LTI is a Network of Trainers

We are a network of experience lab trainers who have served the church and other organizations. Senior LTI trainers are: Rebecca DeBow, Bill Thomas,  Bob Gallagher, Susan Adam, Kay Collier-McLaughlin, and Bill Yon. Co-trainers are Liz Tunney, Paul Rider and Susan Latimer.

We are committed to providing the best possible training for the church and other organizations. We are also engaged in a process of establishing a larger training network that will be able to offer more training at
more locations in the country.

Episcopal Church Related – LTI has been supported by a number of dioceses and church related organizations. Most staff are lay or ordained Episcopalians.
 

The Leadership Training Institute offers programs that enable leaders to function more effectively in their work with parishes and other organizations; to improve their competence for working with others, facilitating teams, and designing meetings, educational events and programs. We have a special vocation to serve the Episcopal Church while also serving non-profit organizations and values based businesses.

All of LTI's programs use the laboratory method of learning. This form of training has a goal of increasing your options for effective behavior in interpersonal, group, and organizational settings. Lab Learning involves disciplined reflection on the immediate here-and-now experiences within the learning community. We make use of applied behavioral science theory to explore the patterns and dynamics present in a group or organization. This has proven itself as one of the most effective ways to learn skills involving work with people an change processes. In addition to learning in the focus of a particular lab (e.g., group development, consultation skills, etc.) all events offer the opportunity to:

• Increase your understanding of the impact of your behavior on others.
• Increase your ability to give and receive feedback.
• Increase your understanding of group development and dynamics.
• Better understand the underlying social processes at work within a group
• Experiment with changes in your behavior
• Better integrate your feelings, thinking and values
• Increase your ability to learn from your own and a group's experience.

Participants will be involved at every stage in activities which will are designed to increase self awareness, expand your awareness of choices you have in the immediate situation, and at times challenge your filters and biases.. These activities involve a certain amount of stress. It is not, therefore, advisable for persons to participate who are living in the midst of unusual stress in their personal or professional lives.

Most workshops begin after breakfast on Monday and continue until 11:00 a.m. on Friday. The interactive character of the training experience makes it essential that participants arrive by Sunday evening, and participate in all scheduled sessions throughout the week. In is generally advisable that you be in residence during the program.

Worship - All LTI workshops provide the opportunity to participate in worship in the Episcopal Church's tradition. All are welcome, no participant is expected to participate as part of the program. Worship usually includes daily Morning and Evening Prayer or Compline. We often celebrate the Holy Eucharist toward the end of the workshop.

Values & Faith Reflection Opportunities - Workshops provide some opportunity to reflect on the relationship between what you are learning and your theological, philosophical or value tradition. This is part of the program. This also provides an opportunity to make use of skills learned in the workshop in a conversation that includes people from various traditions. The setting may allow practice in communication among people of different faiths and backgrounds as well as people who have no religious affiliation or interest. LTI staff will support an atmosphere of ecumenical openness, tolerance and respect for difference

Why Leadership Training?

Insights and skills developed in the labs are expected to be utilized in the normal activities of parish and diocesan life:

• working with Vestries and other groups
• planning and goal-setting
• integration of new members
• education for children, youth, and adults
• community-building in the parish

In addition, lab training has been the foundation upon which a variety of special skills have developed on which the church has come increasingly to rely. Those involved in Church leadership during this period will be familiar with many of these areas:

• consultation for congregational development and during a parish search
• facilitation of Vestry retreats
• stewardship education and training
• conflict management
• mutual ministry review
• organization development

Each of these special applications depends upon basic understandings and skills in human relations and in the dynamics of communication between persons and within groups and parishes. Participation in LTI workshops can provide a valuable foundation for those who are called on for such special responsibilities. 

Why a Mixed Participant Population?

There are several reasons why the training is open and not just for members of the Episcopal Church.

1. It offers the opportunity for everyone to use skills in interpersonal and team work in a more realistic context. This skills are not just used in church settings. This is especially important for participants who are lay members of parishes.

2. It is a way of serving the broader society.

3. It makes it easier for Episcopal laity to have their secular employers cover the costs of their participation

4. It allows us to draw on a larger population base and which makes it easier to cover costs.