Home Pastors Articles for Pastors 7 Easy Steps to Drive Your Administrator Nuts

7 Easy Steps to Drive Your Administrator Nuts

Every organization has at least three types of leaders working together: executives, administrators and creatives. The challenge is, each type of leader has their own language, their own way of problem solving and their own ideal environment in which to work. It can feel like you are working with people from other planets.

In a healthy environment, leaders take the time to learn how to work and play well with others; in an unhealthy environment, leaders talk past each other and there is a constant revolving door.

In a recent post, we looked at nine rules for working with creatives. Today let’s focus on administrators. These are the people who keep the trains running on time, the lights on and the lawyers at bay. An organization cannot survive without effective administrators, but they are often the least appreciated leaders. They aren’t visionary executives or fascinating creatives; they spend their days buried in spreadsheets and staring at computer screens.

Let’s look at seven ways to drive them crazy (and eventually drive them away):

1. Consistently lose receipts.

This seems like a small thing, can’t they just call the hotel and get a copy of the bill? Yes, they can and they will, but when we consistently lose receipts it sends a clear signal; what an administrator does doesn’t matter. My time is more valuable than yours, so I can’t be bothered to keep track of receipts.

I am the chief of sinners when it comes to losing receipts, but when we instituted a policy of “lose the receipt, pay the bill” I discovered I could keep track of paperwork.

2. Waste their time.

Great administrators are effective at time management, they squeeze the most production possible out of every minute. When you show up late for meetings, forget appointments and come unprepared, you don’t just throw their schedule off, you disrespect something they work very hard at. Blowing off a scheduled meeting with an administrator is like walking out in the middle of a pastor’s sermon or laughing at a writer’s new song.

3. Make decisions without all the facts.

Administrators are expert fact gatherers. They don’t deal in theories and dreams, they live in a world of formulas and guidelines. An effective administrator believes in stepping out in faith, as long as everyone understands the situation.

Administrators are often the most courageous leaders on staff because they understand the risk but are willing to leap anyway. They cannot, however, work with a leader who consistently leads the organization into chaos because he can’t be bothered with facts.