X Table of Contents Introduction 1.1 Gospel Centered Training 1.2 Maintaining a Clear Focus 1.3 Weekly Development Plan Discussion 1.4 Quarterly Development Plan Discussion 1.5 Master Your Role 1.6 The Cadence of Accountability 1.7 Utilizing the Blessings of the Lord's Storehouse 2.1 Accountability and Talent Improvement (ATI) 2.2 Using the Leadership Pattern as a Learning Tool 2.3 Lead Like the Savior 3.1 Disability Awareness 3.2 Substance Abuse: Causes of Addiction 3.3 Substance Abuse: Signs and Symptoms 3.4 Substance Abuse: Recovery 3.5 Managing Stress 3.6 The Hidden Rules of Two Economic Classes 4.1 Inspiring Others to Become Converted in the Doctrine of Work and Service 4.2 Using AWARE Form as a Tool for Development 4.3 Attendance and Punctuality 4.4 Accepting the Work Role 4.5 Preparing for and Responding to Change 4.6 Managing My Work and Work Needs 4.7 Accepting Supervision 4.8 Coaching Associates on How to Work with Their Coworkers 4.9 Increasing Productivity 4.10 How to Use the Life Skills Library 4.11 History, Foundations, and the Spirit of Motivational Interviewing 4.12 The Stages of Change in Motivational Interviewing 4.13 Reflective Listening 4.14 Open-Ended Questions, Affirmations and Summaries 4.15 Change Talk 4.16 Ambivalence and Rolling with Resistance 4.17 The ABCs of Behavior 4.18 Using Positive Reinforcement to Achieve Behavioral Change 4.19 Introduction to Behavior Modification 4.20 Behavior Modification: Correcting Poor Behavior 4.21 Behavior Modification: Prompting Good Behavior 4.22 How to Use Positive Attitude to Facilitate Change 4.23 Conflict Management 4.24 Decision-Making Skills 4.25 Problem-Solving Skills 4.26 Improving Performance 5.1 Incorporating Assessment Results in the Development Plan 5.2 Ethics 5.3 Maintaining Confidentiality 5.4 Writing Effective Case Notes 5.5 Business Partnerships 6.1 Honoring Agency While Influencing Behavior 6.2 Teaching Self-Reliance
Lesson 6.2

Teaching Self-Reliance

Lesson Preparation

Before coming to your coaching training, please do the following:

  • Read President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk, “Providing in the Lords Way” (Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2011, 53–56). As you read, consider the following questions: Which examples stood out to you? What is President Uchtdorf asking Church members to do? How can you apply these teachings in your daily work for the welfare department?
  • Browse through a self-reliance resource that is unfamiliar to you, such as providentliving.lds.org. Come prepared to the meeting to share what you learn about this resource.
 

Lesson Preview

This lesson will help you gain a deeper understanding of welfare and self-reliance and will equip you with the resources to help associates progress toward self-reliance. In this lesson you will (1) explain self-reliance; (2) explore welfare and self-reliance resources; and (3) acquire the tools to help associates set goals and develop self-reliance. The work you do in this lesson will prepare you to apply and teach correct principles, as well as help associates become self-reliant.

Explaining Self-Reliance

From the following list, choose and complete one or more activities that best apply to your situation.

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Activity 1

Read the following definition of self-reliance:

“Self-reliance is the ability, commitment, and effort to provide the spiritual and temporal necessities of life for self and family. As members become self-reliant, they are also better able to serve and care for others.

“Church members are responsible for their own spiritual and temporal well-being. Blessed with the gift of agency, they have the privilege and duty to set their own course, solve their own problems, and strive to become self-reliant. Members do this under the inspiration of the Lord and with the labor of their own hands” (Handbook 2: Administering the Church [2010], 6.1.1).

As a group, discuss the following questions:

  • Why are “ability, commitment, and effort” important in self-reliance?
  • Consider President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk “Providing in the Lord’s Way,” which was included in this lesson’s preparation materials. What examples of self-reliance does President Uchtdorf give that demonstrate “ability, commitment, and effort”?
  • Who is responsible for your temporal and spiritual well-being? How does President Uchtdorf illustrate this principle?
  • What are the benefits of becoming self-reliant? (Discuss at least five.)
  • Do you think it is easy to become self-reliant? Is the process fast or slow? Explain.
  • Why is it important that you understand self-reliance?
  • How can you help associates learn to become self-reliant?

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Activity 2

Divide in groups of three to five people. In your groups, discuss the following:

  • Consider President Uchtdorf’s talk, “Providing in the Lord’s Way,” included in this lesson’s preparation materials. What does President Uchtdorf teach about self-reliance? Share sections of the talk that made an impression on you.

Consider the following painting (“Woman with Food Storage,” by Judith A. Mehr) while you read this statement from Sister Julie B. Beck, former Relief Society general president.

“This painting, which hangs in my office, shows a woman in a storage room. What we learn from this painting is not so much a lesson about storage rooms and home canning. Look at the woman. She stands alone, and we do not know if she is married or single. She is wearing an apron, which implies that she has been working. Work is a foundational principle of self-reliance. We can assume that all the resources around her are the result of her own efforts. She has made some personal preparations. Look at her face. She seems a little weary but very peaceful. Her eyes show the contentment in her soul. She has the look of a self-reliant woman” (Basic Principles of Welfare and Self-Reliance [2009], 4–6).

In your group, discuss the following questions:

  • What similar principles do Sister Beck and President Uchtdorf teach about self-reliance? Discuss three to five ways their teachings are similar.

Take a minute to ponder the following questions individually:

  • What is self-reliance?
  • What insights have you gained about self-reliance today?
  • How would you define self-reliance in one or two sentences?
  • How will you explain self-reliance to associates?

In less than a minute share what you pondered with your group members.

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Activity 3

Divide in pairs and summarize President Uchtdorf’s talk. Consider the following questions:

  • What are some of the key points of this talk?
  • What struck you the most from this talk?
  • What did you learn about self-reliance from this talk?

Refer to the definition of self-reliance provided in Activity 1 under “Explaining Self-Reliance.”

Then read the following excerpt from For the Strength of the Youth:

“Self-reliance does not mean that you must be able to do all things on your own. To be truly self-reliant, you must learn how to work with others and turn to the Lord for His help and strength” ([booklet, 2011], 41)

Consider President Uchtdorf’s talk and these definitions of self-reliance as you discuss the following questions in pairs:

  • What examples of self-reliance do you find in scriptures or in the lives of modern prophets? Share your example and explain why he or she is a good example of self-reliance. How did this person solve his or her problems? How did this person turn to the Lord for His help and strength? What were the positive effects of this person’s self-reliance? You could read a few verses from the scriptures to illustrate your point.

After each person has shared an example, discuss the following:

  • What insights have you gained about self-reliance?
  • What are some of the principles that constitute self-reliance?
  • What are some of the benefits from becoming self-reliant?
  • What can you do to help associates develop a deeper appreciation for self-reliance and inspire them to live that way?

Exploring Resources for Welfare and Self-Reliance

From the following list, choose and complete one or more activities that best apply to your situation.

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Activity 1

Note: You will need the internet and a projector for this lesson.

Read the following statement:

“God has given us many tools to better understand His comprehensive instructions for our happiness in life. . . . He has given myriad tools of modern technology to help us in our walk of discipleship. Many of these marvelous instruments can be found at LDS.org.

“Why has our Heavenly Father given us so much help? Because He loves us. . . . In other words, Heavenly Father is our God, and God is a mentor to us” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Our Father, Our Mentor,” Ensign, June 2016, 4–5).

Go on guided tour of LDS.org. As the facilitator displays different pages of LDS.org on the projector, imagine that you are taking a tour and that the facilitator is your tour guide who can answer any questions. Be as creative as possible on how you approach the guided tour and invite other learners to answer the questions that come up.

The facilitator should spent time at the following sites:

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Activity 2

The Welfare Department provides great resources that can help you coach associates to become more self-reliant. Lee Hardy, the director of Deseret Employment, made the following call to action last year:

“Self-Reliance Services (SRS) has produced My Foundation: Principles, Skills, Habits as a tool to help individuals and families better understand how to become spiritually and temporally self-reliant. Found on Gospel Library under the Self-Reliance tab, this material can be easily accessed and studied.

“For the next several months, I am asking that each staff meeting and council meeting begin with a reference to this material. Take time to read and watch videos together that will enhance your understanding of the aspects of self-reliance we hope to reinforce with our associates and within our own families.

“Over the next few months, SRS will begin to roll out the self-reliance initiative to many more stakes in the U.S. and Canada. We need to be prepared to begin reinforcing this material with our associates, who will undoubtedly be participants in this initiative. As we do so, we will be offering a wonderful composite of the best Deseret Employment and Self-Reliance Services have to offer in helping individuals ‘foster greater hope and self-reliance’” (Deseret Employment Update [Aug. 2016]).

As a group, browse through the My Foundation booklet. Individually read through at least a page of one of the lessons and think about the principle explained. Then, as a group, discuss the following questions:

  • What are some of the topics covered in My Foundation?
  • What did you like about what you read?
  • How can this material be helpful when working with associates?

One job coach trainer’s planned to implement My Foundation teachings with his associates by focusing on three principles, skills, or habits during a three-week period. He used these materials in the weekly development plans by showing related videos and then discussing them. These discussions were usually fewer than five minutes long. Here are some of the things he focused on:

  • Faith (to encourage associates to act on the development plan)
  • Use Time Wisely (to discuss associates’ progress on goals on their development plan each day and each week)
  • Obedience (to discuss the power of the DI program and the blessings of obeying the AWARE standards of attendance, productivity, and so forth)

As a group, discuss the following:

  • How can you take advantage of and appropriately share the material in My Foundation with associates?

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Activity 3

“Brethren, study the revealed principles and doctrines first. Read the handbooks regarding Church welfare; take advantage of the Internet website providentliving.org; reread the June 2011 Ensign article on the Church welfare plan. Find out about the Lord’s way of providing for His Saints. Learn how the principles of care for the needy, service to neighbor, and self-reliance complement each other. . . .

"Once you studied the doctrines and principles of the Churchwide welfare plan, seek to apply what you have learned to the needs of those within your stewardship” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Providing in the Lord’s Way,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2011, 55).

Individually, take four or five minutes to further your knowledge of what the Lord has already revealed about welfare and self-reliance. Choose to study one of the following resources. As you do study these resources, consider associates who are struggling to become self-reliant. Then answer the following questions:

  • What are the doctrine and principles of welfare and self-reliance?
  • What are some obstacles to my associate’s path to self-reliance?
  • What self-reliance principle(s) can I apply to help this associate diminish or eliminate this obstacle in his or her life?
  • How can I apply this principle (or these principles)?

Resources:

Form groups of three and discuss the following questions:

  • What did you learn or review about welfare and self-reliance from these resources?
  • What insights did you get about how to assist an associate to become self-reliant?
  • How can continual study these resources help you to assist associates to become self-reliant?

Help Associates Set Goals to Develop Self-Reliance

From the following list, choose and complete one or more activities that best apply to your situation.

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Activity 1

Complete the first page of the self-reliance exercise found in the “Lesson Resources,” resource 1. Write the answers in your journal. Then fill out the second page for one of the goals you have set.

After completing the exercise, divide into groups of two to five people. Discuss with your group members the following questions:

  • What insights did you gain from completing the self-reliance exercise?
  • Why might it be valuable to do this exercise with associates? Explain.
  • What would you change when using this exercise with your associates? Explain why.

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Activity 2

Individually complete the questionnaire found in the following article (“On the Path to Greater Self-Reliance,” Ensign or Liahona, Aug. 2016, 79). Then answer the following questions in your study journal:

  • How is this questionnaire a good starting point for assessing someone’s self-reliance? Explain.
  • What would you change about this questionnaire to make it a better assessment of someone’s self-reliance?
  • How does this questionnaire complement the AWARE form and vice versa?
  • How can you use this questionnaire to help associates develop self-reliance? Identify three to six situations where you could effectively use this questionnaire with associates.

Ponder and Plan

“What Lack I Yet?”

Seek to identify a personal or business gap or need.

Spend a few minutes silently pondering what you've discussed during this lesson. Listen as the Holy Ghost helps you identify areas where you can improve. Record your impressions in your journal under the question “What Lack I Yet?”

“What Must I Do?”

Seek ways to close the gap or develop the required talent(s) to meet the need.

With the guidance of the Spirit, create your plan of how you will improve and close the gap(s) you have identified. You may use one or more of the exercises below, your own strategy, or a combination of both. Record this plan in your journal under “What Must I Do?”

  1. 1 Share with five people throughout the week what you have learned in this lesson about welfare and self-reliance.
  2. 2 Set a goal to explore and become familiar with welfare and self-reliance principles, doctrine, and resources. Keep a record of what you learn.
  3. 3 Create a plan to teach an associate about self-reliance and to help him or her set one to three goals to develop self-reliance.

After a few minutes, those who are comfortable doing so can share their impressions with the group.

“Therefore What?”

Seek understanding, and then share what you learned.

During the week, focus on implementing the plan you created. Record your impressions or lessons learned in your journal under “Therefore What?” You will be given time at the beginning of next week's lesson to share your experience with the group.

“Once you have studied the doctrines and principles of the Churchwide welfare plan, seek to apply what you have learned to the needs of those within your stewardship. What this means is that, in large measure, you’re going to have to figure it out for yourself. . . . There is no one-size-fits-all answer in Church welfare. It is a self-help program where individuals are responsible for personal self-reliance.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Providing in the Lord’s Way,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2011, 55.

Lesson Resources

Resource 1

Self-Reliance Exercise

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