From “Gaining Traction” (Chalice Press, 2007)

At least once a month, randomly pick a team member to “sit in the hot seat” and be the focus of a short blessing time at the end of a meeting. One way to structure this is to put the names of everyone on your team in a bag. At each meeting, just draw a name out of the bag to pick the person for that meeting’s Blessing (discard the name afterward). At subsequent meetings, keep picking a name till all the names are gone. Then fill the bag back up, and pick another Blessing Stem to use in the next round, starting the process over again. Provide some general guidelines about giving and receiving feedback. [Guidelines adapted from Robert Hargrove, Masterful Coaching, (San Diego: Pfeiffer & Company, 1995), 144.]

•     When giving feedback:

•     Talk straight; don’t sugar coat
•     Speak with the intent to make a difference
•     Have a generosity of spirit

•     When receiving feedback:
•     Sit with arms and legs uncrossed
•     Listen and do not speak, whether you agree or disagree
•     Listen with the intent to learn something new

•     When everyone is done, take a minute to acknowledge that you got the feedback

•     Pick one discussion stem from the list that follows to use as the framework for the blessing time. Remember to speak to, and not about, the individual being blessed.

•     You contribute some unique things to our team, including…
•     The ways I see God at work in you are…
•     The fruits of the Spirit I see in you are…
•     Over the past six months, you have really blessed this team by…
•     The spiritual gifts I see at work in you are…

•     Allot thirty minutes for going around the team, allowing each person who chooses to share about the person in the Hot Seat.

•     To close the Blessing Time, after everyone has shared, place the “Hot Seat” in a place where the entire team can gather around the individual, lay hands on him or her, and pray.

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