• ASSESSMENT PROGRAMS
• COACHING PROGRAMS
• MEDIATION
• TEAMBUILDING, WORKSHOPS & RETREATS
• CONSULTING SERVICES

Candidacy Assessment Program

Our Candidacy Assessment Program is designed to support individuals who are considering the vocation of ordained ministry and the groups working with them in the discernment process. It uses a Ministry Competency Model and assessment tools to highlight strengths and areas of development in the individual’s experience, skills and preferred work style. The program also identifies the working environment and conditions that will best support ongoing learning and development. Psychological testing can be provided on request.

Vocational Assessment Program

The Vocational Assessment Program is designed to support clergy who are or have been in congregational ministry and wish to evaluate and explore vocational options. This exploration can be undertaken early, mid or late career to bring clarity around personal gifts, interests, motivations, and choices for the future. The program facilitates self-reflection and discovery through in-depth discussion and affirmative assessment tools, using the Ministry Competency Model as a vocational template. Our Associate Psychologists can provide additional support if indicated.

Coaching is increasingly being recognized as an essential learning strategy for leaders from all walks of life, those on the front lines responsible for maintaining healthy relationships in their organizations while dealing with complexity, uncertainty and transition. Six Oaks Consulting offers coaching programs that are designed to help clergy and other church leaders identify and move forward toward their goals by drawing on their own creativity and resourcefulness to create and manage change. Our work is grounded in an understanding of congregational and vocational context, and we use tools of reflection, inquiry and action planning to faciltate learning and progress. Opportunities for coaching could include beginning a new ministry position, taking stock of one's leaderhip and potential for growth, considering a move to a new opportunity, or dealing with a difficult workplace issue or relationship. Duration of coaching depneds on the need and can vary from a short-term engagment to a longer-term process of several months.

Partners and Associates of Six Oaks Consulting have extensive experience and training in dispute resolution. They have worked in ministry settings, with not-for-profit organizations and in the private sector to help people address sources of conflict and find positive and productive ways to resolve their differences. Because we are not affiliated with any denomination we can offer the objective, arms-lenght support that is so critical in the mediator role.

Teambuilding

Six Oaks Consulting offers a teambuilding program for ministry and staff teams. The program is designed to engage participants in two critical dimensions that influence team effectiveness: team relationships and team purpose. Team relationships are examined using affirmative assessment tools such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Birkman Method to identify team strengths and important relationship dynamics. Team purpose is explored through pre-session interviews and questionnaires. Integrating the dimensions of relationship and purpose helps the team better understand its collective capability and get clarity on priorities and accountability.

Retirement Workshop

Clergy approaching retirement age face many questions and considerations, including identifying hopes and dreams for “the next chapter”, wondering if expectations about the future are dependable and realistic, looking at extending paid employment or volunteering, taking advantage of more time for educational opportunities, and so on. Our Retirement Planning Workshop offers participants an opportunity to articulate their priorities and goals for the future and to begin charting a path that can lead them successfully through this important life transition. Tools for reflection and discussion are provided to ensure planning integrates all areas of life including family, health, learning and vocation.

Retreats

Six Oaks Consulting offers resources for Retreats and Conferences for clergy and church leaders. Spiritual themes are presented and explored with time for reflection, sharing, finding insights and mutual encouragement. Music is an integral part of the program and helps maintain positive energy and full participation. Themes are customized to meet the needs of the church organization.

Staffing Search & Selection

Six Oaks Consulting can conduct full searches where traditional methods of communicating the position will not reach qualified candidates. We also provide support in assessing qualified finalist candidates when finding candidates is not the issue, but assessing fit is. We have significant capability in this area, with over 12 years of retained search experience and 5 years assisting judicatories and individual congregations with search and selection support. As well as conducting searches for specialist judicatory positions and participating in senior clergy selection, we have conducted successful searches for senior level Board and Committee members.

Organization Effectiveness

Especially during times of transition and change, organizations may find that customary ways of working are no longer producing efficient or effective outcomes. Six Oaks Consulting helps organizations examine assumptions, priorities, processes and accountabilities from an overall systems perspective, enabling the discovery of ways to improve performance across the system. The consulting process involves broad participation in order to ensure that a clear picture of the organization emerges. It uses appreciative inquiry to build on the best of the past and identify the strengths that will carry the organization successfully into the future.