Shaping Parish Culture (Module Two)
Saint Scholastica Cycle
January 10, 17, 24, February 7, 14 (no session on January 31)
Friday Eastern 12:00 pm Central 11:00 am Mountain 10:00 am Pacific 9:00 am
Zambia (CAT). 6:00 pm Dubai 8:00 pm
Background for the Module
Advance Video to view: Culture Fundamentals from Edgar Schein (30 minutes) This is part of the assignment for Session 4. We would like you to view before beginning the module.
Advance reading: 10 Insights from Edgar Schein, the Culture G.O.A.T. (From Compass website) Sean Rowe, the Presiding Bishop, has contracted with Compass, an OD consulting firm to assist as the national chcurch staff is restructured. This material is also part of the Session 4 assignments.
Optional reading: The Corporate Culture Survival Guide Hardcover, Edgar H. Schein AMAZON
Edgar Schein was the nation’s best theoretician and practitioner in the field of organizational culture. This book is an excellent introduction to the field.
For Session 1
Reading: Chapter 4 Cultural Density in A Wonderful and Sacred Mystery
Watch: The Marines (PBS) (90 minutes) An example of a dense organizational culture.
In the training they seek to incorporate Marines into a culture that includes, for example:
1) Bring out in them a level of confidence that they did not know they had themselves
2) To take care of each other to trust the person on your right and on your left
3) See Appendix A in A Wonderful and Sacred Mystery for other aspects of that culture.
The film notes two aspects of such training, please consider how these issues relate to our work in parish development.
1) What training/formation is necessary in order to fulfill the mission? Obviously the answer will differ from that of USMC training. How to take into account the reality of the forms (sometimes phases) of spiritual life and practice in any parish (See Shape of the Parish Model - And readings from the St. Benedict Cycle - Fill All Things, Chapter 4 and A Wonderful and Sacred Mystery Chapter 3)
2) Experiencing within the first moments the distinctive culture. The first moments of a Marine recruit will include a Drill Instructor getting on the bus and saying something like - “We will make every effort to train you, even after some of you have given up on yourself. Every recruit here, whether they are fat or skinny, tall or short, fast or slow, has the ability to become a United States Marine.” What follows will be stressful and disorienting — rushing off the bus onto yellow footprints, hurrying from one location to another, being expected to learn new skills quickly and work with others to accomplish tasks - the stress and disorientation is congruent with what they will experience at other times as they serve. What are the first moments, the first experiences, in your parish for a newcomer? How are they expressions of parish culture? Are they healthy and faithful expressions?
Assignment:
Begin this assignment after doing the reading and watching the film. We want you to identify an organization/group that made a beneficial mark on you? This should be an organization that became part of your identity and engages you: head, hands, heart and soul. When you share this story in the session you’ll need to be focused. What’s the organization? How old were you and what were your circumstances at the time? Describe the beneficial mark and its impact on your life.
Session 1
A beneficial mark
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Time |
Activity |
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9:00 – 9:10
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STP Prayer Overview of the session Other announcements
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9:10 – 10:40 |
Groups of 5. 1) Briefly introduce yourself – name and something you’d like the group to know about you 2) The group needs to self-manage – Who will watch time? How much time will be given to sharing your story #3, how much for a break, when will the break be? 3) Each person tells something of their story about an organization that left a beneficial mark on them. 4) Remember to take a break! 5) If you have time once each has shared – your choice, more discussion about your stories or a conversation on the norms you’d like this group to have. |
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10:40 |
Return to whole group |
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10:40 – 11:00 |
Whole group. Q&A, comments.
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Between Sessions 1 and 2
In session 2 we want to take an appreciative stance in the shaping of a dense, healthy parish culture. We’ll draw on elements of Appreciative Inquiry and an understanding that arose in that effort — that the organization “is a miracle to be embraced” rather than “a problem be solved.”
Readings and Videos:
1) In Chapter 4 of A Wonderful and Sacred Mystery reread the section beginning with Shaping and nurturing a productive and healthy cultural density up to WomanRising
2) Read: Understanding from Within: Working in Religious Systems “We seek to understand and appreciate the values and deeper underlying assumptions of the groups we work with. For us that process is an eclectic mix of Edgar Schein’s work on organizational culture and the systems-oriented approaches found in pastoral and ascetical theology.”
3) We want you to have some understanding of Appreciative Inquiry (AI). We believe that Ai values and methods have been very helpful in parish development efforts. We also think that advocates of AI have a tendency to overstate the benefits and under value other methods that have proven useful.
Four Videos to look at: What is Appreciative Inquiry? (10 minutes), Appreciative Inquiry: A Conversation with David Cooperrider (4 minutes), A Skeptic’s Guide to Appreciative Inquiry (13 minutes), 4D Appreciative Inquiry (5 minutes) And read Appreciative exploration of the parish
4) Read: Section on “Trust Development” in chapter 6 of Finding God in All Things. Note: If you are using a Kindle edition of the book, two images may be missing. You can find all the images in this PDF
Assignments:
Complete the worksheet - “Assessing Parish Cultural Density”. Have it available for the small group work during the session.
Session 2
Appreciative stance
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Time |
Activity |
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9:00 – 9:10
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STP Prayer Overview of the session Other announcements
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9:10 – 10:40 |
Groups. 9:10 - 1) Share a few of your learnings, wonderments, or challenges from using the worksheet “Assessing Parish Cultural Density”. Go around the group first sharing something related to the first page. Then go around a second time focused on page 2. 2) Take a break By 10:20 3) Briefly discuss trust development in your group using the Trust Development theory. Given the limitations of groups on Zoom and this being a fairly new group – how are you doing so far? And just to assit you focus on the learning process, please make use of the Trust Development model. Speak to what you see of early signs of reliability, responsiveness, reciprocity, and congruence. Also the stages of inclusion & acceptance, open information, shared direction, and internal commitment, collaboration and self management. |
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10:40 – 11:00 |
Whole group. Q&A, comments, observations.
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Between Session 2 and 3
In Session 3 we’ll explore a variety of tools for assessing parish culture
Assignment:
See the instructions in the introduction to the packet - Assessing and Reflecting on Parish Culture
This packet introduces you to facets of organizational culture. When you watch and read the material on Edgar Schein’s work for session 4, you’ll discover that he’s very skeptical about broad surveys, trying to assess culture. He believes, for example, that a focus group would be much more useful than a survey.
Read:
1) Five Apes
2) Organizational Culture of Anglicanism
Session 3
Aspects of culture
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Time |
Activity |
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9:00 – 9:10
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STP Prayer Overview of the session Other announcements
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9:10 – 9:50 |
Groups. In this session focus on the assessment from Assessing and Reflecting on Parish Culture that you found more interesting or useful. What was interesting or useful? What did it tell you about your parish?
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9:50 – 10:00 |
Return to whole group. Break
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10:00 – 10:30 |
Q&A, comments
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10:35 – 11:00 |
Presentation: Initial introduction to Edgar Schein’s idea of a “business problem.” Focus on the need to enter into work on organizational culture by identifying the business problem you want to address. |
Between Sessions 3 and 4
In Session 4 we’ll take a closer look at Edgar Schein’s understanding of organizational culture.
Assignment: Your task is to -
1) view the videos and read Organizational Culture – Based on Edgar Schein’s work and 10 Insights from Edgar Schein, the Culture G.O.A.T.
and
2) Write a note to use in the session — It may be a question about Schein’s approach or you might state an assumption you have about what he is saying in order to test it with the training staff.
Videos to view:
Schein’s Culture Model (10 minutes)
Creating Corporate Cultures 2 (22 minutes)
Read: Organizational Culture – Based on Edgar Schein’s work and
Optional reading:
1) “Parsh culture” and “Shaping Parish Culture in Benedictine Spirituality” two short sections in Chapter 3 of Fill All Things. This is part of the required reading in Session 1 of Module Two in the St. Benedict Cycle.
2) The Corporate Culture Survival Guide Hardcover, Edgar H. Schein AMAZON
Session 4
Schein’s approach to culture
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Time |
Activity |
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9:00 – 9:10
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STP Prayer Overview of the session Other announcements
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9:10 – 10:00 |
Whole group. A discussion of Schein’s approach to organizational culture. Offer your questions, assumptions, observation.
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10:00 – 10:10 |
Break
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10:10 – 10:40 |
Groups. Discuss – What in Schein’s work and our discussion seems likely to be most helpful to your effort in the parish?
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10:40 – 11:00 |
Q&A, comments
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Between Sessions 4 and 5
Reading:
“Survival anxiety and learning anxiety” in Chapter 6 of Finding God in All Things, Heyne, Michelle; Gallagher, Robert. Ascension Press, 2023.
Optional: In Finding God in All Things, Chapter 2, the section on The Change Formula
Assignment: Complete the worksheet - Influencing Parish Culture
View:
1) Creating Corporate Cultures 1 (20 minutes)
2) Culture Fundamentals from Edgar Schein (30 minutes) Give attention to his discussion of identifying the “business problem.”
Read and download for use during the session:
1) Worksheet: Ten Requirements for Cultural Change
2) Worksheet - The Process of Change
Session 5
Influencing parish culture
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Time |
Activity |
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9:00 – 9:10
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STP Prayer Overview of the session Other announcements
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9:10 – 9:40 |
Presentation: Sister Michelle will walk us through how the Influencing Parish Culture elements illuminate a situation in her parish. Q&A at the end of the presentation.
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9:40 – 9:50 |
Break
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9:50 – 10:30 |
Groups. Share and discuss your use of the worksheet - Influencing Parish Culture
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10:30 – 11:00 |
Q&A, comments. Closing the module
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