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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We all come to leadership with expectations of what it might need to look like. But what do you do when the surrounding culture requires a change of direction? What does innovative leadership look like - and when we face challenging situations, how do we tease apart the good from the bad or even the ugly? Chris Curtis has a leadership track

record over decades, first pioneering what became Youthscape - a national youth work organisation based in Luton but with a national reach and influence - but also in youth work in the local church. Join us as he shares lessons he has learned from the unexpected moments - including the pandemic - and why the team around you is so important.

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Olivia Omartey is often introduced as a trailblazer leader. She’s the first black female executive director of the ELIM pentecostal denomination and also leads as a pastor in a church in Birmingham. And she brings a wealth of experience from her background leading in the NHS, as well as in the Anglican church and the voluntary sector. She’s heavily involved in encouraging other leaders too, with a particular passion for those who, like her, describe themselves as ‘reluctant leaders.’

She’s a great example of courage in leadership - but what does it look like to follow a call you’re not sure about? And how does courage and confidence in our leadership balance with the need for humility - in our understanding of what ‘success’ is, and in the moments when things haven’t gone according to plan. Join us as we explore what it looks like to hold failure well, why we shouldn’t believe our own publicity and what authentic leadership looks like when we don’t look like the leader people expect or perhaps think they need.

Olivia has written ‘The gift of Christ responding and living fruitfully: An ecumenical course in 5 sessions” (York courses)

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One powerful predictor of less healthy patterns and culture in leadership is when a leader is driven by or susceptible to anxiety. But what is the difference between acute and chronic anxiety, and might more of us be influenced by anxiety than we realise. Why is anxiety such a powerful influence in a team or culture, and what do we do if one person has become dominant in setting the emotional temperature of a space?

Steve Cuss brings decades of experience pastoring across different contexts and church traditions, and a compassionate insight into the dynamics of healthy relationships and healthy leadership. Join us as we explore how we might recognise and manage our own anxiety, how to deal with tricky people dynamics and why spending some time at ‘home’ might be the most important thing you do as a leader.

Steve’s books are “Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs” (pub Thomas Nelson) and “The Expectation Gap: The tiny, vast space between our beliefs and experience of God.” (Zondervan) He also refers to “The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A leadership Fable.” by Patrick Lencioni

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One response to leadership failures is to conclude that leadership and power are just in essence unhealthy. However, we’re not called to throw out leadership or deny that we have power and authority, but to recognise, understand, and hold that power in healthier ways. Lisa combines both personal experience and professional wisdom as a psychologist and academic researching the impact of spiritual abuse and the misuse of power in spiritual contexts. She shares her learnings from the countless stories she has heard from those who have been impacted as we think about what healthy (and Biblical) power looks like, and how understanding this can help us reclaim healthy leadership and enable flourishing churches.

Lisa and Justin’s book is “Escaping the maze of spiritual abuse: Creating Healthy Christian Cultures.” (SPCK)

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