IDENTIFYING LEADERS AND

MANAGERS FOR PARISH SOCIAL MINISTRY ASSIGNMENTS

Management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization (a group of one or more people or entities) or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources and natural resources.

Leaders are simply managers with a vision. They can identify and articulate the goals. The difference
between leading and managing will run the gamut of subtle to significant. A person charged with leading/managing Ford motor requires a set of skills that are very different from a manager charged with assembling a Ford pickup even though there are many similarities in the required skills. The key difference is the amount of vision and understanding of the environment that is required. As the Leader of Parish Social Ministry for a parish you are expected to have a comprehensive view and understanding of the needs that your parish is meeting and a similar knowledge of areas that you might need to address in the future. In other words you need the classic big picture view of the parish and the diocese. Another way of describing this level of managing and leading is the Macro level. The men and women who will lead and manage the various ministries will need to understand their ministries scope and objectives, but will be less concerned with the big picture. And, the volunteers which will execute the tasks within the ministry will only be concerned with the resources and objectives for that task (i.e. collect food, distribute food). Managers will move between Macro and Micro levels while volunteers or doers will work at the Micro level.
When trying to identify potential leaders/managers for a ministry look for individuals with the following traits: Intelligence - Leaders will tend to be above average with a scope of knowledge consistent with the tasks objectives Adjustment - Leaders will have ability to adjust to a variety of circumstances, they are definitely not a one size fits all personality Extraversion - They should tend to be assertive and gregarious personalities Conscientiousness - They should act on the dictates of their conscience, be self-disciplined and deliberative in their actions Openness to Experience - They should have an active imagination and a willingness to try different things General Self Efficacy - They should have a strong belief in their own self competence

MACRO Leaders are not isolated to the MACRO column and know when to act from both columns. This is the difference between delegating and doing.

MACRO
Whole Picture Strategic Delegate

MICRO
Specific Ministry Tactical Do