What can we learn from the Synod on Synodality?

In 2021, Pope Francis inaugurated the Synod on Synodality. It was an opportunity for the Church to actively listen to its members at the grass roots level. Organized by the General Secretariat of the Synod, a permanent office in the Vatican, listening sessions were encouraged throughout the world to be held in every parish, diocese, and religious institution around the globe. Data was collected and reports were generated. Out of those reports, Instrumentum Laboris, working documents were compiled that contained issues for further discussion at the General Ordinary Synod Assemblies in Rome held in October 2023 and 2024.

What is interesting about the Synod on Synodality, in addtion to the issues that emerged for the future of the Church to consider, but the processes that it encouraged and promoted. In other words, the “how”? I would like to take sometime to explore those components of the Synod of Synodality that have been incorporated into the Gifted in the Spirit: Catholic Leadership Development Institute.

1) CONVERSATIONS IN THE SPIRIT - Conversations in the Spirit, like Leadership Coaching from the secular realm, seeks to asks us to consider the “big questions”, especially when discerning where the Holy Spirit is moving us to action within the Church, as well as our own individual lives. By learning how to quiet ourselves and invite the Holy Spirit into the conversation. Often times, this means going beyond our comfort zone and not doing things the way we have always done them.

2) ACTIVE LISTENING / INTENTIONAL SPEAKING / THE ART OF ACCOMPANIMENT - Conversations in the Spirit cannot be effective without active listening and intentional speaking. Listening to the voice of the other without judgment or even without thinking about how we are going to respond. Then, and only then, can we formulate a response that is fruitful and actually articulates the voice of the other. Pope Francis was an avid proponent of accompaniment which is at the heart of the synod - “journeying together”. Being present to one another. It is critical for everyone, especially leaders to accompany those that they have been entrusted to lead.

3) ECCLESIAL DISCERNMENT - As leaders, especially ordained pastors, are called to discern the gifts of their parishioners and empower them to use them for the service of the community and to advance the Mission. So often, as the Synod rightly noted, members of the clergy try to take on all the responsibility for running the parish and they experience burnout and isolation. Discernment helps the entire community take ownerhip for the wellbeing and flourishing of the Church.

At Gifted in the Spirit, we conducted extensive research on the Synod on Synodality and found that it provides an excellent foundation for leadership development deeply rooted in Catholic spirituality. We invite you to learn more about how understanding the Synod can make you a more effective leader!

How can Coaching help the Church?

A buzz word in the secular business world nowadays is “coaching”. Organizations, Corporations, and Companies are looking to providing their employees, especially supervisiors, managers, all the way up to the CEO’s, with leadership coaches. This idea of “coaching” is not very widely knonw within the the Church or non-profit sectors. Many of us are more familiar with “mentoring”. We might stop and wonder, what is a “mentor” and what is a “coach”? Is there any difference? And most importantly, why should leaders in the Church look to leadership coaching in the first place? Well, I hope my reflections might break it down.

First off, a “coach” and a “mentor” acts very differently. A mentor is someone “who has been there and done that” and can guide another who has little or no experience performing the duties expected of that person. The mentor helps the mentee “avoid the pitfalls” and advises the person on what action or decision might be the best one. A coach, however, serves to help the individual to make his or her own decision, looking deep within one’s own self. During my research into leadership studies, a stumbled upon the work of Lori Mazan, a prominent leadership coach and author of a book called Leadership Revolution: The Future of Dynamic Leaders. Reading this book, it became clear what leadership coaching is all about. According to Mazan, a coach is a “thinking partner” someone who asks the leader to ponder those critical questions about what steps need to be taken to be an effective leader. In other words, rather than “telling or modeling the leader what to do next” as a mentor would do, rather the coach provides the space for the leader to figure out for themselves what should be done.

As I look at coaching in the context of the Church, especially the Catholic Church, a few things come to mind. First, discernment done in the conext of spiritual direction. Consider Ignatius spirituality and the idea of looking deep inside one’s soul, asking the deep questions, “where am I being called to in my life? and where is God leading me?” Perhaps the answers, like in leadership coaching, may require us to go beyond our comfort zones and do things that are new and different, and might I even add, difficult. Just like the athletic coach challenges the player to go beyond what skills and techniques they are comfortable with in order to become even better in their sport. So too, within the Church, the coach challenges us to take that step that God is calling us that might be scary or uncertain.

The next thing that comes to mind is the process used in the Synod on Synodality, which will be the topic of my next blog post. Conversations in the Spirit is a specific way of listening and dialoguing that is designed to help the Church determin what direction the Holy Spirit desires for the Church to go. So often, we human beings want to do all the talking. We are used to being busy: planning, setting goals, taking action, etc. Sometimes we need stop and listen! Listen to whom, you might ask? Listen to the Holy Spirit and one another. So often, if we stop and listen, we can hear the Spirit both in the quiet of our hearts and in the voice of one another. Conversations in the Spirit teaches us to do that.

At Gifted in the Spirit, we use a leadership coaching approach to leadership development. We journey with our clients by becoming a “thinking partner” with them, as they work through the challenges of leadership and realize what those critical steps need to be an effective leader. We also teach the process of Conversations in the Spirit and help leaders model the process in their own unique context.