Walter and I, along with the Executive members of NCEM, went to Phoenix for a 4-day series of workshops on leadership. The couple who facilitated the workshops have been in First Nations ministry over 25 years and have excelled in personality profiles and team dynamics. The four couples met and discussed 7 different topics, beginning with our DISC personality assessments.
Wow, are we all created uniquely!
As we put up sticky notes on the diagram to identify our specific personality traits, we saw how well-rounded we are as a team. Those with dominant and strong personalities balanced those with quiet and sensitive characteristics.
Then we looked at team roles and found again, we had a wide variety of gifts. I had scored strong in one area - teambuilding - whereas others were stronger in initiative, completion or organization roles. So I was dubbed the cheerleader!
Each evening, we spent time as a group debriefing the days' topics. Many of us voiced how we had wondered why we were part of the team and felt levels of doubt as to our usefulness or purpose. My husband and I had such a clear call that we don't doubt His purposes, but I know I wondered what I could contribute besides making coffee and taking minutes for meetings. These times of learning and discussing really helped confirm to me that I am unique and can offer specific and necessary skills to the team!
The last couple of workshops were geared for goal-setting and big picture vision-casting. This is probably my weakest area and I felt overwhelmed. Our facilitator brought out a huge arrow, with many small spaces for writing in the steps to accomplishing our mission statement as an organization. Walter was excited when he saw this and could hardly wait to tackle it! With the time we had available, we began to scratch the surface of a much longer and more detailed journey for the future.
We stayed in a dormitory-style facility, with the use of a kitchen and lounge for preparing and eating our own breakfasts and lunches. Then for our evening meals, we chose restaurants in the area. One day we had Mexican food, another day a buffet at the Golden Corral. The local folks recommended a great barbecue place close by, Dillon's. And we all enjoyed the southern home-cooking restaurant called Cracker Barrel, with a country store to browse in and fresh biscuits and cornbread with every meal.
With the teaching times being indoors, we were disappointed not to be outside much more in the Arizona sunshine. Fortunately, the weather was cool, cloudy and rainy for a couple days so we didn't miss much heat and sun. On Friday of that week, our Executive team went to the Desert Botanical Gardens. It was a beautiful day and we wandered the paths and admired the amazing cactus and succulent gardens, plus other displays all outdoors. We enjoyed snacks in the outdoor cafe and fed the local ground squirrels and quail that scurried or waddled through the patio. What a glorious day!
Our hearts and minds were full and we definitely agreed we wanted to return to Phoenix next year. More teaching, more fellowship, more fun times and yes, more sunshine in February!
