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Dr. Patricia Fann BouteneffPatricia Fann Bouteneff, PhD, has been integrating the principles of servant leadership across her career. She has put them into practice both as chief of staff at a Fortune 20 financial services company–and as council president at two different parishes. As a result of using techniques of deep listening, cooperative decision-making, and ongoing, authentic assessment, she was able to take one of those parishes from having a six-figure operating deficit to being five figures in the black. Patricia continues to fine-tune an Orthodox service-leadership model at Axia Women, a network by, for, and about Orthodox women, in the service of Christ, where they practice servant leadership at every level of management in pursuit of sobornost’ (conciliarity).
She holds a B.A. in Classics and English from Smith College, a D.Phil. in Modern Greek literature from Oxford University, a certificate in Business History from Cornell University, and has taught at Princeton University and St. Vladimir’s Seminary. Patricia is regularly called on to write, edit, and speak on topics related to church life. She was baptized into the Church as an adult over thirty years ago at an Athonite mission parish in Thessaloniki, Greece, while studying there on a Fulbright scholarship. A companion at New Skete, she has been a member of Orthodox parishes of different sizes and jurisdictions in Greece, England, Switzerland, Texas, and New York. |
In the days when I worked at a Fortune 20 company, there was a great deal of discussion about the differences between weak and strong leadership styles. The going wisdom initially sounded paradoxical: the weak leader is the one stomping around giving orders, acting like they have all the answers. Strong leadership lies in the humbler traits of integrity, self-awareness, courage, respect, empathy, gratitude, and good cross-cultural communication. We learned a lot about how destructive weak leadership can be for careers, teams, and companies.
Once you start to see the difference between strong and weak leaders, it's impossible to unsee it. So that when I started volunteering in parish settings, I soon recognized those same traits, strong and weak, in our church leaders across the spectrum of ordained, consecrated, and lay, and the consequences of each of those styles on their communities. Overall, weak leadership traits are the norm, the style that is considered appropriate, with little sense that there could be an alternative.
In the corporate world, leadership training is common, highly evolved, and often considered an honor, a way of recognizing someone’s potential. The training gives people who might be struggling the tools they need to grow into effective managers and administrators. Until recently, none of this had begun to happen in our jurisdictions and seminaries. They are only beginning to learn that leadership training, coaching, and mentorship can transform struggling individuals, parishes, and dioceses, setting them up for success.
OCLI is a rare vanguards leading this vital transformation. That's why I see OCLI as so important and why I wanted to join the board. It has gathered the tools, the courses, the mentorship, and coaches that can make a vital difference in a part of our church world that we don't often discuss.
Once you start to see the difference between strong and weak leaders, it's impossible to unsee it. So that when I started volunteering in parish settings, I soon recognized those same traits, strong and weak, in our church leaders across the spectrum of ordained, consecrated, and lay, and the consequences of each of those styles on their communities. Overall, weak leadership traits are the norm, the style that is considered appropriate, with little sense that there could be an alternative.
In the corporate world, leadership training is common, highly evolved, and often considered an honor, a way of recognizing someone’s potential. The training gives people who might be struggling the tools they need to grow into effective managers and administrators. Until recently, none of this had begun to happen in our jurisdictions and seminaries. They are only beginning to learn that leadership training, coaching, and mentorship can transform struggling individuals, parishes, and dioceses, setting them up for success.
OCLI is a rare vanguards leading this vital transformation. That's why I see OCLI as so important and why I wanted to join the board. It has gathered the tools, the courses, the mentorship, and coaches that can make a vital difference in a part of our church world that we don't often discuss.