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2010-06-01 issue:

MHS Alliance members resource one another'

Rick Stiffney shares how CEOs shape the faith identity of organizations.

by MHS Alliance

Print Article

"Being resources to one another in challenging times" was a theme that emerged from the annual Mennonite Health Services (MHS) Alliance annual members meeting, held March 4 in conjunction with the Mennonite Health Assembly in Norfolk, Va. Resources included research, leadership development programs, consultancies at various levels and personal friendships.

From left: Duane Oswald, Cheryl Schade and David Heusinkveld take part in a roundtable discussion. Photo by Stuart Showalter.

Rick Stiffney, president and CEO of MHS Alliance, told the representatives of 37 of the 74 member organizations that they have lived through "a roller coaster of economic challenges" during the past 18 months.

Half the members who had responded to a survey taken in February said they are "doing OK but working to manage issues," and another 25 percent said they are challenged or stressed. The main contributors to stress were funding cuts at local, state and federal levels (cited by 60 percent of respondents) and reduced demand for services (cited by 20 percent of respondents).

One of the resources Stiffney brings to MHS Alliance is his own in-depth study of how CEOs shape the faith identity of the not-for-profit organizations that comprise MHS Alliance. He noted that Mennonite/Anabaptist churches have developed "an impressive array of institutions," but practices vary widely among these institutions in how faith informs practice and how institutions engage with both their founding churches and the social order beyond the church.

In his research, Stiffney focused on this core research question: How do you as CEO understand your role and work as it relates to shaping the faith identity of the organization you serve? Stiffney responded to that question by conducting extensive interviews with the CEOs of 10 MHS Alliance member organizations.

Stiffney said that his research yielded four themes that have an impact on the faith identity of the organizations he studied:

• A personal Christian faith for the CEO provides a shared frame of reference for developing an organization’s faith-based identity, with personal integrity being essential to the CEO's credibility.

• The convergence of the CEO's personal sense of call and the mission of the organization is a source of motivation, focus and power for the CEO’s daily work. CEOs represent and live the organization's mission.

• Sense-making: CEOs need to offer a frame of reference for the organization's identity in communication with various constituents. CEOs often experience tension between articulating a commitment to Mennonite/Anabaptist faith and effectively serving pluralistic markets.

• CEOs contribute to a distinctive Christian organizational culture and identity by repeatedly engaging in practices that nurture such an identity: demonstrating a personal faith, emphasizing the elements of organizational identity in orientations for employees and using rituals thoughtfully to reinforce core values.—Mennonite Health Services Alliance

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