Member Care and Transparency—Part 6, Summary

Developmental Musings on Living Shalom

Transparency involves sharing truth wisely.

It builds trust and promotes true peace—shalom (שָׁלוֹם).

Shalom is what we yearn for in member care and in life:
“holistic well-being for all."

Speak the truth to one another

and judge truthfully so that there will be shalom

…therefore love truth and shalom (Zechariah 8:16,19).

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We love these wise words above from Zechariah, the 6th century BC Jewish prophet. They are core guidelines for us. Call us on skype sometime, for example, and you will see these words pop up by our profile: "Love both truth and peace." But more importantly, we want these words to be permanently engraved on the profiles of our hearts. May they guide you and all of us now into the personal integrity and relational health that are needed to truly do member care well. Live shalom.

Summary Principles: 12 Thoughts on Transparency

**Transparency is developed throughout our lives and especially influenced by our parents and other role models.

**Transparency is part of our core being and is part of a lifestyle of integrity.

**Transparency is a commitment to honesty with ourselves and others.

** Transparency builds trust and trust builds relationships.

**Transparency involves having the courage to admit errors and wrong actions.

**Transparency involves having the courage to compassionately confront others.

**Transparency is a core part of accountability, both personally and organizationally.

**Transparency is the responsibility of both leaders and staff in organizations.

**Transparency is modeled by leaders who share information, self-disclose, and invite honest feedback.

**Transparency requires prudence to determine how much, when, and with whom to openly share.

**Transparency requires risk, and taking risks is often part of acting ethically.

**Transparency promotes holistic well-being for all.

Transparency and Friends
The photo below is a bit unusual for sure. These folks are 12 special little “buddies” in our office. Can you find them all? Perhaps you have some similar things in your office? (smile)

                                 

For example, there's the Gingerbread Boy home-made in France, a Limber Jack from Vermont USA, Gumby the animation celebrity with klompen shoes from The Netherlands, a subdued Pinoccio from a Roman vendor, Tony the Tiger of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes fame wearing an American football helmet and heroically brandishing a sword, a Hongkongese rooster, a medievel knight on his trusted three-legged steed, and even a little green shamrock sprouting arms and legs.

These wee folks come from all over the world and mostly from places where we have lived or worked. They are daily reminders of some great human friends we are privleged to have across the globe--people with whom mutual transparency and holistic well-being are central parts of our relationship. And I guess now these 12 buddies in our office will also be reminders of the 12 principles of transparency summarized above.

Transparency—The Book

Here is a final set of quotes from Bennis et al in Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor (2006). This is a timely book to further instruct all of us in the mission/aid and member care community.

"Leaders need to question their willingness to hear certain voices and not others. They need to make a habit of second-guessing their enthusiasms as well as their antipathies, since both can cloud their judgment." (p. 27)

“…Leaders demonstrate their respect by giving followers relevant information, by never using or manipulating them, and by including them in the making of decisions that affect them.…That’s why the failure to include people is the second-most common source of mistrust, close behind the failure of leaders to tell the truth consistently…To renege on one’s word may seem necessary to some leaders, but in the eyes of followers it is a betrayal of trust...In essence, trust is hard to earn, easy to lose, and, once lost, nearly impossible to regain.” (p. 63)

"….three requisite steps for the exercise of integrity [from Yale law professor Stephen Carter]: 1. Discerning what is right and what is wrong; 2. Acting on what you have discerned, even at personal cost; 3. Saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of right and wrong." (p. 72)

Reflection and Discussion

1. Which of the above 12 summary thoughts on transparency are the most relevant for you now?

2. Are there additional thoughts (principles) that you would like to add to this list?

3. Who are you true friends with whom you can be mutually transparent?

4. Transparency is part of integrity. It can be risky. Give an example, especially in light of the final quote from Bennis et al (quoting Stephen Carter on integrity).

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Note: Here is little treat for you who have read through all of these six entries. Turn up the volume and enjoy! It’s a six minute clip from Paul McCartney’s 2008 concert in Quebec. C’est très bon et très cool! The last two minutes are especially relevant. Live shalom!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thecXP_0eVc

Member Care and Human Rights--4

The Maims and Moans of Fallen Creation

Have a seat, and have a think with me:

Life maims and we moan.

How do human rights abuses relate to these maims and moans?

How does member care help to alleviate them?

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Note--I am still thinking...This topic is way too big for me!

Human dysfunction is part of the maiming/moaning reality. It includes things like deception, addictions, denial, shifting blame, and human rights abuses including violations of people’s consciences and religious liberties, murder, rape, and economic servitude. All of these areas and more can affect mission aid workers as they interact with colleagues and the people that receive their services.

The source of dysfunction from a Christian perspective relates directly to something tragic that happened between God and humans. Something horrible interfered with their relationship, as related in the Genesis narrative, influenced by humans and fallen angels alike. Humans became ontologically, morally and socially fragmented, beset with the intractable flaws of self-centeredness, self-deception, and self-depreciation. We deny who we really are and try to be something we are not. We do things to benefit ourselves at another’s expense. In spite of our moral goodness and beauty—having been made in God's image—we are all guilty of “crimes against ourselves and crimes against humanity”. The pernicious combination of human and devilish wrongs leads to a demise of our well-being with the maiming of our rights and the moaning for our rights.

Let’s look again of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). I want to use a few terms from the Preamble (in caps below) to express three types of problems that ensue when our human rights get overlooked.

There are problems when we do not RECOGNISE the reality that humans have dignity and rights. Certain people (especially those we don't like) can be viewed as being less human and thus merit human wrongs and not merit universal human rights. Hence it is OK to hurt or neglect people and to excuse it or even not be “aware” of it. This denial and distortion of human reality is reflected in Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it?”

There are problems when we do not REGARD the dignity and rights of humans. This distortion of reality leads to controlling and exploiting others. Freedom of speech, of conscience, and of religion, at the state level for example, are the first to be repressed. At the family, group, or organisatinal levels, the maladaptive trio of ‘Don’t talk, don’t feel, don’t trust” becomes pervasive. At the individual level it is all about staying safe and pretending, not disturbing the status quo, and not jeopardising ones position. Fear reigns and leads to blind loyalty, self-protection, poor practice, low morale, and group stagnation. But we do all these things at the cost of our dignity and of our rights (and responsibiliity!) to respond to reality authentically.

There are problems when we do not PROMOTE dignity and rights and instead oppress people. We think more of our own interests than the interests of others. Rebellion results. In its healthiest form such rebellion is a sincere and virtuous attempt to create change that will protect people from abuses and promote their well-being. The UDHR refers to this as fostering “social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom". One example of "virtuous rebellion" is in I Samuel, in which Saul responds to serious human rights violations (the threat for all the right eyes of the inhabitants of city to be gouged out). He puts his livelihood (oxen) and life on the line in order to fight and protect others. A second example is in I Kings 22 where Micaiah takes unknown risks in order to speak publicly to two kings and their entourage about what he senses God tells him to say: “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak" (v. 14). He prophesies, is struck in the face, then thrown in prison, and never heard of again in the pages of Scripture. Seeking to protect/promote human rights, especially to those who are oppressed, and in ways which are seen to challenge the stats quo and to be politically incorrect, does not always have a happy ending.

Article 29 of the UDHR says that “Everyone has duties to the community…” It is this sense of duty that makes us want to RECOGNISE, REGARD, and PROMOTE the rights and well being of others. This duty is synonymous with our sense of “moral obligation" or what Kant referred to as the “categorical imperative”. Underlying the notion of human rights then is the reality of moral law.

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Member care is intertwined with human rights, as we have seen over the last four weeks of entries. But human rights cannot stand on their own, both philosophically and practically. Human rights are based on moral law. And moral law comes from a Moral Law-giver. These thoughts are reflected in the "Guiding Principles” recorded in “A Message from the National Study Conference on the Churches and a Just and Durable Peace” which convened in the USA in 1942 under the auspices of the National Council of Churches.
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“1. We believe that moral law, no less than physical law, undergirds our world. There is a moral order which is fundamental and eternal, and which is relevant to the corporate life of [humans] and the ordering of human society. If [humankind] is to escape chaos and recurrent war, social and political institutions must be brought into conformity with this moral order….13. We believe that the Eternal God revealed in Christ…is the source of moral law and the power to make it effective." (Section II, Guiding Principles, pp. 10-14).

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Reflection and Discussion

Three type of problems are mentioned when human rights are overlooked.

**In what ways does member care for mission/aid workers deal with the prevention and treatment of such problems?

**Recall a "happy ending" that resulted from protecting/promoting the well-being of mission/aid staff and those that receive their services.

**What helps you to survive the mains and moans of fallen creation?

Dysfunctional Kisses

Dysfunctional things dupe.

Enemies will deceive.

But only friends can betray.

Member care is not just about development or restoration.
There is a key in-between dimension--protection.

Development---------Protection----------Restoration

Good member care helps to protect us from things like dysfunction (inlcuding our own). But nothing can totally protect us, especially from the negative consequences when deception and betrayal seek us out. Doing mission/aid well requires our being vulnerable: including the possiblity of being duped by the deceiving promises of an enemy or the betraying kisses of a friend.
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We protect ourselves by our commitment to good practice: transparency, accountability, sound judgement, and promoting the well-being of one another. We do good practice even if it inconveniences us. We act with integrity even if there are dire consequences.
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Reflection and Discussion
Creatively connect the thoughts above and the quotes below:
**Kiss me, you fool.
**Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?

Health and Dysfunction

Personal and Organisational Health

Upgrading Member Care

During the next few months, we will be looking at personal and organisational health. Specifically, we will share some resources/readings on how healthy and unhealthy behaviour affects the well-being of mission/aid organisations and their personnel. We are committed to upgrade all of our capacity to navigate “toxicity” and promote well-being.

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Staying safe is something we learn about from the day we are born. We don't eat every plant we find in a field, we don't cross streets without looking, we watch our money belts/handbags etc. Learning about how "life works"—the dangers, the practicalities, and the wonders--is also an ongoing and essential part of our organisational lives as well. There is continuity, in other words, for staying safe throughout our lives--including before, during, and after our mission/aid work.

La Gama Ciega (The Blind Doe)

Horacio Quiroga (from Argentina, 1930s)

Había una vez un venado —una gama—, que tuvo dos hijos mellizos, cosa rara entre los venados. Un gato montés se comió a uno de ellos, y quedó sólo la hembra. Las otras gamas, que la querían mucho, le hacían siempre cosquillas en los costados. Su madre le hacía repetir todas las mañanas, al rayar el día, la oración de los venados. Este es el padrenuestro de los venados chicos. Cuando la gamita lo hubo aprendido bien, su madre la dejó andar sola. Y dice así:
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(There once was a beloved doe. Her mother taught her how to survive. Before the doe could venture on her own, she had to repeat each day at sunrise, and thus learn well the “Lord’s Prayer” of the Deer. And this is what it says:)
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I: Hay que oler bien primero las hojas antes de comerlas, porque algunas son venenosas.
(Smell well before you eat because some plants are poisonous.)
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II: Hay que mirar bien el río y quedarse quieta antes de bajar a beber, para estar segura de que no hay yacarés.
(Watch and wait before drinking to make sure there are no crocodiles in the river.)
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III: Cada media hora hay que levantar bien alta la cabeza y oler el viento, para sentir el olor del tigre.
(Every half hour lift your head and smell the wind to recognize the scent of the tiger.)
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IV: Cuando se come pasto del suelo, hay que mirar siempre entre los yuyos para ver si hay víboras.
(Always look between the weeds when you eat field grass to see if there are vipers.)
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Reflection and Discussion

**Which of these principles--warnings--apply most to your life, now?

**If you were to write a similar "Lord's Prayer" for your life, what would some of the main components be?

**List a few important ways that these principles/warnings apply to the mission/aid sectors.

Five Protective Factors for Teams--Core Values

During the months of February and March we are exploring team life and team resiliency. Here are some more thoughts.


•1. Relational resiliency
We value both truth and peace in our relationships (Zech 8:19).
We persevere in honesty and unity with colleagues.

•2. Safe sharing
We value safe ways (people and processes) to share personal and work-related concerns.
We are as healthy as our secrets.

•3. Intrinsic and strategic worth
We value colleagues as human beings with intrinsic worth, not just as human resources with strategic worth.
We are human beings and not human doings.

•4. Work-life balance
We value balancing demands of professional work and desires for personal growth.
We want to run well and also rest well.

•5. Well-being of all
We value the well-being of sending groups and the well-being of their personnel.
We provide quality support (by sending groups) and we expect quality services (from staff).

Other protective factors and values?
How do teams know that they are practicing these values?