The Survey Says…The Global Leadership Summit Works

CHICAGO - May 13, 2015 - PRLog -- The Global Leadership Summit (TGLS) was launched 20 years ago by Bill Hybels, founder and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. As an initiative of Willow Creek Association (WCA), a non-profit organization comprised of more than 7,000 member churches from 90 denominations and 45 countries, the conference has featured a diverse lineup of leadership experts such as Colin Powell, Mark Burnett, Patrick Lencioni, and Carly Fiorina. Many successful and influential speakers such as these have inspired hundreds of thousands of leaders from around the world to make a difference in their communities and spheres of influence.

From feedback received over the years, WCA leaders have long suspected that TGLS was going beyond the motivational “high” that is typical for the average conference attendee and was actually making a protracted difference in how leaders lived and led once they returned home – a difference that was transferred to their churches, organizations, businesses and communities.

To find out if their suspicions were true, they made a bold move following last year’s Summit when they commissioned an independent study by Colorado Springs based Excellence in Giving. With the impartial analysis of the data provided by the firm, the findings were more than they had imagined.

“We felt, for a variety of reasons, that it was important to quantify the impact of TGLS if at all possible,” states Gary Schwammlein, WCA president and CEO. “It means a lot to our supporters and staff to be able to see some of the tangible results from all of the hard work. We were confident that TGLS was working. Now we have some proof.”

A tiny sampling of the data revealed:

·       98% of all business leaders have applied “team-building skills learned at TGLS” and 86% agree or strongly agree that those skills “increased job satisfaction and productivity.”

·       81% of those who had a superior attend TGLS in the past reported concrete ways their “supervisor or organization’s top leader improved because of TGLS.”

·       54% cited concrete ways TGLS inspired them to impact the community by 1) serving the poor, 2) helping the youth, 3) comforting the hurting, 4) education, and 5) fighting injustice.

·       65% had taught, on average, 68 other people over the past two years about leadership.

·       25% stated that “TGLS had inspired them to share the gospel in the past two years” and reported, on average, 93 first-time commitments to Christ as a result.

While important information was gathered from first-time attendees, WCA was especially interested in actionable results, so the findings reflected above came from repeat participants in TGLS and identified specific outcomes that could be directly linked to participation in the Summit. High response rates to the survey in the U.S. produced a solid 3% margin of error with a 99% confidence level that the results represented the total population of TGLS participants in the U.S.

Dr. Paul Penley, director of research at Excellence in Giving, evaluates charitable organizations for major donors and explains why the results are significant. “Apart from validating the survey with a random sample of past participants, we conducted the survey approximately 2 months after the conference. Past participants reported specific actions inspired by the Summit and their results over the following years rather than temporary reactions to the experience. Each outcome was also addressed by 2 or 3 questions to verify the reliability of the self-reported data.”

In 2014, more than 227,000 leaders in 798 cities and 112 countries were equipped at the Summit. This, and every other endeavor of Willow Creek Association, centers around a singular idea - that inspired, encouraged, and equipped Christian leaders create thriving local churches that redeem their communities for Christ. The survey says, “The dedicated execution of this idea is producing tangible results.”

“The Global Leadership Summit has proven to catalyze the leader within each of us, to make us better leaders, and to unite us around a common vision,” states founder Bill Hybels. “We believe the local church is the hope of the world…when it is working right.  For churches to reach their full redemptive potential, they must be led well. It’s our prayer that the Summit will continue to inspire passionate leaders toward that end.”

The Global Leadership Summit (http://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/index.asp)

August 6-7, 2015