Jeffery Thompson wants students to think of themselves as Christ-centered leaders.
Thompson, director of the Sorensen Center for Moral and Ethical Leadership, spoke at the second winter Inspiring Teaching Workshop on February 23. He shared the message “Preparing Students to Become Christ-Centered Leaders.” Thompson presented the Sorensen Center’s Christ-centered leader model, and shared strategies for implementing the model in the classroom to help students overcome their leadership challenges.
To start, Thompson discussed the efforts and initiatives of the Sorensen Center to foster and encourage Christlike leadership among BYU students. Thompson encouraged workshop attendees to consider leadership challenges they currently face. He then posed the question: “What would facing that challenge look like if you were to center your leadership on the Savior?”
Christ-Centered Leader Model
Thompson presented the Christ-Centered Leader Model the Sorensen Center uses to help students think of themselves as Christ-like leaders. “A Christ-centered leader maintains relationships, nurtures relationships, and accepts responsibility,” Thompson said.
These relationships and responsibilities fall into four major categories:
- Relationship with God
- Relationship with self
- Relationships with God’s children
- Stewardships
The yellow inner ring of the diagram includes three principles the Savior demonstrated throughout his ministry:
- Express love
- Honor agency
- Invite accountability
Applying the model in a coaching session
The Sorensen Center uses the Christ-Centered Leader Model in leadership coaching sessions with students. In a coaching session, a coach uses the principles in the inner ring of the model to help students find solutions to a leadership problem they face concerning their relationships on the outer ring of the model.
Throughout a session, a coach expresses love by asking powerful questions and listening to the student client’s responses. Next, a coach honors agency by encouraging students to create their own action steps to find solutions to the problem being addressed. Third, a coach invites accountability and honors clients by asking to report back about the plans they created to solve the problem.
Thompson presented an in-classroom activity—a coaching session among classmates to help students apply the leadership model. One student plays the role of coach, another plays the role of client, and one student is an observer, who, rather than sharing criticism, solely shares their observations.
Thompson invited three students from the Sorensen Center to roleplay a coaching session. Subsequently, the students each shared how integrating the Christ-Centered Leader Model into their lives has personally helped them center their lives on Christ while learning more about God, themselves, others, and their stewardships.
“I love the model,” said Sophia Reynolds, a Sorensen Center student. “I’ve been very grateful to learn about it and see the positive change it’s had in my life.”
Following the student demonstration, Thompson gave a few minutes to conference attendees to practice a coaching session at their tables.
Results of the model
Thompson emphasized the importance of honoring agency and inviting students to create their own ideas for solutions.
“Coaching does not involve advice, we call that the advice monster at the center,” Thompson said. “We withhold advice for as long as possible, until someone is begging and pleading for it, because we want to honor agency.”
Because advice can limit opportunities for personal growth, leadership coaches ask clients to think of two or three solution ideas, not just one. Thompson shared it is often in the third or fourth ask when clients start thinking outside the box that the best solutions emerge.
Thompson ended with a personal testimony of the impact of the model. “This model emerged through a process of revelation. It has impacted my life tremendously, and I am eager to share it as much as possible.”
Thompson invited Mario Pereira, Leadership Education administrator at the Sorensen Center, to come forward and share his experiences with the leadership coaching model.
“The whole coaching mindset is a mindset where we truly believe that the people we are speaking with have the best answers for themselves through their lived experiences,” Pereira said.
Learn more about using the Christ-Centered Leader Model by watching Thompson’s presentation and accessing his slides and lesson plan below.