Am I Safe Here?
By Kelly Jordan, PhD, LP, with the LeaderWise Assessment Team.
The ministry candidate sat across from me in my office at LeaderWise, ready to start their interview for a psychological assessment that represented the culmination of years of preparation, education, conversation, and development (and possibly doubt, sacrifice, disappointment, and vulnerability). They had completed multiple inventories and a lengthy questionnaire, and they were to sit down with me, a psychologist they had never met, for a three-hour interview, discussing all manner of topics. Then a report would be written with major ramifications for their future in ministry. What they said next made all the sense in the world.
“Am I safe here?”
Over the past weeks, we at LeaderWise have weighed in on the concept of psychological safety. What conditions need to be present for individuals to lean into risk-taking, to take care of themselves, to ask the hard questions? Or, as this person was asking me:
How do I know that who I am will be seen, valued, and understood? Will this psychologist, and will LeaderWise in general, see me for who I am?
How might I avoid the risk for harm that comes from being authentic and open with someone, particularly when the stakes are high?
As psychologists who do assessment work, my colleagues and I are acutely aware of the weight and responsibility of our work. We center our process, our tools, our interpretations, and our reports on best practices in our field, particularly in relation to assessing individuals with marginalized identities, who have reason to be skeptical of psychological assessment. We use a competency model that is research-backed, predicting success and satisfaction in ministry. We recognize that test data is only one source of information, and it is our job to draw out the bigger picture. In short, we want to know how you function in ministry work, to identify your strengths and areas for ongoing development, and help you understand the roles and settings that will best suit your authentic self.
And, we know that feeling safe is an iterative and continual process. So here are some ideas for addressing psychological safety when you are going through a vocational assessment at LeaderWise:
If you are wondering, ask. We welcome questions about our inventories, our questionnaire, our competency model, and our assessment process. Especially if something doesn’t feel right, or doesn’t make sense, let’s talk more about it.
What you share is your choice. In the questionnaire and during the interview, you may encounter questions that are uncomfortable to you, or are linked with a traumatic experience. You have a choice about the level of detail you share with the psychologist. You may choose to share only general information, or to hold off on disclosing until you have a better understanding of the reason for the question.
Consider ways to increase your own comfort level. Plan your assessment for a time and place free of distractions, when stress is at a lower level. Accept the offer for a break during the interview, or to return back to a question that was addressed earlier. Provide yourself with something to drink, a snack, a fidget, anything that might lower your anxiety.
Are you a denominational candidacy leader interested in learning more about the LeaderWise assessment program? If you would like to understand more about how we do our work, the tools we use, and our approach to writing reports, we invite you to attend a 90-minute LeaderWise Assessment Program Orientation and Overview, held over Zoom on Thursday, December 3 beginning at 1pm ET/noon CT/11am MT/10am PT. Committee members, denominational leaders, and other interested parties are encouraged to attend to learn more and get your questions answered. Register here to join us on December 3!
