What Does An Interim Consultant Do? – Transcript
Jim Latimer
Welcome to Coaching for Interims. We are about empowerment for transitional ministry, best practices and quick help – wisdom from the field. I am your host, Reverend Jim Latimer, and today we have Reverend Dr. Ruth Shaver with us. Ruth is a United Church of Christ minister with depth experience as both a settled pastor and as a transitional pastor. I am impressed with the innovative and creative way she practices transitional ministry. In particular, she’s a leading practitioner and thought leader in the emerging field of Interim Consulting. As fewer congregations are able to afford a full-time trained, Intentional Interim Minister, working with an Interim Consultant on a part-time basis is proving to be an effective way that congregations in transition can have access to the change leadership skills and knowledge that an Intentional Interim Minister would bring. I so appreciate that Ruth is willing to share her practical wisdom with us today. And in this second next podcast, Ruth had offered to speak to us about, So what does an interim consultant actually do? So, Ruth, please.
Ruth Shaver
It’s wonderful to be here again, Jim. And I will say that this is the way that I do things. There are others who are thought leaders in this area who are doing things a little bit differently. And we may come to a best practice idea. Or it may be that we take all these ideas, and people pick and choose what works for them. And it could also be very situational as well, because a good transitional leader will look at what’s happening in the system, and make choices based on that. So that’s the first thing I will say.
So, when I come in as an Interim Consultant, the first thing that I like to do is to talk with the pastoral leader and the leadership of the congregation, and that might be a Moderator, or Council President, whomever the case may be, to see where they are and how much they’ve done toward the transition. Sometimes they’ve already put together their Transition Team, or their Pastoral Search Team, or whatever they’re using to do this work. Sometimes they’re at the very beginning of the process, and I can consult with them on how to put that team together. And I’ve done both in my consulting piece.
So sometimes I’ve had a team already set, and sometimes the team has been formed with my sort of guidance. The main thing that I do as an Interim Consultant, when I’m working with UCC churches, which is where I’ve done my work so far, is to use the Local Church Profile as sort of the basic tool for my consulting because it asks three important questions. Who are we? Who is God calling us to be? and, Who is my neighbor? And those are three vital questions that every congregation needs to be answering. So, to get at that, I will work with the team that’s in place to do some research.
There are some great tools that the UCC has available. I know other denominations have similar tools to do this work. And that gives some demographic information about the area where the church is. It gives some good data on what people believe in the areas around the church, and where there’s a good match, where there might be a mismatch, depending on the situation. So that’s one piece of it, that’s sort of the Who is our neighbor? piece.
And that’s a lot of internal work, but then, if the team is willing, I love to have them go out and talk to their neighbors. And sometimes teams are willing, and sometimes they’re not. But then the other two are really congregation focused. And it’s not just about the people who are on the team. It’s about what the congregation feels is happening. So, who are we now? – that’s gathering information about who the congregation feels like they’ve become under the current or the immediate past leadership, as well as who they were and who shaped them to be who they were. So, looking at historical pieces, looking at what the most effective pastors in the last 25 to 30 years brought to the table. What did they love about pastors? What did they find that wasn’t particularly helpful? Not to be negative about those pastors, but to really pull out those quintessential pieces of what this congregation needs from their leaders.
And so, one of the tools that we use in the UCC for that is the Marks of Faithful and Effective Authorized Ministry in the United Church of Christ. What matches the congregation’s values? What matches with the leadership? And the really cool thing is – it’s available now as a draft, but coming soon after General Synod next year – is the Marks of Faithful and Vital Local Churches. And so, we’ll be able to do some matching with that, and using that as a tool in the Manual on Local Church to really kind of help a congregation say, Okay, this is who we are. And because this is who we are, now we can say, Who is God calling us to be? What’s the future that God has planned for us? And how do we move from where we are now to where God is calling us to be three years, five years, 10 years in the future?
And there’s a lot of discernment in that. There’s a lot of dreaming and visioning. I like to do that with congregational meetings, to have gatherings of people. Sometimes I lead them. Sometimes the timing doesn’t work for me to be there, so I’ll train the team to lead them using things like Appreciative Inquiry, which is asking those really good deep questions. Asset Mapping is another one that can be a lot of fun for people. Because when you start putting people at a table and asking them to list every asset they can think of that the church has, right down to the number of chairs and tables they have available for community gathering, you can get some really goofy but fun ideas that can spin into fantastic programs, and ideas. And especially when you have a church that’s already innovative, it can really light some fires for some new energy, which is very cool.
And that can happen with a totally separate group alongside the group that’s working on the profile. So, there can be energy through the transition time, beyond what the Transition Team is working for. So, for me, it’s about engaging the whole community, the whole congregation, one way or another, getting as many voices as possible, into the conversation space. And then once all of that data is gathered, then the team sets out to write, and to do the work of the Profile, and to say, Okay, what are these key elements that we need to communicate so that we get people who are interested and enthusiastic about potentially being our pastor? And hopefully, if the Profile is really well done, most of the folks that submit their profiles are actually good candidates. And you don’t get a whole lot of time that people go, Why did they send their profile to us?
So, that’s how I can do that. And of course, I’m in constant touch with the Area Conference Minister or whatever conference staff persons are involved. And also, then, as the Transition Team, or the Search Team finishes the Profile, and submits it for verification, which are the steps in the UCC, then I step back, because that’s usually where the Conference begins to take over. But I always stay available for those general questions. You know, like, How might we write a letter to our candidates that we’re taking a hiatus because of vacation, or because of travel? Just those kinds of questions that, you know, it’s a simple answer for me, and rather than trying to ask our conference staff who are overwhelmed to answer a letter like that, or an email like that, it’s a quick and easy thing for me.
Jim Latimer
That’s great! And if you’ve worked with them you know them. So that’s great. So, as we kind of wrap up here, Ruth, the tenure, the length of time in the Interim Consultant role, depending on when you come, in when you join the congregational system, if you will, it could be a few months, or it could be up to a year perhaps?
Ruth Shaver
I think it could be as long as a year. The two that I have completed successfully and where they have then called a pastor, were each just a little over nine months by the time all was said and done. And that seemed to be very effective for them, because I could focus on that work.
Jim Latimer
As the Interim Consultant, you’re focused on that change management piece, and not on the pastoral care piece, or the worship piece, or the administrative piece, although you have interactions with the people that are doing those, but that’s not your main job. Your main job is the change piece.
Ruth Shaver
Exactly. And it does take longer, or my experience is that it takes longer, to do that transitional work when I’m also doing the additional pastoral work and the worship work and that kind of thing. That may change as time goes by, or depending on the circumstances of the church.
Jim Latimer
But if you were doing all of those, then we would call you an embedded Intentional Interim Minister – if you were doing all of those, not an Interim Consultant. And that’s kind of the traditional model. But for one, there are fewer congregations that can afford an embedded Intentional Interim Minister, right?
Ruth Shaver
Absolutely!
Jim Latimer
And there are fewer people that have the skills to do that role. Which is exactly where interim consulting comes in. It’s part-time, and it’s focused on that change piece. Ruth, this has been fabulous. Thank you so much…
Ruth Shaver
You’re very welcome.
Jim Latimer
…for this, and I look forward to getting it out there so people can benefit and learn from your wisdom. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Ruth Shaver
You’re very welcome. Absolutely! Okay. Bye.