Staff as Team

A friend and colleague called. He was having a problem with his church staff and was wondering if I might have any advice.

 

I asked him to explain the situation.

 

Two members of this church staff have been constantly at odds with one another, while another member feels excluded and isolated. One is a director of Christian Education and Childhood Ministries. Another is the Business Manager. The third is the Organist and Choir Director. My colleague, the Senior Pastor, is male. Each of the others is female.

 

The Business Manager, a person in her 50's, is constantly aggressive to and critical of the C.E. person, who is in her 20's. True, the C.E. person has made, and continues to make, a series of mistakes that have invited the criticism of the Business Manager. The music person is making arbitrary decisions about the weekly worship services that directly affect what others are able to do within the services, but not communicating those decisions.

 

The mess has come to a head, and the church's Personnel Committee has gotten involved. The tension between the Business Manager and the C.E. Director is obvious, as is the "exclusion" of the Music Director. The situation has begun to create tension in the wider congregation.

 

I should add that the Senior Pastor, my friend, has been in the position for less than a year. Each of the other staff members preceded him.

 

After a fairly lengthy discussion, in which I asked an array of questions, we determined that there is no weekly staff meeting, that each member of the staff feels that she is responsible only for the issues that arise under each one's employment responsibilities, and that they are in competition for attention, recognition and budgeting.

 

My recommendations were both practical and theological. First, we need to get members of the staff to recognize and support the ministries of others on the staff. Isolation results in division. When we share ministry with others, we have a stake in what they are doing. This staff is isolated. Worse, it is so focused on each task description that they are competing. Competition within a staff destroys the unity. It turns persons against others. It makes them critical and judgmental.

 

So, a weekly staff meeting, where each member of the staff shares what is being done and thought about under each area of focus, is absolutely vital. Members of the staff must feel an investment in what every other member is doing. Sharing the responsibility, and sharing the workload, lightens the onus on any one staff member. A team approach, with a unified purpose and vision, works best for the sake of the congregation.

 

The Senior Pastor likely needs to meet with the staff as a whole, laying out clear expectations and calling each member of the staff to accountability for shaping and maintaining staff unity. The Senior Pastor needs to help staff members assist one another in the course of shared ministries, instead of allowing staff members to compete against one another. Each staff member takes a place in the boat, and the boat sinks if each staff member fails to work as part of the team.

 

The climate needs to change there. Shiloh is fortunate indeed to have a staff that understands that none of our ministries exist in isolation to any other. The Shiloh staff is a team, sharing a common vision and working toward a single goal, that functions in a mutually supportive atmosphere that values each ministry. Shiloh's staff is a remarkable collection of diverse gifts, talents, energies and passions. I hope that readers of The Shiloh Insider understand how fortunate the congregation is to be served by such a gifted and unified set of ministers.

 

See You Sunday!