Tag Archive for: interviews

Walk and Talk

As we approach our last missionary transfer, I reckon that Monic and I are now approaching some 3,000 coaching interviews – each!
From the outset, we chose to invest a lot of time (15 to 30 minutes) per interview, as a catalyst to enable change with each of our missionaries.
We started off sitting for all of our interviews, but as time has passed we now both enjoy the occasional walking interview too!
Pacing ourselves in our walking is a joy and it can slow down the conversation.
It got me thinking about the process of our interviews…
Our journey together always begins in a similar manner.
We smile, greet one another, say hello and settle in.
Then, the conversations go something like this.
I speak and ask a simple question.
The missionary listens.
The missionary speaks.
I listen.
I speak and carefully, ask more questions.
The missionary listens.
The missionary speaks.
I listen.
I try hard, very, very hard not to interrupt.
I am curious and interested as to what the missionary thinks.
There usually always comes a point when they ask me a question.
I push the missionary hard to see how far they can go in their own thinking, before I offer any of my own thoughts.
Like any great coaching conversation, the process is all about helping the missionary to become more self-aware.
Frequently I find that I reinforce their strengths and help each missionary to explore their challenges.
And the walking?
Well, it simply helps to stretch our legs and our minds!
Changing the environment can also really help us change how we look at things.
Fresh air can really awaken all of our senses and aid both our thinking and every conversation.
“Walking is man’s best medicine.” - Hippocrates
Little wonder then, that the most frequent question we are asked at interviews is “Are we going for a walk today?”
When will you next venture outside for a coaching conversation?

Ones

Half of two; 1
One is singularly unique and one of a kind.
As individuals, you and I are 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬.
As mission leaders Monic and I are not simply managing an organisation, directing programmes, planning schedules, or controlling resources.
Rather, our foremost, indeed, the key stewardship responsibility that we have as Mission Leaders, is to minister individually to each and every 𝐎𝐍𝐄 of the missionaries past, present and future.

Our Quest

Our quest is to help each one of them become a lifelong disciple of Jesus Christ.
We minister to each of them, just like the oft repeated pattern found in the scriptures, 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆.
Some years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley counselled, “We must look after the individual. Christ always spoke of individuals. He healed the sick, individually. He spoke in his parables of individuals. This Church is concerned with individuals, notwithstanding our numbers. Whether they be 6 or 10 or 12 or 50 million, we must never lose sight of the fact that the individual is the important thing”.
The pattern continues today, in our one-by-one ministering to each missionary.
One way we do that, is during every transfer period of six weeks, we meet with every missionary throughout the mission, one by one, for 20 – 30 minutes in a coaching interview.
All 100+ of them.
It is a pattern the Saviour himself established.

Scripture Examples

In the scriptures there are many examples where Jesus Christ ministered to ones.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25 – 37), The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:4-7), The Parable of the Piece of Silver (Luke 15:8-10), The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-24), when Jesus appeared to Thomas (John 20:24-29) and many more.
In the Book of Mormon, the phrase 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 is used six times, four of which are used by Jesus Christ in His personal ministry to the Nephites in the 3rd book of Nephi.
Elder David A. Bednar has taught that “He intercedes for each daughter and son. One by one.”
This week, we began our one-by-one pattern of interviews in Apeldoorn.
I have learned that the most important things are done individually.
Following each interview, I took some time to capture a few of our treasured 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 moments.
What can you do to better follow the Saviour’s example of ministering 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆?