Go to the XP-Indicator
Thanks for getting the Indicator results back to me so quickly. They were most insightful. When I first saw the graph, I said, "That's not me." But the more I read, the more I essentially agreed with the results.-David Rosenfeld
Three Uses of the XP-I
First, the XP-I quantifies the 5 Functions of church leadership and management. These categories are essential to Executive Pastors and positions with similar responsibility. While there are undoubtedly other categories of church leadership, the XP-I sets out to examine only the 5 Functions. Thus, the scope of the XP-I is limited.
Second, the XP-I helps evaluate preferences and compare strengths. As a self-report instrument, the individual must validate the findings. It is acceptable for individuals to disagree with the findings, as this allows them to wrestle with and make conclusions about the Five Functions.
- Although the XP-I has proved to be a valid and reliable instrument, individual preferences and church polity need to be factored into any discussion. A one size fits all approach will prove inferior.
- For example, an Executive Pastor may score low on the Administrator Function because the local church has a superior administrative team to handle that function.
Through group discussion and self-evaluation, the individual can best understand the preferences and strengths as reported on the instrument.
Third, the XP-I is an ideal tool to objectively discuss the role and position of the Executive Pastor. The results of various people can be compared and used for discussion. The XP-I helps Senior Pastors, Governing Boards, Search Committees and Church Staff present their views about the Executive Pastor. Emphasis needs to be placed on the word discussion, noting from the above that the XP-I is a self-report instrument. Differences between the findings of various individuals are not necessarily undesirable. Minor differences are expected.
- Some differences are larger due to preferences that come with certain positions-an example of this is that Senior Pastors generally want or see their Executive Pastors as strong catalysts, and this can present the Senior Pastors report with a stronger Catalyst than the Executive Pastor.
- Some people do not see the full extent of the Executive Pastor's role-an example is a support staff person who mainly interacts with the XP as Mentor while not seeing Overseeing functions with the governing board.
Thus, it is not expected that the XP-I will return identical results for every respondent. For best results, it is recommended that four to eight people take the XP-I on each Executive Pastor. In this way, minor differences can be averaged.
Many differences in XP-I reports need careful discussion because they document the significant divergent views of the individual.
- An Elder Board took the XP-I as they considered finding a replacement for their newly retired XP. Four of the five Elders had essentially similar XP-I results. In contrast to the others, one Elder's XP-I reported his desire for a weak Administrator and weak Overseer. One Elder did not want the XP to run the church. The Board needed to discuss this significant difference!
- An Executive Pastor considered that he was not a strong Catalyst, yet his fellow staff saw him as a strong Catalyst. In this case, he did not have an accurate perception of himself. If anything, the staff desired him to not be such a strong Catalyst and to grow in the area of Mentor.
