Editorial: Life begins at forty
Anna Rankin

Comment: Leadership on the move
Stanley McDowell

From the director: The discipleship factor
David W Porter

Four things for leaders to do at the end of the world
Derek Poole

Pastoring people in prophetic living
David Montgomery

Being a servant leader
Diane Clutterbuck

Interview with Maria Garvey: Oil and water
Anna Rankin

Nurturing the next generation
John-Mark Mullan

The Word made flesh - East Belfast
Glenn Jordan

The Word made flesh - North Belfast
Bill Shaw

The Word made flesh - Derry
Sue Divin

The Word made flesh - Enniskillen
David Cupples

The Word made flesh - Poleglass
Martin J Magill

Resisting temptation
Drew Gibson

Review: And now let's move into a time of nonesense
Claire Martin

Review: Christianity for Dummies
Scott Vance

< Past Issues Archive

INTERVIEW: OIL AND WATER
Mariah Garvey

MARIA GARVEY is the leader of L’Arche Belfast, an interdenominational faith community and voluntary agency providing a service of support to people with intellectual disabilities. The Belfast community is based on the Ormeau Road in a house purchased in partnership with the Oaklee Housing Association. There are 126 L'Arche communities in 31 countries worldwide. Maria has been with L'Arche for 18 years and came to Belfast in 2000. She is originally from Cork.

What is it like being a leader in a faith-based community operating in a secular context as a service provider in the statutory sector?
It’s not always easy, it’s a challenge and it keeps me human right down into the soles of my feet!!

In our world, leadership and management are frequently assumed to be synonymous, and they certainly overlap very strongly where there is an involvement of a statutory nature in an organisation, such as L’Arche. I am very clear that a leader is somebody who leads people and a manager is someone who manages processes. These can be quite different roles, though they aren't mutually exclusive. However, in many cases, the expectation from the statutory perspective is that a leader is just a good manager.

On a daily basis, I'm responsible for managing the processes required to ensure that the care provided to people with disabilities in the community is appropriate to their needs. At the same time, I have been called by people here in Belfast and mandated by L’Arche International to be the leader of a community that has its roots in faith and in gospel values, and that role calls forth quite a different set of gifts and skills.

Overall, I am called to lead a community comprising a diverse membership of people taking up various roles in relation to both the service provision and the mission of L’Arche in Belfast – these include voluntary and paid assistants and administrative staff as well as the people who have learning disabilities who are at the heart of our community and are referred to as ‘the Core Members’.

Ultimately, I believe it is our mission that leads us and that my role, as leader, is to hold the community in front of the vision to which we are publicly committed. Together, we are accountable for ensuring that the way we live and the decisions we make are an authentic expression of our worldview. However, in a strictly secular or service provision context the criteria used to assess the value and meaning of our lives and work together are based on the premise that care and support can be measured, audited and has market value. However, not everything in life can be accounted for in that way.

For example, our commitment to a vision of interdependence and mutuality has huge significance for how we live. We make decisions not just on the basis of what is personally good for the individual but also the wider impact of those decisions on us as human beings and on the wider community. However, all the funding we receive, and therefore all the criteria that measure the success of our work, are based on a worldview of ‘independence’ and ‘individuality’ and a way of being in the world that is focused on human rights, often to the exclusion of human responsibilities.

The dilemma for me is how to be the manager of an organisation that is adequately transparent and accountable, in terms of the service we provide and the funding we receive, and yet be the leader of a community where welcoming difference, honouring vulnerability and fostering interdependent relationships is at the heart of what we do.

What motivates you as a leader?
What gives me energy is that I believe it is possible to create a world where it is enough to be human. I believe that my life and my relationships can be a reflection of a more human society and that in choosing to share our lives together in a community we are called to challenge what dehumanises people in the world today.

With the constantly growing possibilities of technology, more is expected of people all the time. It is less acceptable to make mistakes nowadays and increasingly we are expected to be perfect, and to be everything to everyone at all times. In this climate of achievement and success there are still those who are dying of loneliness. An increasing number of people are finding it hard to ‘fit in’, ‘be good enough’ or to ‘keep up the pace’ – more and more people are finding themselves on the margins of society. Sure, those who are in the social care system may well have their care needs professionally and adequately met, but who has time to stop and celebrate their existence, who chooses simply to be with them instead of providing for them or doing to them? Who chooses them as friends?

The longing in me to be part of creating a world that is slow enough to welcome the slowest and soft enough to welcome the most fragile is what makes me get up every day.

So your mission is much larger than providing for the care needs of a small group of people?
Absolutely – all of our lives have meaning beyond our attributed identities, roles, and status. Often we touch and change one another’s lives in ways that we can neither know nor imagine. People who have learning disabilities are infinitely more than ‘clients’ and I presume that there isn’t anyone who would want the meaning or mission of their lives to be reduced or limited to the identities of ‘service users and providers’. We have the responsibility and the possibility to bring about a more human society and my big question as a leader is how to foster a sense of citizenship in the members of the community, a sense of belonging and power in the world and a belief in something beyond what we see that can set us free.

What is your experience of being a female leader in a relatively conservative society?
Being a woman is so fully part of who I am that I take it for granted. So, to be honest, the words 'female' and 'leader' don’t often come together in the same thought for me. I suppose I am so focused on my part in bringing about the world that I want to live in that I have never wondered whether or not I would experience the world differently if I were a man. I come from the Catholic tradition where there are a lot of issues around gender in respect of the hierarchy and men and women taking their place in the church. But I have always assumed that I have the right and responsibility, the authority and the possibility to take up a personal leadership role, even if it is hasn’t been given to me through the structures of the church. As a member of the congregation, every time I turn to the person next to me to acknowledge their presence and every time I offer someone the sign of peace in church and really mean it I take up my responsibility and my authority. I often say in the community that ‘every single one of us can be a leader’ – there isn’t a blueprint. If you believe firmly enough in the kind of world you want to live in, and live in it now, if you stand in the world you stand for, then your life becomes your way of leading and it doesn't matter whether you are a man or woman, adult or child. I realise that I may sound naïve, so I do want to acknowledge that in relation to leadership I know that gender matters.

Have you faced challenges as a woman within the sector? How male-dominated is the sector?
Oh, very! And yes I have been challenged. Education and the caring professions are generally the reserve of women nowadays. Men are needed, in terms of male role-modelling and in terms of providing appropriate care, but very few enter the professions. When they do, they very quickly climb the ranks. It’s hard to accept but I suppose I think, that while they might be authorised within the organisational structures to be leaders it doesn’t make them the only leaders. I believe that you have as much power as a ‘member’ of an organisation as you have as a ‘leader’. If you are committed to the vision and mission of that organisation, whatever your role is, you are powerful. Good ‘members’ call forth good leaders and members committed to the wellbeing and vision of the whole are often our hidden leaders and unsung heroes.

Maybe my rationale is a way of avoiding the gender/power issues but I prefer to believe that it’s my way of not getting seduced into rivalries that only make me miserable and distract me from what I really want to be doing with my life.

Do you think in a way you actually subvert the issue by saying to yourself ‘I can lead from where I am’?
That’s exactly it. It probably comes from many years of being inspired by Martin Luther King Jr's and Gandhi’s lives and vision of non-violence and from my deep sense that the way to live is not to spend my life attacking what doesn’t work or what doesn’t seem to bring about a slower, softer world. Instead, I offer myself to what is possible and use the energy that I have towards that.

What do you identify as the key skills or attributes of a leader?
A leader’s value system and worldview need to be absolutely at one with the values and the worldview of the organisation that they are leading.

When we say together in L’Arche that, ‘We are people with and without learning disabilities sharing life in communities of faith. Mutual relationships and trust in God are at the heart of our life together. We seek to build a world that recognises the unique value of every person and our need for one another’, it is essential that my life and my way of leading is a personal and authentic expression of that.

At its heart, I think that leadership is about personal integrity, authenticity and an absolute clarity that what I am about in the world and what the organisation seeks to be in the world are one and the same.

I could be the most skilled leader in the world but if what I do is not the same as what I say, it would mean nothing. In fact all the activities of our community need to be an expression of this vision of a more loving world so the same is true for the members of L’Arche.

Authenticity is key – once we get out of our beds in the morning, what we do speaks much more loudly than our words. In that sense, being a good leader and a good member are the same thing.

I also believe that the wisdom is always in the group and that the leader is not an ‘expert’. Therefore, for me, the key skills are listening, facilitating and enabling the members of the community to take up their voices, to be engaged with the mission and to be responsible, in all of their actions, for our shared worldview.

Because we are a faith community we often reflect on the vision of ‘the wounded healer’ and we seek to acknowledge and embrace our vulnerability as a gift. Taking the risk to be vulnerable is one of the greatest challenges to me as leader, especially when the common expectation is that I will be strong, make decisions, and be wise and that I will know the way forward at all times. I am often none of those things and often I don’t know much but the phrase that has sustained and comforted me over the past year is ‘I don’t know, but together we do.’ Acknowledging that the wisdom is in the body implies that I am also willing to wait for God to speak through it. That takes time and patience and respect and a commitment to the inclusion of every voice. It’s not always easy but it is always good.

How do you balance protecting the vulnerable and the need to build relationships of trust?
The constant fear of bad things happening creates an atmosphere of suspicion in our world. Often, nowadays, our statutory regulations are based in fear and a desire to protect us from worst-case scenarios. A default position is that the stranger is a danger and the person providing care to those who are vulnerable is also a potential threat to the safety of that person. We live in a litigious society and that has huge implications for us as a community. To create relationships that are interdependent and mutual requires that we foster and nurture trust and that the decisions we make and the activities we engage in are founded in love not fear. Of course, we are always conscious of our duty of care to protect those at the heart of our community who are vulnerable in terms of their innocence and their level of need but when the need for protection outweighs the right of the person to be treated as fully human then the balance is skewed.

If the only role of a leader is to protect the most vulnerable from potential abuse, then I am not being a leader I am a manager of fear in a society that is afraid of itself. That is the thing that is most difficult for me and the only way I can redress this imbalance is to attend as much to the good news stories in our world as the bad. There are many more stories of care founded on love, respect, dignity and honour than there are of situations of violation and abuse. Bad news breeds fear and fear dehumanises; good news, on the other hand leads us to trust in the world again and ultimately creates freedom and a belief in what is good.

No legislation, regulation or insurance can protect the world from its shadow side, but as leaders, when we believe in a God who is bigger than what we know, a God who is able to bring a people out of slavery through the Red Sea into freedom, then we can offer an alternative view and we can call people to freedom from fear, and towards new possibilities. When we have come to the end of our own resources there are always resources beyond ours. That is the kind of faith that leaders need to have. I think we often choose ‘safety’ rather than freedom. I believe that the world needs prophetic leaders more than ever before, people who are free enough to see something other than a reality limited by fear and suspicion.

What are the needs of leaders today?
Leaders need time and space. Because of the emphasis on management today a lot of good leaders have become worldweary managers and spend their time up to their eyeballs in paper and electronic files. There is nothing like a paper mountain to ‘block the view and dull the vision’. It takes time and stillness to be a good leader and allow the Spirit of God, rather than the pressure of speed, to be at work in us.

I frequently loose my perspective and become overwhelmed with the demands of continual communication. To stay free and fresh in my role I have to make time to withdraw to a place apart where I can make a connection with the deepest call in myself and that which originally called me into L’Arche. I often imagine that that is what Jesus did when he went into the wilderness to pray.

Leaders also need good company. Leadership, by its nature, can sometimes be a lonely road and can lead us into isolation. We need wise listeners and peer groups for support and places to go where we are held accountable to our values and our original call.

Every part finds its meaning in the whole so, for leaders and for members, having times to tell our stories and find our meaning in the bigger picture is really important. It is a way of remembering why we came here and why we choose to stay.

Do you think leaders are born or are they made?
Probably both. St Paul talks about leadership as a gift and I believe that leadership can be called forth in all of us to the extent of our commitment to one another and to a vision beyond ourselves. When we come together around a common purpose we become one body with one spirit and many gifts, and in the offering and welcoming of those gifts we are given and take up our personal leadership. The needs in our world that move us to respond and that allow us to offer our gifts also mould us and shape us into leaders. So I reckon that leadership is what happens when the gifts within us respond to the needs beyond us. In this respect I think that leadership comes from within us and beyond us at the same time.

What would you say your leadership style is?
I would use a metaphor and say that I am a dancer. I dance with the community, sometimes taking the lead step, sometimes being led, but what matters most is that we are all listening to the same music as we dance together. Some people use words like visionary or charismatic to describe my style but I try not to get too caught up in those kinds of terms because they only offer a glimpse of a way of being in one moment of time and are often subjective descriptions.

What are the strengths and dangers of being a charismatic leader?
Through their gift of communication charismatic leaders often attract people into the vision that inspires and sustains them and that can be a real gift for enrolling people. But there is also a risk in that. Sometimes people are so awed by the personal gifts and charisma of the leader that they lose sight of the overall picture and their sense of their own value, participation and contribution. When that happens the initial enrolment doesn’t give birth to real engagement and leads to too much reliance on the leader.

I realise that if I am truly to be God’s instrument, then I have to create the community in such a way that if I died tomorrow morning it could still go on. I don’t want to create a community that depends on me and I don’t want to be leading a community into a vision that’s only mine.

What about accountability, where do you get your authority from, who are you accountable to, what is the role of the community?
It seems to me that the authority within the statutory area is very closely linked to regulations, guidelines, measurability, completed forms, bulging files and having all the boxes ticked, the 'i's dotted and the 't's crossed.

The real authority in a faith community in the Christian context, and mine as a leader, comes through the Gospels, following Jesus and a faithful commitment to serving our mission in the world. With that authority we can reasonably hold all of our decisions and actions before the following questions: Is this the most loving thing to do? Will this further the possibility of a more human society? How can this lead us to freedom from fear? Where are we being lead? What are the possibilities that are manifested in us, and what is the world longing for through us? Are we a response to what the world is calling for? These are the questions that unify us, inspire us, motivate us, clarify our roles and ultimately authorise us to act.

How do you maintain the identity and integrity of the organisation as a faith based community working as a statutory service provider?
I think that it’s important for me to remind myself often that every organisation including our own is no more or less than a group of human beings doing the best they can, hoping that it’s enough. Remembering this helps me to be forgiving and compassionate towards myself and others and to keep things in perspective.

The world of management is often one where relationships are contractual. Such relationships are essentially conditional: if you do this, then I will do that. In that context it’s understandable that a person can easily be reduced to a ‘human resource’. As a leader, however, my responsibility is to foster an environment for human flourishing in a faith community that seeks to live relationships inspired by the unconditional love of God. In that context we think in terms of covenant relationships based on a promise of faithfulness and a desire to welcome the other unconditionally as a ‘person’ just like me.

Contract and covenant, management and leadership, service provision and community living are all part of who we are and it is hard to keep them all together. Sometimes it’s like trying to mix oil and water. It’s impossible at worst and messy at best. But that's life, and the extent to which I can accept that messiness is also the extent to which I can keep all the elements together in the ‘whole’.

In it all, we hold ourselves accountable to the commandment of Christ: ‘love God and love your neighbour as yourself’. Our motto is ‘do unto others as you would like it to be done unto you.’ This is what keeps us human. When we accept that our humanity is our only real identity then our integrity is always assured.

What are the challenges of leading an interdenominational community in Northern Ireland?
To be interdenominational in the fullest sense of that word, more often than not, I need to take my lead from the Core Members of the community. Those who are perceived as having learning disabilities often have extraordinary teaching gifts and one such gift is a natural capacity to welcome people just as they are. The human faculty of judgement is closely linked to our intellectual capacity and it is that very capacity of judgement that often makes it difficult for us to welcome what is different to ourselves. In the global north and west we make judgements largely in terms of dualities.

Here in Northern Ireland, it is hard not to get sucked in to the Catholic/Protestant duality because of the political and historical hotwiring into that sort of thinking, but to create a cross-community or interdenominational culture we have to let go of our either/or thinking and to adopt a both/and mentality. This is hard to do, but I'm lucky to share life with our Core Members who show us what welcome is really about and who, in a very natural way, create around themselves communities without borders and spaces without walls.

I imagine communities without borders eventually spreading out to become a world-wide web of humanity and a glimpse of the Kingdom of God in the here and now.

As a very diverse community how do you gather together around the Christian story?
Our community is made up of people from Christian faith traditions, other faith traditions and those without any faith tradition – children, adults with and without learning disabilities and many for whom English isn't their first language. For that reason when we gather, as a community, it’s for times of very simple shared prayer and story telling and lots of music and song.

L’Arche Belfast is rooted in the Christian gospels, and is inspired by the gifts of people with disabilities. That gives us our identity. We tell the story of Christ as the foundation story of our community. This is a story of love made human that called us into being and gave us our mission. We are not saying that it is the only story but it is the story that gives meaning to our lives in our community. We hope that in the telling of our story we include those for whom it's not their original story. There are many stories that give meaning and purpose to people’s lives and we love hearing them but the Christian Story is our story and we are happy to share it.

MARIA GARVEY was interviewed by Anna Rankin on 23 March 2006.

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