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2010-08-02 issue:

Program changes the way leaders lead


Values Based Leadership Program influences individuals from various fields.

by Anna Groff



Print Article

Lehman's Hardware employs 120 individuals, but the president of the store, Galen Lehman, did not know all of their names.

When Lehman admitted this during the Values Based Leadership Program (VBLP) last fall, one of the resource people told him, "There's no excuse for that. You should know all120 names."



"It became clear to me that I needed to be more relationship-based than task-oriented," Lehman says.

As one of his goals during the program, Lehman (pictured) made a schedule to meet with each employee for ½ hour and do their job alongside them. 

Lehman has trouble remembering all the 120 names all the time, but he is improving.

"I know where people grew up, or that they have two dogs or a sick child," he said. "Those are the kinds of things you don't get if you sit in an office all day."

"Other training I've taken provided academic and theoretic learning, which was valuable,” Lehman says. "VBLP provided emotional learning, which was invaluable.  When I came back, people around me noticed an improvement in who I was and how I led."

Lehman, along with other leaders, participated in the 2009-10 Values Based Leadership Program of the Institute for Anabaptist Leaders. VBLP, held annually at Laurelville Mennonite Church Center in Mt. Pleasant, Pa., offers two three-day sessions--one in September and one in February--with the intent for participants to put their learning into practice the months in between.



VBLP was the brainchild of Don Rittenhouse, then executive director at Laurelville, along with Lee Schmucker, Ben Sprunger of Mennonite Economic Development Asssociates and Rick Stiffney of Mennonite Health Services Alliance. A pilot program in 2000 led to the first Institute for Anabaptist Leaders at Laurelville in 2002. Initially primarily top executives enrolled in VBLP but now young adults in leadership positions, pastors of all ages, business people and managers at various stages.  

To register, go to http://www.laurelville.org/VBLP/page_6.html.




Arli Klassen, executive director of Mennonite Central Committee

What did you take away from VBLP?

I wanted to work more intentionally at "encouraging the heart." My board chair at that time bought me a beautiful red heart that I think was originally intended to be a Christmas tree decoration, and I’ve had it hanging in my office ever since then. My goal is to say something encouraging in every exchange I have with a staff member, board member, or constituent, although I don’t live up to my goal often enough. 


Do you have a story to share from your VBLP experience?
While I was at VBLP, the news reached me that Robb Davis, the executive director of Mennonite Central Committee at that time, had abruptly resigned. I knew immediately that this would be a leadership crisis for MCC, and I worried out loud about this with the group. It was suggested to me later that same day that I should consider this role. That was something that took me many months to accept, but I feel that VBLP helped give me confidence in my leadership gifts to consider and eventually accept this request.

What makes this Anabaptist/Christian program different from secular leadership programs? 

We shared a commitment to Jesus, the church and to Anabaptist values. I particularly enjoyed the mix of participants. The pastors and church leaders kept us grounded and connected to our faith. The training leaders talked personally about their own faith journey as part of their leadership. Our own faith journey was intrinsically linked with our journeys as leaders.


Larry Zook, CEO of Landis Homes
 Retirement Community, Lititz, Pa.
What did you take away from VBLP?

We often referred to leadership as a journey, and since the VBLP I've at times sought to be encouraging to others on their leadership journeys by using this same phrase, recognizing that we are sojourning together, and that the journey, and the people we relate with along the way, are as important as the end destination.  



How has VBLP influenced you as a leader at Landis Homes?
With a better understanding of one’s own, as well as other persons' personalities and leadership styles, leaders can better support others by seeking to live out a paraphrase of the golden rule, "doing unto others as they would have you do unto them." The program strengthened my commitment to Anabaptist values and to maintaining and strengthening our Anabaptist identity at Landis Homes. Since organizations are made up of people, I've been committed since becoming CEO in January 2007 to offering the VBLP opportunity to two or three senior team or department directors each year.





Barbara Lehman Moyer, associate pastor of Park View Mennonite Church

How has VBLP influenced you?
VBLP helped with my confidence so that I can more fully participate as a valued and appreciated member of the pastoral team. I am learning to lead from my center, which we heard frequently during our sessions. Growing up in the '60s and '70s, I never had a female pastor to mentor me or model how to lead as a woman. When I attended seminary in the mid '80s, all of us were struggling with the challenges of how men and women were going to work separately or together in pastoral ministry and at the conference level. We are still working at that.


What goals did you make for yourself? 
One goal was to be more assertive, proactive, and take the initiative in redefining and clarifying some parts of my job description, which needed to be done. Another goal I continue to work on is in the area of "self -care." I felt led to ask two other women to explore with me the possibility of meeting regularly for prayer, accountability and sharing. It turned out to be one of the most life giving things I have done. For four years, three of us women have met one evening a month for a two-three hour block of time. 



Moniqua Acosta, program and member services manager, Mennonite Health Services Alliance

How has VBLP influenced you as a leader?
The program allowed me to feel confident with my work and the choices I make.  I worked on a personal mission statement that guides me and serves as a foundation for my professional life. It is a work in progress and ever-evolving but there is some power in putting a mission statement into writing. We all play a part in God’s plans for our world, in our personal family lives and in our work lives, and tying all the pieces together was helpful to see and share with other believers.


How could VBLP be improved?
I would love to see more persons of color as participants in the program. This can be challenging to do but it would benefit the program and participants. Also other types of worship and songs would have been nice. I am not an ethnic Mennonite and so pulling meal-time prayer songs out of memory was not possible. I come from a Spanish-speaking Mennonite church, where our styles of worship differ, and so having more diverse forms of worship would have helped me feel more a part of the group.




Sue Conrad, associate pastor at East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church, Lancaster, Pa.

What did you gain from VBLP?

We were all assigned a "partner" with VBLP. Although my partner, Sandy, lived the Lancaster area, we had not met before VBLP in Laurelville. Due to our close proximity, we were able to have our monthly check-ins in person (between the fall and winter sessions at Laurelville.)  Those times with Sandy were invaluable. It was helpful to meet with someone who was not in my specific field of work (pastoral ministry) yet who cared deeply for the church and had the same values for her work (in human resources for a Mennonite retirement community.) Sandy and I hit it off so well, that we have continued to faithfully meet monthly for the past three years.

Editor's note: Anna Groff participated in this program in 2009-10.

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