Papers and Presentations
All articles and papers listed below are authored or co-authored by me and visitors to this website are permitted to read, download, and share them with others as desired. Please cite the source if you are quoting or distributing an article or paper.
The articles are grouped by topic, although some cover more than one category. I will add items periodically. Stay tuned.
Feedback is most welcome. Please do let me know if you have found an article helpful for your own use or for your team, colleague, or group. Thank you. - Marisa Guerin marisaguerin1@gmail.com
RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP
Holding Steady: The Psycho-Social Service of Leadership in Times of Change
Published in The Occasional Papers, Summer 2016, Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Silver Spring MD
Special Dynamics of Religious Communities as Planning Entities
Religious congregations are hybrids - part community, part organization. Most formal planning methods only apply well to part of their reality. Written for Cranaleith Master Seminars, 2011; updated 2018
Mending Impairments to Authority in Religious Congregations
Powerpoint presentation from 2014 National Conference for Resource Center for Religious Institutes; minor revisions 2018.
Decision Making for Faith Based Groups
An outlined of definitions and description of decision making and discernment processes often used in religious congregations, including short review of Shape of a Deliberation.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
A highly personal reflection on the experience of being a woman in executive leadership in a global corporation, with the internal tensions and stresses that I ultimately resolved by deciding to resign the position. Musings on values, betrayals, emotion, gender, and spirit. Not at all a complete telling, but sharing what seems most important. Updated 2021
Consulting Note on Succession Planning and Talent Management for Religious Organizations
Written to relay advice from corporate business settings for application to religious congregations, health care and education systems. Updated 2017
Founder Succession: Impact on Strategic Planning
Founders carry the strategic intention of an organization in their heads; founder transition has implications for producing more explicit strategic guidance. Written for Cranaleith Master Seminars, updated 2017
The King is Dead -- Long Live the King! Exploring the Psychodynamics of Corporate Succession Planning
Presented by Birge D. (Ric) Reichard, PhD and Marisa Guerin, PhD at the 2003 Annual Meeting in Boston, MA, of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations
List of Recommended Books - Organizational Psychodynamics
Some suggested books in a valuable domain not especially available to many leaders. (The first three are my go-to recommendations for busy leaders.)
STRATEGIC PLANNING
More Than Meets the Eye: Factors Impacting Strategic Planning
Exploration of underlying, often unconscious, motivations for organizations that seek help via strategic planning;
written for Cranaleith Master Seminars, updated 2017
Reflections on Strategy - For Religious and Nonprofit Organizations
Five key concepts to understand about the over-used word, "strategy"; written for Cranaleith Master Seminars, updated 2017
BOARD DEVELOPMENT
Building Board Excellence:
Chief Executive Performance Review
Powerpoint presentation for Board members on their role in executive goal setting and review; why this is difficult; and how to address the challenges. updated 2017
Basics to Best:
Best Practices for Board Members
Presentation given at annual conference of RCRI 2014 (Resource Center for Religious Institutes); includes Board responsibilities, attributes of effective boards, pitfalls to avoid, additional resources, etc.
CONSULTING SKILLS
The Repair of the Container: Honoring the Client-Consultant Relationship and Resisting Seduction
The consultant is presented with the need, sometimes, to engage in a “double task” in their consultation – both working with the clients on the management problems of concern to them, and providing respectful, appropriate support to increase the client’s own capacity for critical leadership containment. This paper is an edited version of a longer one presented in June 2012 at ISPSO in California. Updated and revised, 2018