6 Practical Tips Toward Church Staff Aligninment
When your vehicle becomes misaligned, you have to get it repaired. Similarly, when your staff becomes misaligned, you have to help them get back on track. Unlike your vehicle, your church staff isn’t something you can drop off with your local mechanic for a mechanical repair. It takes time, effort and a plan to help your team to get back on the same page and achieve staff alignment.
Here are six of the best practices you can use to align your church staff.
#1. Selective hiring
Hiring the right people is the foundation of creating an aligned team. If you hire the wrong people, you will not be able to create an aligned team—period.
In your hiring process, as you identify qualified candidates and move into the interview process, make sure you’re clear about your beliefs, mission, and philosophy of ministry. At this time, you’ll also want to ask potential candidates if they have any disagreements with what you shared or if they need any clarification. By clarifying these core areas of your church, interviewees will better understand if they are or are not a good fit for your church.
#2. Build trust
If hiring the right people is the foundation of creating an aligned staff, then building trust is the pillar everything else is built upon. Building trust isn’t a one-time event. It takes more than a new employee orientation or lunch to establish rapport. To build a healthy church staff, there are several things you’ll need to do on an ongoing basis, including:
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- Delegate responsibility
- Act patiently
- Tell the truth
- Be approachable
- Show compassion
- Express interest
As you build trust with your staff, you’ll be in a better position to lead them well.
#3. Cast vision
The mission of your church is the driving force for everything you do. It’s the compass that directs your efforts. For casting a vision, you’ll need to regularly talk about your church’s mission. From sharing your mission during church announcements to talking about it during the week, reminding your team why they do what they do will help them to push through when things get tough. It will help them to see how their work and sacrifice contributes to the mission.
#4. Clarify goals
When you align the goals of your staff with the mission of your church, you will accomplish three important things:
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- Alignment
- Clarity
- Participation
For every position in your staff, you’ll need to ensure that the work and goals for that position are aligned with your church’s mission. This simple step is one surefire way to ensure your staff is rowing in the same direction. What is more, based on the report by Harvard Business Review, when your staff can practically see how their work influences the mission of your church, it will increase results and boost morale. By aligning staff goals with the mission of your church, you will also create clarity among your team.
As you know, there’s a tremendous amount of work that goes into helping your church move forward every week. For your staff, when their work and goals are aligned with the mission, they’ll be able to confidently prioritize their work, which will help them to focus better. Finally, your staff will feel like they are participating in the mission of your church. When your staff can see how their work contributes to the bottom line, they’ll experience a sense of inclusion and motivation to know that their work matters.
#5. Align with strengths
As a pastor, if you can, place staff members in positions that are a good fit for their passion, skills, and strengths. Not only will this boost morale and productivity, but this will also help your staff succeed. Think about it like this: If you coach a football team, you need to place your players in the right position. For example, you don’t want your quarterback to play on the offensive line and vice versa. As a coach, when your players are in the wrong position, your entire team suffers the consequences. In the same way, if each staff member is placed in a position that’s best suited for him or her, then your entire team will perform better overall.
#6. Clear (and constant) communication
A lack of communication can create significant challenges in your church. It can cause uncertainty. It can lead to gossip. It can cultivate doubt.In communicating with your staff, strive to provide consistent and clear messages. Don’t be afraid to share with them the state of the church or progress toward goals. As mentioned above, keep an open door policy, and make sure your staff feels comfortable asking questions, sharing feedback, or input. Remember, you are called to equip the church—not to be the entire church yourself (Eph. 4:11–13).
Is your team aligned or misaligned?
How’s your staff? Is your team aligned? Do you think your staff is misaligned? If you have staff alignment, congratulations! That’s a great place to be. If your staff is misaligned, don’t lose all hope. Make a decision today to take one step toward helping your team to get back on the same page.
This article on staff alignment originally appeared here at ChurchFuel and is used by permission.
