Clarity is Job One in any governance system

 

Ask any board or staff member in a church or non-profit and you will get the same answer to this question: What is the number one frustration you face in your leadership role. The answers will often be these:

• We don't have clarity on who is responsible for what
• We experience frustration or conflict regarding roles and responsibilities
• We often feel disempowered by those who think they have the responsibility to make decisions we think we should be able to make
• We don't feel empowered in our role
• If only the board (or staff) would stay out of our way
• Because no one is clearly responsible we don't know who to hold responsible
• Lack of clarity is causing confusion at best and conflict at worst

All of these have one thing in common. That commonality is clarity. Clarity in roles, responsibilities, intended results and the freedom to act within boundaries without the permission of others.

I am currently working with a congregation that is in a process to clarity their governance structure. They interviewed a number of other congregations about their process of governance and the one thing that consistently came back to them was this. Have maximum clarity around roles, responsibilities and outcomes. Without clarity there is no accountability. Without clarity people are not empowered to act. Without clarity there is at best confusion and at worst, conflict.

Every governance system must define the roles and responsibilities of four parties: The congregation, the senior board, the staff and ministry teams. The clearer you are, the more empowerment there is and the more accountability there will be. The foggier you are the less empowerment you will have and there will be little to no accountability.

My observation is that many governance systems are designed deliberately to create fog rather than clarity because with clarity people can act in their sphere of influence. In such churches, you will notice that they hit a ceiling and never exceed that ceiling because clarity of roles and responsibilities is critical to growth. In their lack of clarity they unwittingly limit their growth and effectiveness.  Lack of clarity has a built in ceiling to growth and effectiveness. 

Without clarity you cannot have alignment. Without alignment you cannot move in the same direction. And, without clarity and alignment, you cannot achieve results that are consistent with your clarity. Something to think about.

If you want more help in getting to clarity, my books High Impact Church Boards and Leading From the Sandbox can point you in the right direction. Remember, clarity is always Job One.

Five staff behaviors that will hurt your organization

 

There are certain behaviors that I don't want on my team or in the organization I help lead. In fact, I don't think these behaviors belong in any organization that has a commitment to health. However, many leaders think that they simply have to put up with these behaviors. You don't! And, in my view you shouldn't. 

These behaviors have nothing to do with professional competence. They do have to do with Emotional Intelligence and the culture of the organization. The health of the organizational culture, however, is not only key to the success of the organization but to the happiness of one's staff. This is why I am so sensitive to these behaviors and will do everything I can to root them out.

People who forge unhealthy alliances with other staff

When I hear negative comments around common themes from different staff I usually pay attention because they often emanate from a single source who has forged alliances with others and shared their negativity. I call these the "voice behind the voices" and their influence through these alliances can turn otherwise happy staff into staff who develop a chip on their shoulders around some issue. This is a cancer to the organizational health.

Those who don't buy into the mission of the organization

Mission and vision is everything. If staff don't buy into them, they are actually working at cross purposes with everything you are trying to accomplish. Those who are not going with you are an anchor creating a drag on your progress. Even if they are competent, they are not contributing to your forward progress.

Those who love to throw water on ideas or conversation

These are the folks who have the ability to shut down discussion. They may be cynics, they may not like the ideas of others. Why they do what they do is not the issue. That they do is the issue. These can be supervisors or staff but they keep others from engaging. Anyone who has the ability to shut down discussion with words or attitudes squashes creativity, engagement and motivation.

Professional critics

There are individuals who see their contribution to the human condition as that of pointing out what is wrong and what should change. What they don't often do is to offer solutions. And often, their criticism is subtly directed at certain individuals - often leaders. While there are many issues that need to be tackled, the end result of the contribution of professional critics is to create a negative culture, rather than a positive culture that seeks to solve problems. While these individuals often think they are doing an organization a service, they are actually doing a disservice.

Personal agendas

Individuals with personal agendas are toxic because the motivations behind their behaviors are hidden rather than public. Personal agendas may be around organizational direction, is often around power and influence or it may be something else. The salient point is that their intentions are hidden and therefore one is not able to address it as an issue. This creates confusion at best and conflict at worst. There is an agenda behind the curtain that is hidden.

None of these behaviors will motivate your staff or contribute to forward momentum to your mission. On the contrary, they will be a drag on the organization and will rob you of cultural health.

How does one deal with unhealthy individuals who fit these or other unhealthy categories?

 

First, it is critical to have a defined culture as your preferred or stated culture should rule out unhealthy behaviors and give you an objective standard to call people to live up to. A good description of your preferred culture should rule out behaviors that are problematic.

Second, it is important to be clear with your staff both on your preferred culture and those behaviors that are not OK within your organization and why. Culture is something that must be created. We ignore it at our own peril and it should be a constant discussion.

Third, training in EQ (Emotional Intelligence) can be very helpful. Each of the dysfunctional behaviors here are also EQ issues. The better the combined EQ of the staff the fewer problematic behaviors will be present.

Fourth, when you have staff members who are repeat offenders of one or more of the behaviors above, you have to have direct, candid and clear discussions to help them understand that their behaviors are not acceptable. 

Fifth, where coaching is not working, it is often time to move an individual off your team or your organization. 

Remember. When it comes to your culture, you get what you create or allow.

Pray for the country of Myanmar and the Christian church in the aftermath of the Military coup - Christianity Today

 

After Military Coup, It’s ‘Time to Shout’ for Myanmar Evangelicals -Christianity Today

Don't miss these three significant lessons that Covid taught the church

 

Nothing happens in this world

 that does not first pass by the hand of God

 and which He does not use to build His church!

There are three lessons that Covid taught the church that should not be missed. In fact, if your church misses these three lessons you will be poorer for it and may see your ministry decline. If you are waiting for things to come back to normal and assume that this normal is what was, I suspect you will be deeply disappointed. The new normal will not look like the past normal. 

Covid has brought home lessons and has accelerated change. We need to learn the lessons it has taught us. If we learn these lessons we will see greater ministry impact. If not, not.

The first lesson is that the church is not our campus or our building but God's people. Don't miss that. For years in the west, we have taught our people that church is the building and the campus, and we built some great facilities. There is nothing wrong with these facilities. What is wrong is the concept that the church is the facility. Having not been able to be in that facility for almost a year, we have had to find new ways of doing ministry. God has taught us that the facility is not the church, but that God's people are the church.

In fact, this definition of the church, which is the New Testament definition, is the church distributed throughout the community, which is how God designed the church. In this season we have told our people to be the church where they live and work. That is different than the concept that to be the church you need to be at the physical church location. 

This cannot change! Jesus gave us the opportunity to learn this lesson and our people should not be allowed to unlearn it. The church is not the building. The church is God's people. This is one of the most fundamental realignments of the church that Covid has brought us. It is a gift and needs to be reinforced. 

The corollary to this, and the second lesson, is that ministry is not the purview of church staff but of all of God's people. This is after all the theology of the New Testament. but in the west we often hire staff to do ministry rather than releasing everyone in ministry. In this season, we have had to encourage everyone to be the church in their place of work and in their neighborhood. 

Again, this is a lesson that we must capitalize on. The reason the church has so little influence in society is that God's people have not seen themselves as the ultimate owners of ministry (that is what paid staff do). In many cases, post Covid, church staffs will be smaller and that is perhaps a good thing as it forces ministry back to those who were to originally carry it out - all of God's people.

A third lesson is that in this season we have had to find innovative and new ways to do ministry, engage people and share the Good News. This cannot change moving forward. Covid has sped up changes that were already happening and our ministry environment is very different than it was previously. Traditional paradigms will not reach many of the younger generations so we must innovate if we are going to engage them with the gospel. Those who resist innovation and change and new ways of engaging people with the gospel will see their Gospel influence decline.

In some respects, Covid was a gift to the church. Don't waste the gift.

15 things a church board should not do

 

In my years of working with church boards and teaching best practices, I have discovered a number of things that boards should not do. If you lead or serve on a church board, ask yourself if you are doing any of the following.

Church boards should not:

Manage staff beyond the senior leader. All staff should report to the senior leader, and the board's responsibility is the senior leader only

Require unanimity on decisions. This allows any board member to hold the board hostage.

Avoid conflict of ideas. Conflict of ideas is a good thing, and it helps the board get to the best decisions.

Manage the present at the expense of the future. There must be a significant future component to board meetings. Leadership is more about where you are going than managing the status quo

Ignore the spiritual. Boards can easily get trapped in the business of the church rather than the spiritual work the church has been called to do. Remember the words of Jesus. "Without me, you can do nothing." Don't ignore Him.

Fail to have a board covenant. Board covenants lay out the ground rules for how the board will operate, make decisions, work with one another, and a way to hold one another accountable. Operate without a board covenant at your own risk.

Fail to use an agenda. Meeting without a plan wastes a great deal of time. Have an agenda and keep your time parameters.

Fail to guard the gate to board service. Your board is only as good as the people you choose to put on it. Don't be careless about who you let into the boardroom.

Cave to loud voices. Boards can be easily dissuaded by loud voices in the congregation. Rather than respond in fear and back off, the responsibility of a board is to move the congregation forward regardless of a few loud voices.

Fail to police board members who don't operate by your board covenant. A board that cannot police itself becomes ineffective, and that impacts the whole church.

Lack transparency in their communications. Whatever you say to the congregation must be true, not spin. Being honest and upfront builds credibility.

Allow a person of influence on the board or in the church to hold informal veto power over board decisions. Yes, it happens. Don't let it happen in your church.

Fail to have a common job description for all board members that spells out their roles. If you don't have a job description, each member will make their own, which leads to confusion.

Make the same decision multiple times. Make decisions and move on. Don't make partial decisions and need to come back to the same issue again.

Neglect personal relationships or fail to build a strong, unified team. God calls the congregation to unity, and it starts with the board. Neglect it there, and it will not be found in the congregation.

Ways that church board members view their role impacts board effectiveness

 

How individual board members see their role as a church leader directly impacts the ethos of your board and the effectiveness of its work. Often, however, we have not defined the role of the board and board members with clarity, so these individual beliefs about one's role create hidden but real barriers to effective board work. 

Having worked with thousands of church leaders, here are some of the common but faulty beliefs about why one serves in church leadership. Each of these views will impact decisions that a board member is willing to make.

• I am here to represent the desires of the congregation - similar to how an elected official serves their constituency.  
• I am here to guard the status quo and ensure that we don't upset the status quo. In general, what we have done in the past has worked well.
• I am here to represent my faction or group in the church and guard their interests.
• I am here to steer the church in a better direction and I have strong convictions about what the church should be doing and how it should do it.
• As a church leader, I have the authority to bring any issue to the table for board discussion.
• I want to ensure that the pastor stays in line and that ministry goes smoothly.
• I am here to ensure that the staff does their job.
• I am here because it is my turn to serve in church leadership.
• I am not sure why I am here except that the nominating committee asked me to be.
• I am here as part of a team of under shepherds of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the church to ensure that the spiritual temperature of the church is kept high, that the congregation is taught well, empowered and released, protected, cared for and led in healthy directions. I work with the board and Senior Pastor to ensure that our staff are empowered, encouraged and that our congregation is empowered and released in meaningful ministry and that we are moving toward our agreed upon ministry goals.

Only one of these views on why we serve in church leadership is valid - it is the last one. But all too often, this is not the common understanding of what it means to be a church board member because we don't have job descriptions that are biblical or understood by all on the board. In other words, there is not clarity on the job description and parameters of church leadership. All but the last statement are deeply flawed but common descriptors of how church leaders see their role.

The various reasons that board members give to why they serve in leadership are also the reason that so many boards experience conflict, gridlock and difficult decision making. If we have not stacked hands on why we are there and if it does not reflect the Biblical teaching for senior leaders, we will not be unified, effective or missional. It is that simple.

How does a board get on the same page?

Agree on a simple but Biblical job description for leaders including the Biblical job description (keeping the spiritual temperature high, ensuring that the congregation is taught, protected, cared for, empowered and released and led well.

Be clear on lines of authority as to what is a board responsibility and what is staff responsibility. One of the problems in many boards is the confusion of authority and responsibilities between these two entities. Clarity prevents a great deal of confusion.

Be sure that board members understand that they represent the whole church and not a section or constituency in the church. Board members are always there for the whole. Never a part.

Be sure you have a team covenant that lays out how your board will make decisions and how it will work together. Agree that you will hold members accountable to that covenant. If you don't, you will have confusion, gridlock or conflict. 

You must have an agreed upon document that spells out the qualifications for board members. If the wrong people get on the board, you will have trouble leading. 

My book, "High Impact Church Boards" can help you on these topics. What I can say is that getting on the same page together is one of the most important things you can do as a board.