Avoiding Staff Infection
The young couple timidly entered the back of the church. Their three-week old baby girl slept peacefully as her Mommy and Daddy paused to see if there were any open seats in the back. They just moved into town and decided to visit the Lutheran church they heard about from their neighbor. They were anxious about their first visit.
They were welcomed into the back pew by a family with small children. The new baby squirmed and introductions were cut short when Momma asked for directions to the baby changing room. Soon she returned, grabbed her husband and left the service. When he asked why they were leaving, she opened the door to the nursery. The smell of an overfilled diaper pail filled the room. It was obvious no one had cleaned the nursery.
The overworked secretary was irritated. Another student was ill. The teachers had piled the homework on the counter for her to sort. She was never asked, just expected to make sure everyone got what they needed. The phone call interrupted her fuming, “Yeah, what now?” was her greeting. The parent that was inquiring about openings in the school for her children calmly relied, “I’m sorry, wrong number.”
The janitor who doesn’t empty cans and the secretary who lets her emotions run wild exhibit symptoms of a serious staff infection. They are overworked and overlooked. They feel underappreciated. Their work suffers, their attitude suffers and the ministry suffers.
Whether staff is defined as the non-professional paid positions or the unpaid volunteer – churches and schools that carefully recruit, train and honor their staff prevent even minor outbreaks of staff infection.
Recruitment is the first step in preventing staff problems. The right person for the job is critical. The cook who doesn’t like a mess will have problems in the kitchen. A school secretary that has problems with children may not be the best fit. The Sunday School Superintendent that doesn’t attend church doesn’t give the best witness. Staff should be recruited so that their gifts and talents match the job duties. Personal recruitment is an opportunity to gently guide potential staff into applying for open positions. A through application coupled with a face to face interview works well.
One often overlooked component of recruitment is a job description. A lack of a clear job description leads to assumptions and discord. A good job description includes the mission of organization, description of the position, skills needed, time commitment, work schedule and arrangements, along with contact information.
Once a staff member is on the job, training is a must. The training should be immediate and thorough. A poorly trained staff member can do great harm to the ministry. How many files have been lost by an inadequately trained secretary? Training is not a one-time process. As the staff member grows in her job, new skills need to be mastered. Regular performance reviews allow the staff member an opportunity to express the need for new training. Performance reviews serve to strengthen the person and to honor the individual. Performance reviews are designed to build up. This is accomplished either by pointing out areas that need improvement or by highlighting great performance. The review time is a time for growth and positive feedback.
Even the best staff member needs to be honored in order for him to fully function. The argument is often made, “Hey, you get a paycheck – you don’t need thanks, too.” Most ministries can not afford to pay staff a paycheck great enough to negate the value of a word of appreciation. Most paid staff members give more value than their salary. By definition, unpaid staff members out give their paycheck.
Ministries who value their staff members need to say that – privately and publicly. All humans desire to do well – kingdom workers also have a need to know that they are doing a good job. Staff members need to be treated with respect. Demands should be turned into requests, assumptions should become intercessions and being “taken for granted” should turn to being “taken with gratitude.” “Please” and “Thank-you” accords more honor to the staff member than “Give me” and “About time.” These private words of encouragement indicate the consistency and sincerity of the once a year public honor often given to staff members. It is also important that ministries never stop praying for their staff, publicly, privately and by name.
Staff members that are carefully recruited, trained and honored will have a long healthy ministry.
They were welcomed into the back pew by a family with small children. The new baby squirmed and introductions were cut short when Momma asked for directions to the baby changing room. Soon she returned, grabbed her husband and left the service. When he asked why they were leaving, she opened the door to the nursery. The smell of an overfilled diaper pail filled the room. It was obvious no one had cleaned the nursery.
The overworked secretary was irritated. Another student was ill. The teachers had piled the homework on the counter for her to sort. She was never asked, just expected to make sure everyone got what they needed. The phone call interrupted her fuming, “Yeah, what now?” was her greeting. The parent that was inquiring about openings in the school for her children calmly relied, “I’m sorry, wrong number.”
The janitor who doesn’t empty cans and the secretary who lets her emotions run wild exhibit symptoms of a serious staff infection. They are overworked and overlooked. They feel underappreciated. Their work suffers, their attitude suffers and the ministry suffers.
Whether staff is defined as the non-professional paid positions or the unpaid volunteer – churches and schools that carefully recruit, train and honor their staff prevent even minor outbreaks of staff infection.
Recruitment is the first step in preventing staff problems. The right person for the job is critical. The cook who doesn’t like a mess will have problems in the kitchen. A school secretary that has problems with children may not be the best fit. The Sunday School Superintendent that doesn’t attend church doesn’t give the best witness. Staff should be recruited so that their gifts and talents match the job duties. Personal recruitment is an opportunity to gently guide potential staff into applying for open positions. A through application coupled with a face to face interview works well.
One often overlooked component of recruitment is a job description. A lack of a clear job description leads to assumptions and discord. A good job description includes the mission of organization, description of the position, skills needed, time commitment, work schedule and arrangements, along with contact information.
Once a staff member is on the job, training is a must. The training should be immediate and thorough. A poorly trained staff member can do great harm to the ministry. How many files have been lost by an inadequately trained secretary? Training is not a one-time process. As the staff member grows in her job, new skills need to be mastered. Regular performance reviews allow the staff member an opportunity to express the need for new training. Performance reviews serve to strengthen the person and to honor the individual. Performance reviews are designed to build up. This is accomplished either by pointing out areas that need improvement or by highlighting great performance. The review time is a time for growth and positive feedback.
Even the best staff member needs to be honored in order for him to fully function. The argument is often made, “Hey, you get a paycheck – you don’t need thanks, too.” Most ministries can not afford to pay staff a paycheck great enough to negate the value of a word of appreciation. Most paid staff members give more value than their salary. By definition, unpaid staff members out give their paycheck.
Ministries who value their staff members need to say that – privately and publicly. All humans desire to do well – kingdom workers also have a need to know that they are doing a good job. Staff members need to be treated with respect. Demands should be turned into requests, assumptions should become intercessions and being “taken for granted” should turn to being “taken with gratitude.” “Please” and “Thank-you” accords more honor to the staff member than “Give me” and “About time.” These private words of encouragement indicate the consistency and sincerity of the once a year public honor often given to staff members. It is also important that ministries never stop praying for their staff, publicly, privately and by name.
Staff members that are carefully recruited, trained and honored will have a long healthy ministry.
