If you’ve served in a leadership role within ADF, how has that experience shaped your personal growth? What advice would you give to those aspiring to leadership roles within their groves?

Hear from some current or past leaders on what lessons they’ve learned over the course of their service.

Biggest advice I have for leadership in any organization, not just religious ones, is to trust others. Not wantonly, not foolishly, but still: wherever possible bestow the gift of trust on others, especially people who are coming up in the ranks. If someone wants to do a job, if someone has an idea, give them the opportunity and the support to do that work. In my own experience, it’s vaguely terrifying on both sides of that coin to give someone free rein to do work that’s new to them, but it’s also deeply empowering and leads to better organizational health and member satisfaction.  (To give full credit here, this has been Rev. Michael J Dangler’s overriding ethic since long before I joined Three Cranes, and it’s been one of the most vital contributions to our grove culture.) – MB

All roles come with a set of official duties. They also come with an unofficial duty: Make the group that you are trying to lead the best it can be. So don’t assume that when you’ve done your official duties, you’re done, you need to be thinking about what gaps exist and fill them. Also, be wary about asking others to do what you wouldn’t do yourself. There’s no work that should be “beneath you”. – T

A lot of the ethics of leadership I have, I learned in the military and carried with me through the rest of my life. Being a leader in a grove or a group within an organization means that the person has to be able to work in teams and very importantly, work on mentoring the next generation of leaders/liturgists/team players in our organization. We teach them, we empower them, and we give them the room they need to explore and hone their own leadership skills. This can’t be accomplished by micromanagement. Our future leaders will make mistakes, that’s how they learn, and they may not do things exactly the way we would have but as long as it’s not violating the core documents/purposes/principles of the organization, we should trust them and let them explore their own path in this. Now I say this within reason, sometimes you may need to take them aside to say, I think you are going the wrong way. We can’t take things personally, and yes I know just exactly how hard that can be sometimes, but whatever happened, it probably wasn’t intentionally directed at you. We can’t hang onto our perception of power with a death grip. It’s not healthy for the leader nor is it healthy for the group. Shutting down enthusiastic volunteers through micromanagement is only going to drive people away or at the very least, cause them to focus their energies in places where they will be appreciated. I’m sure there might be folks out there that will take this post personally and all I can say about that is, it’s not about you, it’s not about me, it’s about the whole that we all care about and want to see thrive and grow. – CM

Serving in leadership, both within the initiates Council and as the founder of a Grove taught me a lot about small group dynamics, organization, and eventually boundaries. The biggest piece of advice I would give to anyone who is looking to get into leadership is to delegate as much as possible, and work to empower people to step into leadership roles. -AR

I would say that you should finish the dedicant program, at least, and the clergy training first. If you don’t you will get wrapped up in organizing and everything else, and your personal growth, will take a back burner. I would like to step back into that roll. That is that path I plan to take and wish I did the first time around. Now, I have a few responsibilities that I need to do before I can finish that path. I did learn a lot of ways to be diplomatic when I need to be. I also learned when to be more blunt and rank pulling when it needs be done. It also helps to have a good support network as you move down that path. – JE

There are two things I want to share, both intimately connected to my limited time serving now on the Mother Grove and through my efforts starting Virtual Fire (Proto)Grove. 1. Embrace Silence. We all work on our own time, with our own experiences, histories, beliefs, situations, wounds, and opportunities. The more silence and internal peace I can build within myself, the more I can then try to allow space for others who are also trying to do good work. Leadership is about service, and I can neither lead nor serve if I am the one who is talking or agitated or trying to push my own agenda. The silence allows me peace, and I have learned that if I do not allow silence before replying or taking action, I tend to be less effective and get in my own way, helping neither colleague nor Kindred.  2. Assume Good Faith. If I pause and embrace some personal silence, it is much easier for me to assume that the actions or deeds or words of others are done from a positive place than judging them as somehow being of ill intent. Let’s face it, we are a religion of volunteers, and most people here want to do good because they value what we offer. What better way to support their growth and development than assuming they are trying? It may be different than my own approach, and that is when assuming good faith or intent can help us work toward our goals, especially those that are surprisingly often shared. – JK

Trust and communication are big. Since I’m the assistant chief of Slavic Kin, its good to be able to communicate with our chief and scribe to make sure the kin runs smoothly, and we have to trust that we can pull our weight. Also, being able to handle whatever is thrown your way is good too, because sometimes things don’t go as planned. – RJ

From my experience, communication is essential. Giving other leaders in the group the ability and time to communicate requires thinking ahead. If you have a group with busy schedules, how can you all work together remotely/asynchronously? If you have a large group, how do you make sure that introverts have the space (or feel comfortable enough) to voice their opinions? If the leadership group is primarily remote, how do you make sure you build community in the group? These questions apply internally to groups of leaders and between leaders and members. You need to provide access or pathways so all members CAN communicate. And that communication will carry you a long way. Another broader issue that I see in volunteer groups (and pagan groups specifically) is community buy-in. It’s hard for volunteers to give and give and get nothing back from the community they are trying to engage. As a pagan, I think nonprofits need to build an ethic of hospitality. That is, there should be a cultural expectation that community members give back to volunteers or nonprofit leaders. In paganism, I hear about this a lot with planning rituals – there’s a core group and a large community and it’s often a one way relationship. I don’t think ADF has as glaring of a problem here, because of our groves. But it’s also incorrect to say that grove leadership don’t experience burnout, or that groves haven’t shut down because of a lack of community engagement. So this hospitality issue still applies to us. – JC