Four commitments that healthy church staffs keep with one another

Working on a church staff can be a challenge. There is always more to do than it seems there is time. Working with volunteers can be challenging and congregants can be critical and sometimes difficult. We can be overwhelmed with ministry demands that can sap our own spiritual engagement. Work for Jesus can replace our own love for Jesus. Our busyness can take our eyes away from our mission. Activity can become confused with outcomes and ministry teams can become siloed from one another causing conflict and lack of alignment.

All of this requires intentional focus on four commitments that healthy church staffs keep with one another - if they are going to overcome the "dark side" of ministry. These four commitments or promises can ensure health and engagement on staff teams. These commitments work best when the entire staff is committed to them.

Commitment One: We keep Jesus central.
It is easy to forget in the press of ministry "stuff" that the church is all about Jesus. Our lives are all about Jesus as well. As the church grows it is easy to allow professionalism and programs to become our focus rather than Jesus Himself.

How do we keep Jesus central? Staffs that make prayer central rather than the obligatory meeting opener (after all we are a church) are reminded constantly that our success has everything to do with our own dependency on Christ. Praying together, worshiping together and sharing with one another what God is doing in our own lives creates an environment where we intentionally place Christ in the center of our lives and our work. 

No staff can lead a congregation closer to Christ if they are not also walking the same path. Much staff burnout can be attributed to hard work without the requisite discipline of keeping Jesus central in our own lives and in everything we do. 

Commitment two: We keep our missional focus central
There are few thing more powerful than ministry teams that keep the mission of the organization central. There are many things that can take us off focus from our main mission (however you define that). Initiatives, no matter how good they are that are not directly connected to our mission dilutes our overall effectiveness. To many ministries do many good things that do not directly contribute to the mission of the organization. 

Asking the question constantly, "Is this mission critical?" can help us sift the chaff from the wheat. In fact, if a program cannot specifically show how it directly contributes to the mission of the organization it should not be pursued. This is where the good can take the place of the best. When all teams focus on a common mission, there is alignment and synergy. When they don't, they are simply disparate groups doing disparate things.

Commitment three: We keep relationships healthy
Healthy relationships make for healthy teamwork, cooperation, good dialogue, better ideas and greater results. When we allow unhealthy relationships to fester it destroys all of these outcomes. We know when staff relationships are healthy or unhealthy. We also often avoid dealing with unhealthy relationships because it requires humility and sometimes hard conversations. 

Don't allow unhealthy relationships to torpedo the work you are doing. Develop a staff wide commitment that when there is an issue between individuals or teams that you will resolve it quickly in a healthy manner. All staff members are responsible for healthy relationships. 

Commitment four: We are always trying new things
Here is a truth. What got you to here, got you to here, but it won't get you to there. The lifeblood of energy and engagement is that of trying new things to get better results. Healthy staffs are always encouraging innovation and new ideas. The words "But we've always done it this way" are not words that healthy teams use. In fact, if we've always done it a certain way, that might be an indication it is time to look for a new way.

Innovation matters in any organization. Healthy staffs celebrate it, encourage it and expect it.

Are these commitments that your team lives by?

Creating an ethos of "One Team" on your church staff

Because staff culture matters a whole lot in any organization, the best leaders create a healthy culture that permeates their whole staff. If you don't create a culture you simply get a default culture which often has dysfunction and toxicity within it. Good leadership not only describes the culture but they constantly talk about it and hold staff accountable to live it out.

Here is an example of a church's stated culture for their staff. Think about how the following pieces of culture add up to a healthy set of practices and therefore a healthy culture.

Consider also how this can create "one team" on your staff!

One Team

It’s all about Jesus

Jesus is the center and all ministries point to Him

Robust dialogue

Any issue can be put on the table except for personal attacks and hidden agendas

Progress requires risk

We boldly risk to accomplish the mission

We practice autopsy without blame

When things go wrong, we determine why without placing blame

We empower and release

Our job is to release others into ministry

Dialogue trumps telling

Before we tell we engage in dialogue

Ego is the enemy

Humility reflects Jesus while ego doesn’t

Volunteers are staff

We treat volunteers as staff

Relationships matter

We choose relationships over expediency

Staff and board relationships in the local church: What is healthy and what is unhealthy?

In the local church, staff board relationships are a critical factor in either health or dishealth. I am not speaking of the senior pastor (or in a large church the Executive pastor) here who is normally both a member of the board and the leader of staff. I am speaking of other staff and how they relate or do not relate to board members. Let me run through some scenarios that fit in the healthy and dishealthy columns as they are often played out in the church.

Unhealthy: There is to be no conversation between board members and staff except through the senior pastor or Executive Pastor. This effectively says that staff are not allowed to speak to board members or board to staff. This is often mandated in the name of policy governance. While it is true that in policy governance the board manages staff through one employee - the senior leader- and the board cannot manage staff other than the senior leader, eliminating conversation between boards and staff is not healthy. 

Consider this fact. By eliminating conversation between board members and staff, a dysfunctional or controlling leader can hide the fact that there is toxicity on staff. I have seen it many times and the board who is actually responsible for the health of the church is the last to know. The rule in the name of policy governance can be used as a foil to keep staff issues from reaching elected leaders. Yet the health of staff must be one of the highest priorities of leaders. 

Healthy: Board and staff are allowed to interact but it is understood that the board does not manage staff other than its senior leader. Healthy senior leaders don't mind board staff interaction as long as the board does not overstep its authority. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the board has a responsibility to monitor the health of the staff ethos and not simply to rely on what they are told by the senior leader. As Reagan famously said, "trust but verify." 

Unhealthy: Staff go around their supervisor to the board to achieve their ends. This violates the chain of authority which is through the senior leader and boards that allow it to happen are foolish and have moved into the area of management as well as disempowering the senior leader. Any form of triangulation that goes around our supervisor to achieve our ends is unhealthy. 

Healthy: There must be a place where staff can go in the event that there is dishealth either in their relationship with their supervisor on staff in general. Senior leaders can bully their staff and dysfunctional ones often do to "keep quiet" about dishealth and significant problems on staff. In one church conflict I worked with there was a string of at least ten staff who had been unfairly treated and the board had never talked to any of them (they had a gag order). Essentially we are talking about a grievance policy where staff can go when they face serious issues. Not to have such a policy and procedure is to hurt staff and open the church up to legal liabilities.

Unhealthy: Preventing staff from communicating outside of the staff  structure if needed to resolve an issue - per a grievance policy. While it should happen seldom, there are leaders who make it impossible for a staff member to speak about serious issues outside of their presence. They do so because of their own insecurity and control issues.

Healthy: Regular board interaction with staff. I do not believe that staff should be on the board apart from perhaps the senior leader and the Executive Pastor. At the same time there should be regular touch points that boards have with the staff (in a large church, senior staff) where candid questions can be asked, relationships developed and ministry discussed. When this does not happen, boards only know what their senior leader tells them which is not always the full picture. 

To put all of this in perspective, whenever I see rules that keep conversation between board members and staff in the local church I become wary. Why does the senior leader feel he needs to prevent such communication? In healthy organizations with healthy leaders, there is not fear of such conversation because there is nothing to hide. Usually when excessive control is exerted, there is something to hide or unhealthy control being exerted by the senior leader. At the same time boards and staff must understand what a healthy relationship is and what it is not and abide by those principles.

I often hear from staff members who work in an environment where health does not exist and they have no real recourse. I am sad for them because the very transformative ministry that the church proclaims it is about is not what they live internally. It is a problem in too many churches.

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