Mixing Business with Pleasure

Recently home and cooled out from another great pilgrimage to the Sisters' motherhouse in Angers, France.

With every pilgrimage, we have the privilege of sharing with some very special groups of people.  This year was no exception but also left a particular impression on me.  There were 72 folks who are our mission partners doing all kinds of work in Good Shepherd Agencies from front line staff to leadership and Boards members.  Although we were a group of very different religious and spiritual traditions, it struck me how readily they  participated in religious and spiritual rituals.  At the same time this was also a group of serious professionals who were eager to talk more about their work with one another.....some examples included several, well attended lunch & learn sessions.  They wanted to talk about

• How Trauma informs our work - how we might network to forward our Good Shepherd foundations as expressions of Trauma informed practices
• How we can share ideas about fostering our expression of mission and values in our workplace
• Leadership concerns for senior management and board members.

Often I meet people who are eager to work on the work and at other times to work on Good Shepherd's service philosophy. Are these really two separate worlds?  Can our reflection on how we remake ourselves personally be so separate from how we remake ourselves professionally?  Is there really a disconnect between faith and works? Am I a different person professionally than the person who is home with family and friends?  Which representation is the fake?

I find it disturbing at times to hear our agencies treating Good Shepherd Values and Heritage as if this is an aspect of our work that represents the 'perk' we get to when there is spare time (which, of course, we know there is precious little.)  Who we are as Good Shepherd folks is bound up with our professional roles. This integration is an essential component that we must find more ways to support.....Where the rubber hits the road for me is in direct service supervision.  This is the place where relationships express the lived culture of the agency.  This is the learning center for front line staff.   In Canada here, we tend to call a royal commission when we have major questions that need answers.....I think it is time for us to call a royal commission on our collective style of supervision starting with a look at what we are doing that works well.  How can supervision build a healthy culture?  How can supervision foster our integration of our mission and values knowing these resonate so well with professional standards and treatment principles that we choose to utilize in the care and service of our children and families?

I am most appreciative of spending this time with such committed and dedicated professionals.  Thanks for your leadership and for showing one another the way!  You make our work places our Holy Ground!!