Podcast Episode #495
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Alignment is essential if you want a healthy church staff. Today we discuss how to improve the alignment of both your staff and your church.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
- Ministries need to be aligned with the vision and mission of the church.
- The onus of responsibility in communication resides with the leader.
- It is amazing to me how many leaders kick the can on difficult decisions.
- Social time together is one of the best ways a church staff can build alignment.
The five alignment principles we cover are:
- Determine if the problem is alignment or insubordination
- Review communication patterns and relationships
- Spend some social time together
- Learn what motivates and de-motivates the staff member
- Have honest conversations
Resources mentioned in today’s podcast
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Six characteristics of high performance teams (i.e., the only congregations–and staffs–that achieve consistently what God and the community deserve from them):
1. Common purpose
2. Clear roles
3. Accepted leadership
4. Effective processes
5. Solid relationships
6. Excellent communication
No one has a team simply because he says he does. Teams of any sort (and there are lesser kinds than HPTs) are built through considerable effort and then maintained through the same as their work is done and goals are achieved over time.
In the SBC right now, the evidence annually appears to show: senior pastors do not know these concepts or how to implement them well–but HPT characteristics can be learned and practiced by them if they will. In 2019? 🙂
Cf. Triaxia Partners-Atlanta for more HPT info and resources.
thanks David, great resource. Team dynamics are vital to ministry success. The calling God places on the life of all staff members is equal.
Remind the group that everyone is supposed to be there for a common cause. A discussion “off the record” that will not show up in the staff member’s annual performance review might be beneficial.
As a last resort, the pastor can pull rank and give a direct order that is to be followed.
I certainly don’t know where you get that kind of thinking. Pastor is not a boss. The Lord is the boss and no one in a Southern Baptist Church if you are one has power of their own. It is and has always been the people.The church calls the shots. I think this may be a big part of the problems within the Southern Baptist Church’s of today. A pastor who tries or a member who tries to call the shots. Jesus Christ is the Head of the church. He alone calls the shots and uses His people to fulfill the calling in their lives, unless they aren’t encouraged of the realization of that calling by the manipulation of someone else. Sorry, but I believe the churches are in trouble big time today as well as all of those who trying to helping people identify their own
calling. Their diffidently is a big heart problem today also and it seems to be with all of us.
Lord Help Us is all I can say as we all try to trust Him to do that more and more.
If you have no one keeping people on a similar track in a congregation then you have a recipe for disaster. I am not saying abuse the privilege. The original post said staff, not members.