Canadian Bible Society loses national director
TORONTO, ON-The national director of The Canadian Bible Society (CBS), Glen Pitts-who was hired 15 months ago after a yearlong executive search-resigned from his position March 19.
In what society spokesmen refer to as a "totally unrelated" development, the chair of the board of governors, Ken Taylor, resigned March 23. Newly appointed chair George Lemmon declined to comment on the reasons for Taylor's resignation. (Taylor did not return calls.)
In a news release dated March 29, which Lemmon quoted over the telephone, the Canadian Bible Society announced the appointment of one of the members of the board of governors as interim national director.
Phyllis Nesbitt, a Congregational Christian Church ordained minister from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, assumes the responsibilities of the role immediately, and will move to Toronto, Lemmon says, no later than July 1.
"My ministry will be a transitional one in order to facilitate the changes that CBS identifies as needed. It is to repair the foundations on which the next permanent national director will build,"she says. Nesbitt has a Masters Degree in conflict management and is working on a PhD in leadership and management.
Regarding Pitts' resignation, Lemmon said he was unaware of the reasons behind it.
But former employees of the society cite problems at both the structural and governance levels of the organization, as contributing to Pitts' leaving.
The CBS board of governors announced Pitts' appointment in a December 11, 2002 news release. That release indicated he was hired with a mandate to revitalize the now 100-year old charitable organization, which exists to promote the translation, publication, distribution and use of the Bible.
In the release, Taylor described Pitts as, "a visionary with a demonstrated ability to provide leadership in the development of new initiatives and revitalization of already effective programs."
In the same release, Pitts commented that he would like to see "increased vitality at all levels of the organization," and said, "...vitality has little to do with age. It has everything to do with attitude and with being able to be flexible and adjust to needed change."
But Lemmon suggests Pitts' actual mandate was somewhat less consequential. "[It was] basically, to give direction to the society, to work with the board of governors and with the district directors and the national support staff to further the aims of the Canadian Bible Society."
Reached at his home three days after tendering his resignation, Pitts said he felt it would not be appropriate to comment on his reasons for the exit.
But district director, Paul Brown, who heads up the New Brunswick office, describes Pitts as a personable man, who was well liked. He likens Pitts' leaving to a no-fault divorce where no one is to blame, but the partners agree to go their separate ways for reasons of "irreconcilable differences."
Brown has been with the Bible Society for four years. He says one of the factors behind the departure could be as simple as differing perceptions between the national and district offices of the style of leadership needed "to fulfill the structures of the Bible Society."
Says Brown, "I think there are some [people]-particularly based at the national support office level-who would tend to see the needed leadership more from a business perspective; a genre of leadership that is more suitable to running a corporate entity than it is [to running] a para-church organization."
He adds that those at the district level like him probably feel that the CBS "really needs more of a pastoral, enabling, coaching, affirming, informal type of leadership; less structured."
Comments from former CBS employees regarding the resignation, however, point not to leadership style, but to difficulties arising out of the way the organization is structured, as being at the root of the problem.
In short, they say, CBS hired Pitts to introduce change, and then left him powerless to do so.
Greg Bailey says he understands some of the frustrations Pitts, whom he calls "an exceedingly competent man," may have faced. As Pitts' predecessor, he held the role of national director from 1997 until 2001, when the society's board of governors made the decision not to renew his contract.
Bailey says he's not bitter, and still loves the organization and its ministry. But based on his own experience, he says he can pinpoint key areas of weakness within the society.
"The national director has all of the responsibility of the position of chief executive officer and all of the accountability," he explains. "But that position has very little direct authority. The bulk of the authority in that organization is vested in senior middle management, at the level of the district directors."
Another former national director, Floyd Babcock, concurs. "Sometimes, the person comes into that type of position thinking they're the CEO, and they're not really," says Babcock.
"They really are the general secretary, which means you're the coordinator-for all the functions. It's just one of those anomalies."
District control
Brown says that in the Canadian Bible Society, the true locus of authority is the districts. "That's the reason the national office isn't called the national office. It's called the national support office; meaning that it does really exist to support the districts," he explains.
Bible Society insiders say the role of national director is and must be more than simply that of a coach or cheerleader-for the position is fully accountable and responsible for revenues.
Asked if Pitts was expected to improve the society's financial position, Lemmon says, "not directly. That would be a shared thing. It would be to give some ideas in that regard."
But any actual power to affect the outcome of revenue, which the position may hold in theory, would seem to be neutralized in actual practice by what Brown describes as "shared responsibility with the district leadership."
The structure of the Canadian Bible Society-elements of which date back almost 100 years-is complex. Two former employees, who prefer to remain anonymous, describe it using the terms "parochial," "inefficient" and "dysfunctional."
The Canadian Bible Society has 16 district offices located across the country; each governed by a director who reports to a board. From 10 to 40 individuals sit on each one of those 16 boards.
Phone calls to each of the district offices confirm well over 330 district board members across the country. Brown says the national director "must act in concert and consensus with the district board[s]" on some matters.
One representative from each of the district boards also sits on the board of governors, which oversees the national office. In the society's chain of command, the national director reports to that board of governors, and therein lies the problem, according to Bailey.
"The district directors are accountable in matters of management to the national director," he says. "[But] in matters of governance, they are accountable to the district board, which they help to create."
Should the national director wish to effect change or implement new programs on a national level, he would seek the approval of his board of governors. But the board of governors are each reporting back to their own district boards, and to their district directors. If the district directors don't like the proposed change, it's unlikely to happen.
Given the potential for divided loyalties among the board of governors, and the fact of the two layers of governance, the national director could be rendered virtually hamstrung. Bailey says in his experience it was "impossible for senior management to have any direct authority."
Pitts was almost certainly subject to similar constraints.
Asked about Pitts' most significant contributions, Lemmon says, "He brought in some good ideas, which challenged [us]." Lemmon could not cite any specific ideas which have actually been implemented to date.
Unpopular suggestion
Last summer, ChristianWeek learned that the Canadian Bible Society was facing increasing financial pressures. Revenues were down substantially over the previous fiscal year, creating a shortfall in excess of $1 million.
At the time Pitts said that shortly after being hired, he was charged with the task of tabling a strategic plan for the future. He travelled across the country to meet with the various districts. As part of an overall strategy to ensure future solvency, he proposed reducing the organization's investment in bricks and mortar by shutting down the 15 bookstores and one book depot located across the country.
It was not a popular suggestion among the district directors. Brown says the result was, "100 per cent negative. Without exception, every one of the 16 district boards made it very clear, when the survey was initiated, that they had no intention of shutting down their Bible centres," says Brown. "And the ultimate say...is with the districts."
"I think we have a good organization," says Lemmon. "We've been around 100 years in Canada. Some people probably think there are difficulties; I think they are difficult times.
"And in a so-called bilingual country, we're more than that. We're multilingual. There are 112 different language Scriptures available for use in Canada. And I look at it very positively. We've done a tremendous job, and in most jobs, there are difficulties. And we're working our way through those."
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