you re completely out there and able to spend time with God and learn and grow. Al: It s a great place. Well, Doug, tell us about becoming the US president of The Navigators in What was one of the biggest challenges facing the organization, other than the fact we were falling into the great recession? Doug: In 2008, we had just come out of a great period of expansion, where we were involved more broadly in more contexts in our ministry. As I said earlier, for The Navigators, we re all about helping people grow in Christ wherever we are. We re really not about the locales we go, but part of our vision statement is that we want to see what we call kingdom workers (or laborers, like out of Matthew 9:36-38) next door to everywhere. So we were expanding a lot. Historically, The Navigators have had a strong entrepreneurial culture. Leaders going and just doing what they do, out there taking risk, going out into new contexts. We certainly had had a number of years of doing that. For us, probably one of the biggest challenges was that great strength of entrepreneurship and individuality and really going on our own turned on its head, creating silos, people operating on their own, where you end up with everybody having their own purpose or their own little sub-purpose they re working on as opposed to having a common purpose and really knowing how to collaborate and work together. Back in 2008, I would say that my predecessor was already working on this, trying to figure out, How do we work more together? How do we have one work rather than having a bunch of good things going on but not really connecting, not benefiting from synergy and not having a culture that is collaborative and working together? Al: I know you re working on those things, for sure. In 2012, The Navigators began to measure the health of your staff culture using the BCWI Employee Engagement Survey, and each year your results have improved. From your perspective, why is measuring the health of your culture on an annual basis so important? Doug: I think part of it is it gives objectivity to us as we think about these things. We can intuitively or kind of guess where our strengths and weaknesses are just from anecdotal evidence, and we might be kind of right every once in a while, but you know how that is. Depending on how well I slept last night I can feel more positive about some things than others. Best Christian Workplaces Institute 2

3 Doing the survey each year helped us to identify our strengths and also to identify where we needed to strengthen, our developmental gaps for the organization. I think also it gave us objective information, so that as we re coaching and developing our leaders and supervisors and managers of different parts of the work, we had real objective data to be able to help them see where the strengths were and where we needed to work on. It gave us the ability to build a game plan built on facts given by hundreds of people rather than just guesswork. That has probably been the biggest thing. At one point, people didn t feel like they were getting the kind of feedback they needed, so we started working on a personal progress review a little more. It helped us clarify organizational goals. So it has been really helpful for us to be able to set goals that were connected to reality rather than what our perception of reality was. Al: That s true in a lot of organizations. We all get anecdotal information, but to have everybody giving input is really helpful. This year, about 1,500 from around the world completed your engagement survey, and a major strength that appeared is the level of inspirational leadership you have at The Navigators. Staff acknowledge and credit Navigator leadership for the growth of their Christian character. The Navigators top 10 strengths reflect that your leaders exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit, they put Christ first in daily decision making, and they model humility, fairness, and integrity. All of this results in high levels of trust between leaders and staff. This is really the crux of why I wanted to have this conversation. Can you explain to us how you develop the organization s leadership that puts such a premium on Christian character? Doug: First off, I have to say I wish I could even begin to take credit for developing that, but I can t. I think we are riding on the shoulders of people who have gone before us. The Navigators have a long and deep history of encouraging people in Christ. Going all the way back in Colossians 1:28-29, one of the key verses early on I heard this even as a college student and knew it was Navigator thinking. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. Paul goes on to say, To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy which so powerfully works in me. I think that s something that s in the heart of every Navigator, and we want to have it be. We re all about fanning the flame of Christlike character, of reflecting more fully the person of Jesus. Our number-one core value in The Navigators is, "The passion to know, love, and become like Jesus Christ." We have a deep history of the disciplines of prayer and time in the Scriptures, and every person in The Navigators, every staff person, even in our training, is raised up to reflect that kind of life, along with the volunteers and the people we affect. The number-one goal is that we re helping people walk with Christ. In our own leadership meetings It would be a great exception in our leadership meetings that we don t start opening the Scriptures. In our executive team, we start with devotions. We look at the Scriptures very often in our leadership team meetings. We together are going through some part of the Best Christian Workplaces Institute 3

4 Bible. Recently, we were going through the Sermon on the Mount and asking questions about our own leadership and how we want to see the work grow. We do that regularly. We just got done having an executive team offsite, and part of that was time with God. Often it ll be time looking at the Scriptures around a certain topic we are struggling with or wrestling with, but often it s just getting in the Scriptures and connecting more fully with Jesus together as a team. Al: Let me ask you a specific question around this. You just had this executive team offsite. You had devotions. You focused on Scripture. How much time are you talking about? Is this five or ten minutes at the beginning? Is it longer? Doug: Not to make it seem like we always do this, because there will be times where we enter in and we get down to business and we pray one of those popcorn prayers at the beginning of a meeting, but on this offsite we had, every morning we had an hour that we were praying in the Scriptures around a certain topic. Some of our offsites we don t make quite so retreat-ish. This one we really wanted At least one of the mornings we had some extended time, had a couple of hours. We didn t start together until 10:00. We had the team go be able to spend extended time. We gave them some things to be looking at so that we were all looking at some of the same ideas. Often what we ll do, too, even in the midst of our meetings, is we ll get done with a certain part, some certain topic, and regularly we ll just stop and say, Okay, we need to pray about that. We bring each of the topics when we re done before the Lord. We re even growing in that so that we are living out the values we have; that we re not just some leaders in a room, but we really are under the leadership of Jesus Christ and we are people who are guided by the Holy Spirit. Al: Great. Several items on your top 10 are related to the Christian character, what we re calling inspirational leadership. Another strength you have is around healthy communication. Your staff feel involved in decisions and are encouraged to experiment and be innovative. With the Navigator staff spread literally around the world, what are some of the things you do as an organization to involve staff and encourage innovation? Doug: It s encouraging that we rank as high on that, because certainly, and I think all of us as leaders can relate to this Most often, when you re not listening and not communicating well, you hear about that. So anecdotally, I think, if we hadn t done the survey we would have thought, We re pitiful at this. The people who cry the loudest are the ones we probably haven t communicated as well with. So just to put that out front that we re still learning on that. I would say that in our culture we are continuing to fan the flame. Every leader and every leader in our leadership community is engaged with the leaders they support and supervise. So making sure that they are seeing that they re connected with, and they re not just connected with in bringing their list to meetings, or whatever, but when they show up with whomever they re meeting with they re learning to ask questions and draw out and really be able to understand what others are experiencing. Best Christian Workplaces Institute 4

5 Our leadership is more consultative. Like I said, we continue to work on that, but I know that s true. That s more personally and person-to-person, but we also have the regular communication piece called Nav Weekly, which is aimed to engage staff with current issues that the work is facing. We ve just pulled this off recently to have all our communication show up on Nav Weekly. I was talking earlier about the silos and the parts. It s really easy to get focused on your part and have your communication that s going out. I would suspect that probably each week every staff out there was getting communication from some kind of leader five or ten times, probably, on some weeks. But this brings it all together under one piece, one , that they can just click on, and then they can scroll down and see the different aspects. Within that is their area. If they re on collegiate staff, they most weeks will hear from the collegiate director. If they re on our neighborhood ministry staff, they ll hear from their leaders. At the same time, we provide opportunity for key issues to show up at the top of the page, where they can see and hear what s going on. So I think that s good. We still are trying to figure out how to get everyone to read those things, but I think we re growing in that. Al: I d say, Doug, just on that, you re making great progress on connecting and communicating effectively. What you just said is you realize that communication is important and that having people actually opening and reading your communication is important. So narrowing it down so it s attractive, almost, to them is a great strategy. Anything else on the communication front? Doug: Yeah. You mentioned innovation. That is such a big thing. Like I said, our culture is pretty entrepreneurial, so we have good thinkers. I think through the years on innovation, sometimes as leaders I certainly can be this way, because I like to get a process in place and get everything laid out. When you do that, you can almost squelch innovation. People who are thinking differently or want to try new things that don t fit within our system can kind of lose their voice.through the years, I ve found the Lord has given us grace to continue to give the microphone to people on the fringes and people who are thinking differently or people who are having different experiences so we can continue to be a learning organization. As I talk to some of my peers, I know it s a struggle for all of us to get things systematized and not have everything be exceptions and to live in that balance of being able to have the systems in place, and we all are doing the same thing, but also give the microphone to those who have new ideas.certainly, our world is changing so fast. The advance of the gospel depends on us and really demands for us to be flexible and innovative in our methods, because things are just changing so quickly these days. Al: You ve had, just in the last three or four years, record numbers of new staff coming on board, but you also have been able to retain and promote the most highly capable staff, and that has come out of the survey. I know that doesn t happen by accident. So what are some of the key processes you have to achieve such long service and identify the best candidates for promotion when leadership opportunities come up? Best Christian Workplaces Institute 5

6 Doug: Again, this is an area we re continuing to learn on. I think one of the areas, with your help,was putting in place the personal progress review I mentioned earlier. We ve been rolling that out. We started with our executive team and our reports, and each year we re adding more people, to where we re going to have the whole organization doing those personal progress reviews. Again, it creates some objectivity. Supervisors then are having meaningful conversations with people, talking about areas of strength and where things are going well, but also knowing where the gaps are. That helps us, when we are beginning to look at people for broader leadership opportunities, to know who they are and not just have it be anecdotal and one person s thought and one person s experience or another. I think that has really helped us, particularly over the last several years. My associate US director, Lindy Black, has played a huge role in helping us to be moving toward having a culture of development, meaning every staff person being developed where they are, learning from their current experiences and the current tasks and challenges and things they have going on, but also development that prepares them to take next steps, to have broader experience and broader developmental opportunities. So we have that culture of development going, where we are having leaders have the opportunity to be in this development program, which we call Leader Development Institute, which is both gatherings and mentor relationships with someone who s walking with you and being able to tease out developmental opportunities and looking at developmental gaps. Recently, we ve put in place an executive leader development program identifying some key leaders who could have some national roles in the years ahead and developing some learning communities around that. We have between 40 and 50 upcoming leaders between 35 and 45 who are in what we call Sharpen the Axe, around Ecclesiastes 10:10, which says, If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success. So this idea that as we develop people in their skill sets, we re sharpening the ax and allowing them to be able to get the work done today and developing them for further work in the future. Al: This executive leader programprobably is over a period of time. Give us a little sketch on that, if you would. Doug: We ve invited these folks into a two-year opportunity, and over those two years we have modules on topics that we as an executive team, and we got input from others What are some key topics we could look at that national leaders, and particularly leaders who are leading more broadly, need to know about? Things like change. How do you lead change? Or collaboration. How do you build an organization that s really collaborative and working together and benefiting from the strengths of others? Team building, team development. Because of our strong Navigator values, we also have one on leading out of the Scriptures, to be able to really impart that, as well as some of our calling statement core values, to be able to help them be developing as Navigators. Systems thinking, strategy and development. Over two years we re going through these topics, and they re in little cohort learning communities of six or seven people. Best Christian Workplaces Institute 6

7 They get on Skype calls every month about the current topic they re reading about. They have papers, things they re reading. Then we meet together with them four times over two years. All of the assignments are built around current work tasks and challenges they re facing, so it s on-time learning. It s not adding to their plate. It s really trying to help them to be doing the right things and have some increased skill in taking on the leadership that God has put them in today. Al: Let me drill down, if you would. Leading from the Scriptures. That s certainly a Navigator core value, as you said. What does that look like in this training? Doug: As I meet with my direct reports, to try to be opening the Scriptures up with them. We re not just talking about the task; we re talking about life. In John 15 that we probably all are familiar with John 15:5: I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Then it says, Apart from me you can do nothing. For those of us who are leading a spiritual work, we realize that we can knock out some tasks and we can get some processes in place, but if we are trusting that we re making disciples, it s how we do the work that impacts as much as what we do. How we do it, if it s a reflection of Jesus, then we can be certain, as we re connected to Christ, that we will accomplish things that are fruitful in a kingdom kind of way. If we re not connected to him, we can do nothing. So to be able to be having those conversations, as I take responsibility for those I supervise and lead on our executive team and as they lead others, that life, even marriage, home life, things like that, impact everything. As well as, how do we relate to those we lead? Are we leading in the Spirit of Jesus? That doesn t mean we don t make hard decisions. It doesn t mean we don t have hard conversations at times and say things as they need to be said, but we also do it with kindness and compassion, with all the fruit of the Spirit as well. Al: Those are all qualities that, again, show up on your top 10 relative to other Christian organizations. Leaders exhibit the fruit of the Holy Spirit, are humble, show compassion, and put Christ first in daily decision making. Those are all confirmed by your staff around the world. Well, Doug, thank you for being with us today. I certainly have enjoyed what we ve learned. Coming into an organization that s independent, with silos, where people are often not aligned, where you re trying to create synergy, bringing together all of the talents and skills of individuals that God has brought together has really been a challenge, and it has been fun to see as you have done a number of intentional things to bring that together and to really create positive outcomes in terms of the health of your culture. Doug, we have a few moments left. Give us one final thought you d like to leave with Christian leaders. Doug: I think something I remind myself often, if not daily, is that as a leader for the sake of Jesus I can only lead out of the overflow of a deep walk with him. I need Christ. I need the presence of the Holy Spirit in every meeting I have. It makes me think One of our early board members was Howard Hendricks, who was a professor at Dallas Seminary. He has now gone on to be with the Lord. Best Christian Workplaces Institute 7

8 One of his quotable quotes You can go search the web and find whole websites that are associated with his quotes, but one of the ones that really sticks with me the most is, You cannot impart what you do not possess. I think for us, as Christian leaders, we need to walk deeply with Jesus. Al: That s great. Thanks, Doug. Thanks for sharing your wisdom, insights, and stories, and thank you for extending your ministry to the leaders who are listening to this podcast today. Doug: It s good to be with you, Al. Thanks for your help. Al: Absolutely. To our audience, if you ve enjoyed today s episode, you can find the podcast at blog.bcwinstitute.org. We d love to hear your feedback from our interview today, so please take a minute and leave a comment on our blog post. Also, do us a favor before you go and click over to itunes to rate this program. It makes a big difference for getting this material into the hands of the right people. We would be grateful. Well, friends, remember: your leadership is a gift. Let s work together to make sure Christian organizations set the standard as the best, most effective places to work in the world. We ll see you next time at the Flourishing Culture Podcast. Best Christian Workplaces Institute 8