Leadership

This course is designed to train students in organizng and facilitating discipleship groups, whether in a family, local church, or para-church organization. Emphasis will be on evaluating other's personalities and learning styles, utilizing and adapting leadership approaches, and implementing strategies for moving individuals and groups towards greater spiritual growth with God.

This course is a study of organizational leadership theory and practice as it relates to the development and facilitation of active learning environments. Emphasis will be on identifying and evaluating students' personalities and leadership styles, adapting and using leadership approaches, and exploring principles for moving individuals and organizations toward growth and development. The course content is designed to serve as a catalyst for applying leadership principles to the student's organizational environment.

The rapidly changing environment has produced a significant shift in organizational theory and practice. In times of rapid change, the ability of an organization to learn emerges as a primary competency. Students will engage organizational theory to help them identify and understand the unique organizational culture within which they function, and to formulate interventions to enhance learning and innovation. Students will also interact with learning theory to help them develop effective approaches to encouraging and facilitating learning within the organization.

In a fast-paced environment organizations must be able to respond quickly to emerging challenges. Planning processes must keep pace with the changing realities. The ability to think with strategic flexibility in producing effective approaches to fleeting opportunities and imminent crises places a leader in a position to be of great service. This course engages students in applying strategic theory, change theory, and implementation disciplines to real challenges within their organizations.

Organizations are increasingly realizing the need for a team orientation, yet, despite the rhetoric, there remain significant cultural impediments to team development and maintenance. This course leads students in an application of group and team theory for recruiting, developing, mobilizing, and mending teams of employees and volunteers for maximum effectiveness.