Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Skip Bell

Second Advisor

Mzonzima Gwala

Third Advisor

Trevor O'Reggio

Abstract

Problem

The Southern Africa Indian Ocean Division (SID) has never developed or implemented a program for coaching and mentoring newly elected leaders at any administrative level—division, union, or conference. Newly elected officers report personal and professional frustration as a result. It is reasonable to infer this has contributed to new leaders facing difficulty in delivering expected performance on the job, effecting their careers and service to the community of believers.

Methodology

The study followed the qualitative research paradigm. Qualitative research became a method of choice because it is descriptive in nature and it provides the researcher with the opportunity to see the issue through the eyes of subjects being studied. The project defined its population as incumbent and former local conference executive secretaries in Zimbabwe Union Conference (ZUC). It also sampled former executive secretaries of other unions than ZUC to find out whether or not executive secretaries in other unions in SED are prepared for office differently.

Results

The data collected revealed that all the respondents had not been coached or mentored and all had not had any properly planned and structured transition when they assumed office. It also showed that the new executive secretaries did not have a clear understanding of their roles in the administration of the conference.

Conclusions

A program for coaching and mentoring executive secretaries in the ZUC is a reachable goal. The information given by both the current and the former executive secretaries provides a framework to address the problem and also give guidance as to how change can be effected.

Subject Area

Mentoring; Executive secretaries; Zimbabwe Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dmin/570

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