Administrative capacitation for the management of Spiritist Centres Only knowledge and philosophic living experience together with good will and disposition are not, for the present days, enough for someone to be a good Spiritist Leader

Since the Codification, almost 150 years ago, the Spiritist Philosophy remains modern, full and whole. Different to what has occurred to the spiritist movement which has lived several stages, difficulties and also many achievements through this time. Much was built and is still being built, as the growth of the Spiritist Movement is a reality not only in Brazil, but in the whole world.

The leaders and their teams at spiritist centres are abnegated and hard working people and they have accomplished much in order that these results can be commemorated, however it is necessary to advance more and more. Even with these advancements, the administration of a spiritist centre in present times continues to be, above all, an activity of much dedication and effort, but it is also a complex and varied activity as it depends almost exclusively on the collaboration of volunteers, together with an existence of very few financial resources for the accomplishment of objectives, amongst many other difficulties.

In the past, when Spiritism was persecuted and threatened, the task of the Leader was that of a fighter who defended the cause and the centre with effort and courage, even putting themselves in a position of sacrifice in favour of the Consoling Philosophy.

Today, the challenges presented to the Leaders are others and cover questions to do with the survival of the spiritist centre, up to the effective monitoring of the work as well as taking into consideration that the needs and expectations of those who look for the Spiritist Philosophy become more and more demanding; as well as the fulfilment of legal and fiscal commitments, and more specifically of charitable institutions, amongst others.

Besides the knowledge and philosophic living experience, good will and disposition, we can define that the preparation and technical knowledge on Management are necessary requirements of the Leaders and other workers of the spiritist centre.

The CCA has two innovating aspects: the theme
and the methodology

In practice, this means that only knowledge and philosophic living experience together with good will and dispositions are not, for the present days, enough for someone to be a good spiritist principal.

We all know that if we intend to carry out work with more quality at the spiritist centre, it is very important to know the proposal of activities, its social structures, the people in charge and the profile of the frequenters and of their own workers. Once this is done, ardent yearning will be needed to carry on, with the necessary preparation. Thus, always filled up with good intention and with the tools to act efficiently in the search for results in the task which we chose; we will reach the ultimate goals of the spiritist proposal. “The sublime task of education, aid, alleviation, clarification and acting in all human needs is reserved to the Spiritist Philosophy”, Kardec alerted us.

The project “Administrative Capacitation of the Leaders of Spiritist Centres” was developed with the proposal of filling up gaps already perceived by many who dedicated themselves to the hard work of administering a Spiritist Institution,. This project is today known by the acronym CCA.

Since its presentation and approval by the National Federative Council in November 2002, the CCA has been implemented in all regions of the country, through those tutors already prepared by the several Federative State Units. The CCA gathers two innovating aspects: theme and methodology.

Therefore it requires much persistence and dedication from all those involved in the process, as it is breaking paradigms and treading paths not trodden before.

The theme – Administration -, allied to the knowledge of Psychology, Pedagogy and Andragogy, aims to favour those taking part in the acquisition of renewed competence for the performance of the difficult and noble mission that they received. It is worth highlighting that the methodology used – distance learning and classroom activities – is innovating in the Spiritist Movement.

The CCA has as a goal development of
management competence

During the distance self-development activities, the students acquire knowledge and apply it in practical activities, in order to, afterwards, bring their experiences, doubts and learning processes to the meeting with the other participants aiming to systemise what they have learned and clarify possible doubts.

We can affirm with certainty that the central focus of the course is on the andragogic aspect (education of the adult individual), with emphasis on the need that adults ought to learn from their own experiences, perceiving and systematizing that knowledge. By considering that the enabling process has a short time available which needs to be optimised and the concern with the building of a solid and well based learning process,  explains the reason for the course to adopt a mixed strategy of education-learning process: classroom teaching and Distance teaching (self-development), an activity still used very little in the spiritist works. 

The CAA has as a general objective the development of entrepreneurial management skills in the Spiritist Director, at the same time preserving the philosophic values, enabling individuals to perform their task in the fundamental unity of the Spiritist movement with critical thinking and awareness  

Still, with specific objectives, the CAA aims to make possible:

a)     The basic understanding of the questions that sum up the administration of the material resources and the collaborators that compose the Spiritist Centre; 

b) the understanding of administrative processes in general, and specifically those related to the spiritist organisation; and

c) An updated view of management skills focused on results which can be evaluated within the short, medium and long term.

In order to meet these objectives, the program is structured into five units, as described below:

The CCA program content is very broad and opportune, covering all aspects related to management and operational activities of a Spiritist Centre. It uses a current language in accordance to modern Administrative Science and is endorsed by contents extracted from the Codification and complementary works.   We can also affirm that the course combines a strong conceptual content with a continuous reflexion on the reality of the Spiritist Movement.

As can be observed, we have at the CCA one more excellent opportunity to improve the work of our spiritist tasks, on other levels, because the leaders, as much as the work teams, do not rise mature and productive.

A team that is going to work is always a search, an approximation of the ideal. For such, cooperation and orientation of its members makes it possible that divergent interpretations can co-exist and formulate new ideas and creative ways to act.

Thus, all need to have a broad view of what they are doing, and to perceive the impact of their performance on the whole. The focus of the interaction broadens itself and instead of carrying out isolated activities, the team results are enhanced as a set and are able to generate outwards (towards the public with whom the team works) and to each one of the individuals involved.

The importance of having clear and defined objectives and of agreeing priorities also grows, as well as the need to collectively plan the necessary process in order to reach the set goals, and making use of talents and experiences existing within the group and avoiding duplications.

The individual contribution and its impact on the team work are more easily understood, increasing participation and involvement. The exchange of information amongst the team members needs to be organised in a dynamic way, so that the available communication channels can be better used. The emphasis is now upon shared results, rather than on a set of individual results.

The work that is accomplished requires much
persistence and discipline from all

When the character of team work is modified, the role, program or project of the Leaders of institutions is fundamentally changed.  Their responsibility is now for the process as a whole. They must be able to tune in to the meaning of the team and to allow the team itself to become organised and propose solutions.

In a way, they are no longer the centre of the decisions, which allows for other relevant leaders to emerge for that which they want to carry out. Their best performance is on raising key-questions for a project or for the organisation. What have we learned? What can we learn with the practical work? Why is it working? Why is it not? How can it be executed better next time? What new challenges does this reality show us?

Finally, the organisation of the memory of the work is cited as a need, in a way that the information is available for all and can be shared in a quick a practical manner. If autonomy exists amongst the members of a team, it is hoped that the members take part with new proposals throughout the work, taking advantages of opportunities.

Fundamentally, what one can hope is that they are capable of creating solutions and of directing their best efforts to an objective and that the results appear in several fronts: it benefits the types of public whom the organisation relates to, the people individually and the institution’s own image.

All these reflexions must be present in the organisers, monitors and facilitators of the CCA.... The work that is accomplished requires much persistence and discipline from all because of the differentiated aspect in which it takes place.  However, the results reached compensate the efforts that are being implemented.

To end, I invite you to remember Emmanuel’s words: “That we help our fellow beings, sustaining still, all those who seek to help”.

Author’s note:

This article is based on a document – “Introduction to Administrative Capacitation of Management of Spiritist Centres organised by the Advising Commission of the General Secretary of the National Federative Council of the Brazilian Spiritist Federation – Brasilia, June 2003.