What Every Leader Should Consider About Community in Their Ward | An Interview with Ryan Gottfredson

Ryan Gottfredson, Ph.D. is a cutting-edge leadership development author, researcher, and consultant. He helps organizations vertically develop their leaders primarily through a focus on mindsets. He is also a leadership professor at the College of Business and Economics at California State University-Fullerton. He holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources from Indiana University, and a B.A. from Brigham Young University. As a consultant, he works with organizations to develop their leaders and improve their culture. Ryan is the author of Success Mindsets: The Key to Unlocking Greater Success in Your Life, Work, & Leadership. He has written multiple articles for Leading Saints, including a series of articles on community. Highlights 8:10 Where the community articles started 9:50 Many people attend church but they don’t feel they fit, or don't attend * “What community is and why is it important?” * How do we create a community in the church so everyone feels welcome? 14:00 There are three community types: basic, involved and united. It is a continuum. * 14:45 Basic community: little attachment, little involvement, much like an alumni group, few demands and little connection * 15:45 Involved community: share more, some emotional connection but still disconnected but not fully accepted, much like a large workplace * 17:30 United community: Share interests, goals and beliefs. Strong identification with group much like a family: when they hurt, we hurt. Provides acceptance, love and protection. This is what it should be within the church. 20:20 A united community is ingrained deep in the LDS culture and doctrinally founded, but with some negative side effects * Low cognitive diversity. Can't think outside a box, inability to allow different perspectives. This is not doctrinal thought, but community thought. * 25:30 Lack of inclusivity. Difficult to allow others in, many feel judged, hard to accept others. Often is unintentional judging over what is/is not socially acceptable (tattoos, piercing). * 29:00 Lower psychological safety: When something is different, or comments in class get questioned, others are less likely to share. People feel uncomfortable expressing their opinions. * 33:40 "Sometimes we have a stronger desire to be right, than we do to love others." 36:20 How do we improve the united community in the Church? We must be "intentional". 37:20 Six elements of an intentional community * Charity * Safety * Openness * Inclusiveness * Being present * Having a clear purpose and common cause 38:30 Charity: we must see everyone as people, and value them as such. 41:00 Safety: do our members feel safe and able to to comment in class? 43:25 Openness: we have a social pressure to certainty. If value is on knowing, we are limiting learning. We don't know all and we can learn from others 45:50 Inclusiveness: everyone should feel welcome. Don't let little things get in the way of loving them. Care less about how they look and more about how they feel. 47:40 Be Present: we are as involved as we can be, regardless, while we are there in attendance we should be present. Make our meetings matter, provide a value. Intentionally create meetings worth coming to. 50:45 Having Purpose: is everyone heading in the same direction?