Firing people is an art and not a science

Have you ever had to let someone go in ministry? How did it go? Messy? Painful? Lots of cleanup? I have had my share of situations over the past years when I had to let staff go and I have learned that no matter how hard you try to make it a win/win or at least a reasonable transition that it is still an art and not a science. If it were science it would be a lot easier but as an art, every situation is different and each one unique.

Because it is so difficult, the truth is that we often put off what we know is in the best interests of the ministry and what we know is inevitable far longer than we should. The result is that we lose ground and in many cases adversely impact other team members because we didn't have the courage to face and deal with reality.

Which raises another important consideration. When things are not working well between a staff member and the organization, chances are high that the staff member actually knows it and in some cases is also unhappy in their role. Unfortunately for each who actually knows that the fit is not right there are numerous others who are oblivious to that reality.

Which leads from science to art. Here are some of the questions I ask when the fit is not right.

• Is there another role in the organization that would fit this individual?
• Have I kindly but truthfully told this individual that there is a problem and that they are not living up to expectations? If not how do I enter into a dialogue that will help them understand what is not working?
• Is there a way I can encourage the individual to look for a new job so that they go to something rather than from something?
• When there is a mutual parting of the ways, can we agree on what is said from both parties?
• If severance is being paid to encourage someone to leave, do I have a clause that ties that severance to what the party is allowed to say about the ministry they are leaving?
• Will a termination stand the scrutiny of a lawsuit if one is brought?
• What constituencies need to be paid attention to because of the termination? Do you have a plan before you pull the trigger?
• Have I thought through the unintended consequences and tried to minimize the fallout of my decision?
• Have I sought wise counsel about my decision and process?
• Who needs to be informed and in what order?
• How long will the individual be allowed to stay in the office on once an announcement is made? (The shorter the time the better).

Character in the hard times of ministry

Displaying true Jesus character is not too hard when times are good. It is, however, on display when times are bad or hard or from our perspective unfair. For Christian leaders it is tested when we don't get our own way, when we are under attack or when we are asked to leave a ministry. None of those are easy things and each one tests what is truly inside of our hearts.

It amazes and saddens me even though I have seen it many times when Christian leaders get angry and strike back when they are asked to leave their ministry. Many years ago, I had to make a choice when I resigned a ministry under adverse conditions whether I would strike back, denigrate others or try to guard my reputation which was being put through the ringer. The best decision I made was to leave it all in the hands of God and allow Him to sort it out. I have come to a principle that one never hurts the Bride, and when we do we will be held accountable for doing so.

The same is true when we don't get our way. That can be hard and sometimes can be painful. Yet, the test is not the actual decision that is made but our reaction to it. Do we truly trust God or do we need to rely on ourselves? How does our anger when it erupts serve His purposes? When I am unwilling to reconcile with a brother, how does that serve the Kingdom of God? 

Personal attacks where our motives or reputations are sullied are perhaps one of the hardest areas to deal with. King David experienced this and he concluded that he had to leave his reputation in God's hands rather than take it into his own hands. God does have a way of sorting things out and even if it does not happen in this life, He can vindicate in the next. Our responsibility is to not do damage to His reputation when our reputation is under attack. 

In all of this there are really two issues at stake. The first is our character - Godly or ungodly, Higher nature driven or lower nature driven. But the second issue is more significant yet - the reputation of Jesus and the Father as evidenced by our behavior. Here is the bottom line: When we display poor character in the crucible of pain, we ultimately hurt His reputation. In trying to protect our reputation, in biting back in anger, in refusing the path of peace we may have the satisfaction of some measure of revenge in hurting those who we perceive have hurt us but in doing so we hurt something far more precious - the reputation of God.

What does it mean to be Word based and Spirit empowered?

Many ministries I work with would say that they are "Word based and Spirit empowered" but have not defined what that means. It was an instructive exercise for our organization to go through the process of defining what we meant. Here is our definition. As you will notice it goes far beyond simply knowing Scripture.

Word Based & Spirit Empowered

1.    Believing – We are confidently believing that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, trustworthy and without error in the original writings, and the divine and final authority for Christian faith and practice; and that the ministry of the person of God the Holy Spirit is to convict, regenerate, baptize, indwell, fill, anoint, empower, sanctify, guide, instruct, comfort and distribute spiritual gifts to the believer for godly living and service.

2.    Listening – We are growing in our confidence, awareness and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit by intentionally taking time to wait upon God and listening to Him as individuals and teams.

3.    Engaging – We are growing in our regular practice of engaging the Scriptures personally, i.e. reading, studying and meditating upon them as a source of spiritual food, guidance and communion with our Creator; and engaging the Scriptures corporately, i.e. receiving within a grace filled community of the Body of Christ, truthful, challenging & helpful teaching and preaching to understand God’s truth and apply it to our lives.

4.    Seeking – We are regularly seeking and asking for the filling and supernatural empowering of the indwelling Holy Spirit in our lives and ministries.  This empowering is expressed as the Holy Spirit sovereignly chooses to empower the gifts He's given us, orchestrate events, produce transformation, and enable us to do the “greater works than these” that Jesus said we would do.

5.    Obeying – We are growing in our obedience to the Scriptures, to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and to His will for our lives. We are learning to more quickly confess our sin, repent for our failure and return to the Father to ask for the Holy Spirit’s filling.

6.    Abiding – We are growing in our intimate relationship with our heavenly Abba. And we embrace “Intimacy Before Impact” i.e. the necessity of this spiritual intimacy with God and dependency upon Him before we can have “much fruit” in our lives and ministry.

7.    Praying – We are growing in another aspect of this abiding relationship with our God, the ongoing conversation with God which the Bible calls prayer.

8.    Worshiping – We are growing in our personal and corporate praise, thanksgiving and worship of our amazing God.

9.    Expecting – We are growing in our faith, expecting that our Sovereign and Almighty God, because of who He is, will do the extraordinary, the miraculous, both in and through us and our ministries.

10. Impacting – We are growing in our passion for the glory of God and the above elements, all resulting in transformation and the bearing of much lasting fruit.

The most important issue for each of us: God's agenda for our lives

It is an amazing thing that God has designed a role in this life just for us - a role that we are uniquely wired and gifted to fill. A role that contributes directly to what He is doing in our world as part of His meta plan to redeem His broken creatures. It is exhilarating to be at the center of His purposes for our lives and to maximize the opportunity He has given us. Our responsibility is to figure out how to maximize that opportunity He has graciously given.

Central to living out our destiny is a very simple concept: We need to follow God's agenda for our lives! Many people have agendas for us but discerning His agenda and sticking too it is one of the most critical decisions we could ever make. At my stage of life, I know what God has not called me to do and I am fairly clear on what He has called me to do. Thus saying no to the former and yes to the latter is one of my disciplines.

The ability to make those decisions means that we are willing to disappoint some who would tug us in different directions. Ultimately, however, we have an audience of One to whom we will answer for our life stewardship and He is the One who counts. Following Jesus has always been counter cultural and to others our decisions may not always make sense. 

Remember this: Our world has an agenda, our friends have an agenda, our family has an agenda, our church has an agenda and our work has an agenda. There are pieces of those agendas we must pay attention to and negotiate but ultimately the One agenda that truly matters is that of Jesus Christ and He has a definite agenda for our lives (Ephesians 2:10-11) that goes back to long before we were born as to how we would fit into His work and His plan and His meta story.

Perhaps the most important question we could ask Him on an ongoing basis is this: Jesus what is your agenda for me today? He might just surprise you with a response. 

Truthful disclosure in ministry settings

One of the hallmarks of Jesus was his commitment to truth. It was not a hard truth for it was almost always delivered with grace (Pharisees excepted on occasion) but it was truth. Falsehood is one of those things listed in the Proverbs as detested by God.

Yet, ministries are notorious for delivering half truths, non-truths and outright falsehoods when dealing with issues that are unpleasant. This breeds predictable and appropriate cynicism among those who know the full story and is at worst no different than the spin control we see all the time from governments and at best is disingenuous. 

I am not suggesting that in every situation we disclose all that we know or could disclose. That is neither necessary nor appropriate in many cases. I am arguing that what we communicate must be true and accurate and that if someone knew all the facts they would be satisfied that what we communicated was not misleading. It is a matter of integrity, of truth and of the character of God who is the father of truth as opposed to Satan who is the father of lies.

This applies to situations where we might be tempted to spiritualize as a method of spin. Here we blame God for the situation we find ourselves in rather than taking responsibility for our own actions. I remember a time when an organization I was a part of lost a great deal of money through poor decisions and the leader talked about God wanting us to become more dependent on Him. I suspect that God actually wanted better management practices and I didn't buy the line. 

When we choose not to tell the truth we are also communicating that God's people cannot handle the truth. The truth is that we learn how to handle difficult situations by wrestling with them, not by avoiding them. It may not be a pleasant conversation but it should never be an untrue conversation.

I have elsewhere shared some principles for those instances when we need to have difficult conversations with our staff or congregations. One of the things that should separate us from the rest of the world is that we are people who worship the God of truth whose character is true and therefore our words must also be true and righteous and straight. Falsehoods are lies and lies do not come from God. Make sure that your words are always truthful even if you are not sharing all the truth you know.

The power of truth in as an accelerator of growth

The willingness to look truth in the eyes is one of the keys to organizational health. Too often, leaders gloss over problems and issues in the organization they lead rather than facing them squarely, admitting that they exist and using that reality as an opportunity to grow, become better and rattle the comfort of the status quo. The very thing we are often afraid to admit - our organizational shortcomings become powerful tools for change when named.

From time to time I receive a call from a ministry or industry leader who says, "We have a problem,  would you be willing to help us figure it out, identify it and solve it." That immediately tells me that this organization has the courage to be truthful about their situation, allow a third party who has fresh eyes to look at it and use the information to improve. It takes courage to bring in an outside party who can name the issues and help frame the solutions. 

Often we gloss over issues and problems that we know are resident within our organization as if ignoring them will somehow help them go away. We gloss out of fear, because we are afraid of what we might actually find or because we are conflict avoidant. It is a mistake! It is a mistake because the very problems we seek to ignore could become our greatest accelerators of growth if we were willing to face them squarely, name them and focus on solving them. 

I live by a simple leadership premise (and it works personally as well). Truth about our situation can be one of the greatest accelerators of growth when we are willing to face reality and solve problems. Seen in that light, problems are an opportunity not a threat. Truth has power. Wishful thinking does not.

Ministry founders and their ability or inability to take the ministry they founded to a place of maturity

I have come to the conclusion that it is harder to bring a ministry to maturity than it is to found one. That does not mean that ministry start ups are easy - they are not. However, what they require in the beginning -  moxie, energy, vision and enthusiasm is different than what is required to bring them to maturity - discipline, empowering others, letting go of control and being a steward of a vision and mission rather than of a ministry.

In fact, the very skills needed to start a ministry may keep it from maturing into an enduring ministry. After all, ministries start with the vision of a person but enduring ministries are driven by a team who have a common vision. Ministries start by the seat of the pants while enduring ministries exist with disciplined excellence. Ministries start with a fair amount of control by the founder while enduring ministries are not dependent on the founder but where authority and empowerment is given away to qualified individuals. Ministries start with a fair amount of chaos (you do what you have to do) while enduring ministries endure because of stability.

In my experience no more than 50% of ministry founders are able or willing to transition from the start up stage to an enduring ministry stage. And that statistic may well be generous. Why is this?

First, it means giving up control of something we have birthed. For anyone that is hard. For some, it is impossible. It is "their" ministry and that is how they see it. Yet enduring ministries belong to a group with a common vision not an individual. Unwillingness to give up control allows the ministry to go only as far as the founder can take it with his/her span of control.

Second, it means delegating responsibility and authority. An unwillingness to give up control makes this hard for some and impossible for others.

Third, it means allowing the ministry to develop through a shared vision of others not the singular vision of the founder. This inevitably means that the founder is no longer the singular voice and this is how it should be. Only a shared vision with at shared plan can move from the founder stage to and enduring stage. But, the founder must be willing to allow this to happen and believe that the shared vision of the right group of leaders will be even better and more enduring than the singular vision of a single leader

Fourth, it means that the vision and mission become more important to the founder than that of controlling what she/he birthed. Enduring spiritual influence comes from an attitude that what we have birthed belongs to Jesus alone, not to us. We were simply the servants that Jesus used to birth what He wanted to birth. To the extent that I am unwilling to give up control even when that would be the best for the ministry itself - I am believing that it is more about me than it is about Him. And when this happens, it often is to the very detriment of the ministry He used us to found. Ministry founders can both start and hurt the same ministry depending on how they steward it.

From the moment a ministry is founded, good leaders understand that they play a unique role for a season. If they are unwilling to see their role change in the next season, they limit that which God used them to initiate. I have watched founding leaders make both good and poor choices in this and their choices impacted the ministry they founded for better or for worse.

Taking a ministry from start up to maturity is not easy. It comes with losses But if done well it comes with kingdom impact and even greater influence than when initiated.