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Teleconference Leader

Principal Trainer: Rob Voyle

Episcopal priest
Psychologist
Executive Coach

>> See Rob's Helpful,
Humorous, and Healing
approach to training

The Appreciative Way

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The Appreciative Way, is Rob and Kim Voyle's synthesis of:

The practice and philosophy of Appreciative Inquiry
The work of Milton Erickson and his students
Positive Psychology
Compassion as the agent of transformation
Contemplative Spirituality

Mutual Ministry Valuation Teleconference

Creating a Culture of Excellence and Celebration

A Teleconference for Church Leaders
Six 90 minute sessions: Thursday: January 15, 23, 29. February 26, April 2, May 14.
Time: 8 am Pacific 11 am Eastern.
Cost: $175. Participants are responsible for distance telephone costs.

The staggered schedule is designed to provide the content at the beginning of the program and then to space out the just-in-time consultation as the participants conduct their Mutual Ministry Valuations.
Each session will be recorded and available for review if a participant is unable to attend the session.
Participants will also be connected by a group email for question and answers between sessions.

>> Register for the Mutual Ministry
Valuation Teleconference

>> Participant Web Resources requires password

The Importance of Feed-Forward not Feed-Back

Are you tired of unproductive ways of helping people to change?

Despite giving them lots of feedback do they just keep doing what they are doing?
Or do you find that when people want to give you constructive criticism it rarely feels constructive? If you answered yes to any of these questions then consider getting or giving feed-forward rather than feedback to the people that you work with.

Feedback is a critique or judgment about something we did in the past. It can be positive or negative, but research shows that neither positive or negative feedback is very helpful in actually getting people to change their behavior. Knowing how you messed up doesn't help you know what to do differently. Most of the time unsolicited solicitude is just a trespass and feedback leads to defensiveness rather than excellence.

While feedback doesn't help people change, research does show that feed-forward is helpful in helping people to change. Feed-forward is information about what to do differently in the future to ensure success. If people want to criticize your work don't let them go until they give you specific feed-forward as well.

When assessing outcomes we ask two questions:
What was valuable in what we did?
What would make it more valuable in the future if we were to do it again?
The first question provides feedback. The second seeks feed-forward. Asking these two questions orients us to growing in excellence rather than wallowing in and replicating past failure.

Mutual Ministry Valuation Perspective

Too often congregations engage in a process of ministry review based on Feed-Back performance appraisals used in industry that leaves the staff demoralized and demotivated. Rather than improving performance such processes actually cause performance to deteriorate as many in the business world have discovered.

The Mutual Ministry Valuation process begins from the perspective of valuing and growing the ministry that already exists. From an appreciative and theological perspective ministry is not simply something people do, it is something that people join in what God is already doing. To review and value ministry we need to first discover what God is doing in the congregation. We call this process discovering "What in God's Name is Going on Here?"

Having discovered the manifest grace in the congregation specific goals for the coming year can be developed. Rather than wait for an annual review process, appreciative strategies are designed to continue to value the progress and make adjustments when necessary. This creates a continual process of valuing, celebration, and Feed-Forward for improvement.

Program Outline

Session 1, Jan. 15
What in God's name is going on here?
From Ministry Reviews to Ministry Valuations.
From Feed-Back to Feed-Forward
Session 2, Jan. 22
Strategies to determine a congregation's:
  Core purpose,
  Values,
  Motivated skills and abilities.
Session 3, Jan. 29
Creating congregational goals.
Delegating by aligning strengths with tasks.
Creating just-in-time valuation processes.
Session 4, February 26
Just-in-Time consultation.
Participants fine-tune their valuation strategies
and check on outcomes of their valuation process.
Session 5, April 2
Just-in-Time consultation.
Participants fine-tune their valuation strategies
and check on outcomes of their valuation process.
Session 6, May 14
Just-in-Time consultation.
Participants fine-tune their valuation strategies
and check on outcomes of their valuation process.

Learning Objectives

To provide participants with a viable life-giving alternative to the demoralizing aspects of many current performance review processes.
To provide participants with the specific tools and processes they need to establish performance goals in the pursuit of congregational excellence.
To provide participants with appreciative strategies to value performance and discover resources to enrich and empower their congregations.

Registration for Teleconference

>> Register for the Appreciative Performance
Review Teleconference

>> For additional information Email Rob Voyle

Quick Links

The Challenge

Typical employee performance reviews often lead to demoralizing staff rather than inspiring and helping employees be their best. Management expert Edward Demings described the problem this way:

The worst thing in American business is the annual performance appraisal. It evokes fear and robs workers of the right to pride in their workmanship...

The Solution

To create a learning culture committed and equipped to create continual growth and development that enriches the lives of the employees as they help the organization fulfill its purpose and mission.

To create a better work place we don't need better people; we just need to help the people we have, discover and be their best.

What People Say

Rob Voyle has an amazing ability to frame and express Appreciative Inquiry for all of us.
Christopher Szecsey, Senior Associate Social Impact, Inc.

I'm particularly grateful for Rob's generosity in helping me "fine-tune" the retreat I led. His materials and ideas were incredibly helpful and hospitable. I've never known a practitioner to be so unselfish in passing them along to others.
Thomas Wray church Consultant.

After 45 years in the pastoral ministry and attending three events led by Rob Voyle, I have finally learned a better way to help church leaders help themselves and the people they serve.
John Wilkerson, Director: Church Leadership Coaching & Consulting