Guest Post by John Wilson
One of the most challenging parts of being a Children’s Minister is keeping your staff, no matter the size, happy and engaged. It would be nice to be able to say that everyone working in your children’s department was as dedicated to children’s ministry as you, but that not realist, nor should it be. These are people from all walks of life, at different points in their lives and often times they work in multiple other ministries in the church. With that being the case, the not-so-secret way to keep your staff happy and engaged is through communication.
Three effective ways to communicate are:
1. Have an open door policy. In the business world every employer touts that they have an open door policy and that you can speak to anyone at any time. That is rarely ever the case in reality. There is a chain of command in the work place and unless the issue involves your immediate supervisor, you are expected to follow that chain. The church also has a chain of command. The helper talks to the teacher, the teacher to the department director and the director to the Pastor (or something along those lines). While this kind or organization is necessary in order for a church to run efficiently and effectively, there should never be a time where a helper is not allowed to speak to the director or pastor if the issue is important enough and they are not getting results from speaking to the teacher.
Anyone at any level on your staff should feel comfortable approaching you with suggestions or concerns without the fear of being made to feel insignificant and unimportant. It is essential that you set some ground rules with your staff when it comes to this though. It is of the utmost importance for suggestions and ideas to be shared respectfully and not in front of the children. Also you need to explain that while you are always open to ideas, (which you really need to be) you will ultimately need time to think about them and may or may not use them. Just because you don’t use an idea doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good one. Perhaps it isn’t right for your particular group at this specific point in time.
2. Make your volunteer staff truly feels like they are important and can make a difference. If they feel that way, they are going to be much more likely to help you find the things that can be improved. I have seen it way too many times where staff members simply punch the time card and do their minimum duty because they are loyal to their church and love God. They will see where a change is needed and instead of helping to correct the problem, they ignore it because, “it’s not their problem”. Don’t let them get to that point and if they are already there, try to snap them out of it by talking with them and making them feel important.
3. Be flexible and diverse in your communications. I have roughly 40 people on my staff ranging in age from 13 through 70 years-old, with the average age being around 30. It is not uncommon for me to make a phone call using our mass calling system, send a text, leave a FaceBook posting on my group page and send an email out, all to get a single important message out to my staff. Could I simply make the call? Sure. But I have to recognized that it is my job to reach out to these staff members and make their volunteer experience the best possible. Their time is important and by communicating in so many different ways, I am letting them know that they do not need to seek information, rather it will find them.
How do you communicate with your staff?
How do you keep them happy and engaged?!
I would love to hear your thoughts!
John Wilson is a 29-year old father of 4 children. He recently graduated witha Bachelors of Science in Marketing and is currently a Graduate student pursuing a Masters of Communication. Children’s Ministry is his passion!
