Sarah Vaughan Smith transcript
Coaching Leaders for Success
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INTRODUCTION:
Méli: Hello and welcome to Living Our Beliefs, a home for open conversations with fellow Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Through personal stories and reflection, we will explore how our religious traditions show up in daily life – at work, at home, in the community, in good times and in bad. There is no one-size-fits-all ‘right’ answer, just a way to move forward for you, for here, for now. I am your host Méli Solomon. So glad you could join us.
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Méli: This is episode thirty-nine and my guest today is Sarah Vaughan Smith. Sarah founded and ran the successful non-profit organization United Christian Education Resource Ministry, UCERM for short, for over 18 years. UCERM strengthened the abilities of thousands of individuals and organizations, primarily leaders and their faith-based organizations. Helping clients to achieve their mission and impact their communities has long been her passion. Eight years ago, Sarah transformed her non-profit into a for-profit leadership development company, changing the name to Unlimited Success Services LLC. Sarah continues to be a recognized leader and sought-after coach, mentor, trainer, and speaker. She is passionate about unlocking an individual’s potential by helping them to start and build a solid foundation for leadership success! Sarah also serves her church alongside her husband, Senior Pastor Calvin Smith. She and her husband have been married for over 41 years and they have two married adult children and four beautiful grandchildren. Sarah lives in the Boston area with her husband. A link to her social media handles are listed in the show notes.
Méli: Sarah, welcome to my Living Our Beliefs podcast. I'm really pleased to have you on today.
Sarah: Really thank you so much. I'm excited to be here as well.
Méli: I'd like to begin with my usual first question. What is your religious and cultural identity?
IDENTITY & BACKGROUND:
Sarah: My religious identity is I am a non-denominal faith believer.
Méli: And are there cultural racial identities?
Sarah: I identify as a Black American. You say you're non-denominational.
Méli: Were you raised as that or has there been a shift?
Sarah: There's definitely been a shift. As a child, my mother was Baptist, so I was Baptist. We migrated from the South. And we joined a Baptist Church here down at the South End. From there, in ‘74, my mother joined a church. It was Pentecostal, and from Pentecostal my husband and I got married and he grew up into Holiness. We then became the leaders of a church that that started. He decided that, you know, because of so many different denominations that are kind of putting us in a box, he said: ‘You know, the church that we're going to lead out, we're going to be identified as non-denominational’. We believe in Jesus Christ. And we believe in God and we believe in the Holy Spirit. So we now are identified as non-denominational.
Méli: Yeah, interesting. Small question about what you said about your husband that he was raised. You said something about holiness and I didn't understand that.
Sarah: It's somewhat like Pentecostal, you know, they believe in Jesus Christ and God being the Father. They believe in the, the Holy Spirit believe in the gifts of the the Spirit of God. They enable you to speak in tongues and they believe in doing a a spiritual dance and shout and clapping and rejoicing and singing. So that's the labeling of being living holy as well. So I believe it became labeled as holiness.
Méli: Well, thank you. I've never heard of that. That's really interesting. Just one more question on it. I've spoken with a few other people about Pentecostalism, so I just want to check with you. What does that mean for you?
DENOMINATIONS:
Sarah: Pentecostalism means that. I believe, and we believe in Jesus Christ. He was born, came into the world, He was crucified, He rose again and He's coming back again. And that's where we believe in the day and the Day of Pentecost, which is referenced in the book of Acts, Chapter 2. So that's where the identification of being a Pentecostal.
Méli: This is not a theology program, so I do want to preface all this with that comment, but most of what you just said. I know I – speaking as a conservative Jew – that sounds like Christianity of of any stripe, so I'm not quite sure how that is different from, say Methodist, Evangelical Episcopalian, et cetera,
Sarah: Right. And and that's the one of the key things that my husband was saying. You know, like with all of the different labels of denomination, it can be confusing because there are similarities of beliefs and doctrines. So he said: ‘Why label ourselves and why put ourselves in a category? And let's just keep it simple, keep it real’. And so that's why we we are no longer being labeled, you know, and then some people say: ‘Well, being called non-denominational, that's also a label’. So you know it can, it can get confusing. And, you know, we just say, you know what we we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we believe in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So that rather than getting caught up in the titles and the names and the denomination, we just say, you know, basically in a way that, you know, we're we're believers in Jesus Christ.
Méli: Right. Enough, and it is certainly from the outside. I would say all of those different denominations of Christianity are incredibly confusing. I I totally get that they're meaningful for the people within them. The core issue for you is, is belief in Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Sarah: Yes. And what's even more important is that we just have a relationship with him, not necessarily based on religions or titles. What's really important is that you have a personal relationship and that's what we primarily focus on and having a personal relationship with with Christ.
Méli: Yeah, fair enough. OK, moving on. Clearly, the church is a central driving community for you. Your husband is the pastor there. Besides the church community, what is your current practice?
CURRENT PRACTICE & WORK:
Sarah: Outside of the church, I am a certified coach, speaker and trainer and I work with a lot of the faith-based community leaders, individuals, lay members who are basically starting out. Their ministry or their non-profit organization or their even a business, a for profit business that primarily targets the non-profit sector. So that's that's what I do. I work closely – I started off as having a non-profit organization for like 18 years and then I shifted to a for profit business. But targeting the same audience in a different way.
Méli: So it's interesting to hear your answer, because when I think about a practice, I don't think about work as a practice. So I just want to make sure I'm understanding that that's how you see it.
Sarah: That's how I see it. And I struggled with that for a while, because being in the church, I wanted to make sure that I'm serving the community. And in serving the community in a for-profit capacity, I was just thinking like: ‘Is this really doable?’ And and yes, it's doable because I'm doing it. It's doable. I'm very excited with the work that I'm doing because there's so many people that I come across that are in need of the service that I provide.
Méli: OK, let's get into that in a minute. But first, I do want to just ask a little about this shift because that's a big decision to go from a non-profit structure to a for-profit structure. What prompted that change?
Sarah: Well, when I was starting out with the non-profit, it was something new, exciting, you know, especially for the community. I was doing a lot of training, providing workshops and having events, equipping the church and the leaders in understanding what their roles and responsibilities are in our – as leaders in the church, you know. I had a full board that was in, you know, working along with the programs that we were providing in the community. I was working with the city of Boston, the mayor, providing training workshops and in the health area. And as time went by, I saw that things started to kind of slow down in a way of the area that I was focusing in. But I was very passionate about the work that I was doing and I became like a a point person for resources. People would come to me and ask me questions. Did I know of a resource that could help them? And of course I was able to direct them to an area of resources. But then I realized that there was a time when things, you know, was getting difficult for me to maintain a board because people started getting busy doing other things and didn't have the time, and then it started dwindling down to maybe two people left on the board. And I said: ‘That's not effective because having a non-profit, there are compliance and laws and rules and regulations that you need to follow it and have a governing board to oversee the programs. So then I realized, you know what, maybe this is the time where this season of being a non-profit has ended. And sometimes it's hard to end something that you start, you know, you don't want to let it go. I fought it for like maybe five years. I didn't want to let it go because this was my baby, you know, as far as I was concerned. But then at the same time, I realized the work that I used to do, I was not doing a lot of that. And then as my husband – because now pastoring a church and I'm working along with him, so my time in working with and leading and board was less and less and I could see it, but I still didn't want to let it go. But then I finally came to a decision where I knew it was time to no longer function in that capacity. But still, I wanted to be able to help the same target audience of people that I was working with. So I decided I said: ‘OK well what if I just still did some of the same work but in in a different type of entity?’ So then that's when I started researching and looking into like, how could I do this? How could I make this shift? I joined a team of leaders. I'm not sure if you ever heard of John Maxwell, but there's a certification that he offers, and I became a certified coach, speaker and trainer. And then I started learning about that area of developing my skill sets. And that was back in in 2015. But just as I had started to do that and ready to really get into this, my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And I prayed and I said: ‘OK, Lord, what am I going to do now? How, how, how am I going to make this shift?’ And I I'm thinking, well, maybe, maybe this is not the direction I should be going, but I quickly contacted a mentor – mentors are so important to have. I called an individual and I shared with her what was going on. The best thing that she told me, which was, was so important to me, she said: ‘You know, Sarah use this time, yes, to spend with my mother to help her, to get through her treatments and everything, but also use this time to grow and to learn your new business’. And I was like, oh ha, this makes sense. So when my mother was having her treatments, you know, I'm pushing her [around] Dana-Farber here and we're going to the treatments. You know, it was nine hours a day. The Dana-Farber became my little off-site office. I bring all my equipment and I've developed myself. Right there at Dana-Farber for about a year. And then when her treatment had finished, then I realized that I know more than what I did when I started out in thinking of transitioning over. And then I realized that this can work, this shift can work. And then when I finally did like a pre-launch of the new business and I put it out there, all the people that I had been working with on the non-profit, because I had developed a working relationship with them, they were like: ‘Whatever you're doing, we're following you’. So that's how we made the shift. They came right along. They said: ‘You know, we know what you've done in the past and you've served us well and we want to continue to grow as well. So whatever you're doing’, they said, ‘write me down, sign me up, I'm ready to help as well’. So they came right along with me. So the shift was, you know, really a smooth transition, which brought me to where I am today. So I'm still helping the same audience of people, but just under a different umbrella, you know, similar work, but I don't have to have a board to work and report to and do minutes, you know, all of that this has been really exciting. And then the same work that I'm doing, I'm helping also in our church with our members, helping them to grow because we are all leaders in so many different capacities, you know, leaders in our homes, you know, leaders on our jobs, leaders in the church. So it just expands out to so many different areas. That's how it transitioned.
Méli: Wow, what a tale. You and your mother simultaneously going through a transition. Has the name remained the same? Your your business is now called Unlimited Success Services.
Sarah: No. And that was the other thing I had to do. I had to come under a new name. The original name of the non-profit was United Christian Education Resource Ministry. That's a mouthful as well. And we just use the acronym UCERM. So that was the name that was out in the community that everybody knew, that everybody called upon and knew that that name associated with the resources that I was helping to provide. So I guess I like something about those Us. You know United Christian and here we are Unlimited. I couldn't get away from the U, so I kept the U and changed over from United Christian Education Resource Ministries to Unlimited Success Services and the acronyms of that is USS, US.
Méli: You know, it's a point well taken. A name change can be a very helpful way of signifying a business structural change, a focus change, maybe a geographic or a service area change. These things matter. You know, a name is not just a random label we slap on something it it should actually describe what it is the company is doing, and it sounds like you've landed on something that describes the new mission and focus.
Sarah: Yes, I did.
Méli: So you talked about the clients remaining quite the same and people coming along but also now serving the church community. Correct?
Sarah: Correct. Yes.
JOHN MAXWELL:
Méli: So let's, let's dig into the ways in which you're supporting. You spoke of John Maxwell. I am not familiar with John Maxwell, so I I'd like to hear a little about what he is or was about. You talked about coaching, training and speaking, is that correct?
Sarah: That's correct, yes.
Méli: OK, so first, can you say a little about John Maxwell?
Sarah: Sure. He has the title of Leadership Guru. He has been writing books for a number of years, over 40 years. He's also was a pastor of a church for over 40 years or more before I became part of his team. I had purchased some of his books and we were using his books within our church, within our leadership team to helping to develop our leaders, you know, and so I was very familiar with him and when I found out and heard that he had a certification program that you could become a part of and be a team member. Because, you know, I didn't hesitate. You know, I said: ‘This makes sense. This connects with what I'm doing, where I'm going and the season that I'm in’. So when I joined in 2015, I was one of over 8,000 team members at the time. But today we have over 47,000 team members. So the team is growing leaps and bounds. It's growing because more and more people are, are are finding out and about what it is that the services that he offer and he offers services that help you to develop if you want to be a coach, if you want to be a speaker or a trainer. Or leader in your church, in your ministry or starting a business, if there's a platform that is available for whatever area. And I said: ‘This is a good fit for me, this will enhance the direction that I'm going in as well’. So that's why I joined the team and partner with him in the things that I'm doing now.
Méli: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Is his program, the certification program, is that specifically Christian and orientation?
Sarah: No, the Maxwell Leadership Certification program is not specifically Christian based, but he does have a faith-based part. That's a non-profit that's called EQUIP. But within the Maxwell leadership certification part, all of his principles are biblically-based that he teaches, that he offers. They're all biblically-based and he's just translate them so that anybody can use them and follow them and learn from them, and grow and develop yourself.
Méli: OK. I want to make sure I get this straight. You say it is not Christian in orientation, but it is biblically-based principles, yes?
Sarah: Because the majority of the material that's provided is basically helping you as an individual to grow to then be able to help others. To grow and to have moral beliefs and to be able to pursue whatever purpose or passions or dreams that you have ever had that you would like to develop, he offers two trainings twice a year. Part of the training – there's always a worship service, there's always a time that you're all are invited to come. It's not a mandatory, but he's the speaker during the worship services. And then you know the rest of the time there is training for either personal or professsional development, whatever path that you've decided to take. When we come together, it's how we continue to grow once we join the team because he wants to make sure that we are continuously growing. Continuously adding value to others, not just yourself but also to others.
Méli: Interesting. It's not just a personal or business development program, but what I'm hearing is a service orientation undergirding that work. Is is that a fair representation of the foundation?
Sarah: Yes. Yeah.
COACHING:
Méli: Interesting. I'd like to turn to a critical element of that work that you're doing, which is the coaching. I imagine that many people in the audience will know about coaching, but I'd like to start with the basics. What is the theory of coaching as you understand it?
Sarah: It's basically to help an individual reach a goal and they're stuck. The coaching that I provide is kind of unique. I help a lot of clients when they're ready to start a church or start a non-profit organization. But they are not sure what that process is or how to get started or what to do. I take them through from start to finish and setting up, whether it's a non-profit or a church, and I help them filling out the process of the paperwork that's involved, applying for their state filings, their federal filings. And helping the board members to understand what their roles and responsibilities are, what the rules are, and being a part of a board, because I, you know, worked for 18 years with the non-profit sector, so I know exactly what it is that they need to do and when they're stuck and don't know what to do. Because a lot of times you know they've heard nightmares of all the things that need to be done and then I've come along and help hold their hand helping them to get through that process. I do like a coaching mentoring session with them, helping them to eliminate that fear that they can't do it and. You know, I have a quote behind me in this “Actually, I can”. And I want them to know, yes, you can. You can do all things through Christ, which strengthens them. So I want them to pursue their passions. I want them to go after their dreams, because dreams can come true. We don't have to not pursue the things that we think about. When I started my non-profit, I used to look out the window and just like one day, I want that one day for so many people to happen to come to pass. Those are some of the things that I help them to reach that particular goal, understanding how their gifts tie into the purpose of why they're even healing. Because this is what I do. Because this is my purpose in helping others. So that. So that's where that helping others, that that connecting. It's not just about me. Yes, I have been endowed with certain gifts, but these gifts are not just for me, they're for other people as well. One of the wealthiest place on earth is the grave. So many people die with gifts still in them that they don't get to bring to life, that they don't breathe life into their dreams. I'm here for that.
Méli: Make it happen.
Sarah: Making it happen, yes.
Méli: So one of the things I'm hearing in terms of how you're supporting your clients is getting over the fear, getting unstuck and lots of practical operational things of paperwork and forming a board, and what being on a board is, is about. What other kind of common roadblocks do you see your clients facing?
Sarah: A lot of times, people, they don't feel as though they're capable of even being the leader of anything. They just exist. And so I am here to help encourage them and help motivate them and help to inspire them to let them know that they can do this. Help encourage them. Be be their biggest cheerleader and letting them know their self-worth that no matter what your background or no matter what your academic level is, that you can get this done. You can be a leader wherever you are. Like I said, whether it's in a leader in your home, a leader in your child's school, showing up for that. You know, sometimes people are reluctant to speak up when they should. I try to, you know, help people to come out of their shell. Believe it or not, it's probably hard to believe, but but you know, I was shy until I came across my passion, it just like gives you life. I'm here to help them lead them to get to that purpose and then to fulfill that purpose because I know that there's potential for everybody. You know, I I know it's I know it's in there. It's just got you got to just tap into it and and help them to understand and realize that they're capable of doing great things, achieving exceptional results. And it doesn't take a whole lot of degrees. There's programs that can help you to get to where you want to go, then be able to help somebody else. It doesn't stop with helping one person. I want to help people to continue this process, keep helping the next person, the next generation, and for those in the future to come as well. So that's what I'm doing.
LEADERSHIP:
Méli: When you think about leadership. What are the qualities of a good leader for you?
Sarah: For me, I would say in being an a good and effective leader is definitely being able to be a team player. Being able to listen, not always talking, but listening is definitely a good skill in being a leader. And being able to empower someone else is so important. And connecting with people that's another area that I I try to focus help leaders to focus and and how to connect with people because we all communicate but very few of us actually connect.
Méli: It's interesting this this list you've laid out: Be a team player, listen, empower others and connect with people. I heard a talk years ago from a a leader and he described himself as a servant leader and that sounds like what you're talking about.
Sarah: Yeah, if you put it in one word, yeah, that's basically what it is. And and that's where I say, you know, serving, helping others. It's not focusing on me, myself. I constantly have others in mind thinking about how can I help somebody else? I buy things because I'm thinking of somebody else. Somebody else might need this, or I'll hold on to something. Somebody else could use this. One day somebody's going to need this and I'm going to have it. I'm going to be able to help provide that resource to them, for them. Yeah, in a nutshell, it's just a servant serving others serving one another.
Méli: I see the the Jesus Christ leadership in that. I mean even as a non-Christian I I can see that as as a model. But the thing that I that I don't hear that I think – now you know I'm somebody who's been in business a long time. I have an MBA. I’ve started companies. I've been in management. So that's part of the background with which I hear you, Sarah. What I don't hear you talking about is vision and setting the road map, setting the big targets, which I always think of as a core element of leadership. I just wanted to check with you about that.
Sarah: When I speak about the passion. That connects with the vision of where they going, where what they want to do, because that gives the drive of the why, why you're doing what you're doing and where you're going with what you're doing, and that's what makes it unlimited success.
Méli: Hence the name.
Sarah: Yes, that all ties in. That vision is there with your passion because you – that dream that you have, that's your vision. One day, that's your vision. I've always dreamed of helping people.
Méli: You've mentioned one day several times now, but what I'm also hearing, Sarah, is your desire to help bring people's one day to today.
Sarah: Yes. Realizing a dream. That's it. Yes.
COVID & INSPIRATION:
Méli: How did COVID affect your work?
Sarah: Well. In the beginning I thought it was gonna end my work, but after everything, I realized that it was one of the best things that happened because it it made me sit still and look at where I was at and where I was going and how I was going to get there. And it forced me to do things that I never thought I could ever do. It was a challenge for me, which really helped to grow me and to grow my business. It forced me to do things that I normally would not have done. I've learned how to, you know, use technology much better now, and I have a broader reach of clients that I would not have probably had if COVID hadn't happened, so it turned out in my favor.
Méli: That's really lovely to hear. OK, as a closing question, I'm interested to know a little more about what inspires you, specifically, because this is a podcast on religion and the role of faith in daily life, I'm wondering if there is a particular holiday biblical figure or biblical passage that is particularly meaningful to you.
Sarah: The one thing that really inspires me the most is understanding that each person is gifted. We all have specific gifts and abilities and skill sets, and I believe that with the gifts and skill sets that we have, That they can be most definitely used within the church. All of the things that I've learned outside of the church that will help develop the inside of the church, I bring them in and then share them and make sure that other people know that these are things that that will help grow them as well, grow the church. And to me it's so important that we understand that we all have an area of strength that we can help one another.
Méli: Yeah, interesting that you've just spoken of skills and abilities being brought into the church to help the church, and this is a different focus than what I'd understood from before.
Sarah: A lot of the things that I teach and train and share are the skill sets that help people to grow and develop within the church and they can also use those same things outside of the church as well.
Méli: Is there a particular direction for you – bringing people, people’s skills into the church versus church skills going into a secular setting? Or does it actually move both directions for you?
Sarah: For example, when I worked in the secular world I was in Executive Assistant. So administrative skill sets are used anywhere, and those same types of skill sets are needed in the church, but people sometimes have a tendency to think that what they do on the outside cannot be used within the church. And I try to help people understand, yes, those skill sets work outside and they're also needed within the church, especially, you know, because there's an administrative part of the church. There's a business aspect of every church, no matter what denomination, there is a business asset that has to be also taken care of. So those types of things is what I'm referring to.
CLOSING:
Méli: Fair enough. Yeah, absolutely true. OK. Well, Sarah, this has been such a lovely conversation. We've covered a lot of ground, but I so appreciate you coming on my Living Our Beliefs podcast and I wish you much success with your Unlimited Success Services.
Sarah: Well, thank you very much Méli. It was pleasure to be here.
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Méli: Thank you for listening. If you’d like to get notified when new episodes are released, hit the SUBSCRIBE button. Questions and comments are welcome and can be directly sent to info@talkingwithgodproject.org. A link is in the show notes. Transcripts are available a few weeks after airing. This podcast is an outgrowth of my Talking with God Project. For more information about that research, including workshop and presentation options, go to my website – www.talkingwithgodproject.org. Thank you so much. Till next time. Bye bye.
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