Blog
In the early days of the pandemic, accommodation was the name of the game when it came to helping staff negotiate huge work/life challenges. Inadequate technology at home, loss of childcare, children studying virtually from home, and spouses negotiating shared workspace. We leaned heavily into the grace side of our employment relationships. Now, staff teams […]
Read MoreCongregations are often confused about the power dynamics of supervision. Supervisors know they are supposed to ensure good performance. At the same time, supervisors want to model compassionate, kind, collaborative behavior. Employees want to know what is expected of them but don’t like being controlled or micromanaged. Congregants don’t want anyone abusing power. It’s tough […]
Read MoreThe polarization of a congregation is frightening to watch. When the ideological middle gets thin and the extremes of the organization thicken, leaders often struggle to exert control and restore order. In times of polarization, the organization may be best served by behaviors counter to our natural leadership impulses. A healthy organization The boundaries of […]
Read MoreWhen the culture of a team goes toxic, the team leader may ask, “Do I have to fire someone to fix this?” Sometimes the answer is yes: one well-negotiated dismissal of a volunteer or staff member sometimes turns a team around. More often, though, the problem is rooted in group behavior, so the dismissal of […]
Read MoreOnly the largest congregations have the resources to hire full-time supervisors. The average congregation employs a “head of staff” who also preaches, teaches, provides pastoral care, leads mission and ministry, and guides the work of the board. Given this breadth of responsibility, how many employees can a pastor effectively supervise? What happens when a supervisor […]
Read MoreCongregations waste precious time forming mission statements that fail to inspire action. Writing a mission statement produces clarity, but rarely generates energy. It’s time to move beyond mission and start focusing on the passion that compels us to make a specific difference. We often think of an individual as having a vocation and an organization […]
Read MoreFor a long time, clergy have taken credit when attendance rose and felt guilty when it fell. Most people assume that the best measure of a congregation’s spiritual vitality is the headcount at weekly worship. But some congregations have begun to think beyond that metric and focus more broadly about how their ministry transforms lives. […]
Read MoreWe aspire to build staff teams of competent, motivated individuals who work in dogged pursuit of a clearly articulated vision. What most of us have are teams with some outstanding staff and some not so outstanding staff, working side by side towards a vision that seems clear, on some days. Most of you are grappling […]
Read MoreWe have great leaders. They just don’t work together collaboratively. What we accomplish together is sometimes less impactful than the sum of our individual parts, because we spend precious time and energy protecting individual or departmental turf. This is silo mentality. Silos are artificial boundaries put up to accomplish personal goals and keep others […]
Read More“You like me. You really like me!” Let’s face it. We are all guilty of defining our self-worth by what others think. When people praise us we feel successful. Are we? Courageous and adaptive leadership requires leaning into our own incompetence, and pointing out the incompetence of our congregations. Leading beyond our own competence will […]
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