In 2010, SEND U offered its first online course for team leaders. It was entitled SEND Team Leader Orientation, and focused on the role, character, job description and ongoing growth of the team leader. Over 60 SEND leaders plus another 12 World Team leaders have enrolled in the course in the multiple times that it has been offered. SEND U has heard many positive comments about the value and helpfulness of this initial course, but we have sensed for some time that more training in this area was needed.

Ken Guenther developed a second team leader training course, focused on the team leader as a supervisor or manager of people. One of the most difficult transitions most mission leaders face is moving from being a peer and co-worker to being a boss to one’s co-workers. The training at the 2014 Directors’ Council explored what it means to be a supervisor based on Bruce Tulgan’s video, “It’s OK to be the Boss”. Many of the concepts from that training have found their way into this second online course.

1. 1. Week 1 – Serving as a Steward. What does it mean to be a supervisor?
2. 2. Week 2 – Clarifying Expectations. How do I help each team member figure out what they are to be doing?
3. 3. Week 3 – Connecting Regularly. How do I provide regular assistance and accountability to my team members?
4. 4. Week 4 – Providing Feedback. What do I do when a team member is not meeting expectations?
5. 5. Week 5 – Promoting Growth. How can I help my team members develop?

The course is designed to be very practical, and the assignments are focused on real leadership issues and creating plans to address those issues. A major part of the course is the interaction between the participants through forums. But you do not need to be online at the same time as others, since participants will be in many different time zones. Participants will write posts on various forums when they are online, and other participants will read them and respond when they are online.

The course will require only about four to six hours of work per week, depending on the level of interaction with the other participants.

$30 for SEND participants and $75 for those from other missions. This covers the cost that SEND U has to pay to Grow2Serve, the organization that hosts our online courses.

All participants must currently be a team leader or a supervisor of other missionaries or staff. Although it is not a requirement that participants first complete the “Team Leader Orientation” online course, this course builds on the first course, and assumes some level of knowledge about the role of a team leader, the SEND Team Leader Profile and the nature of an outcome-based job description.

Go to https://www.missiontools.org/resources/team-leader-supervisor/ to register for this course.

Contact Kim (ksamalca) to get the code for the SEND discount.