4 Practical Steps To Improve Your Church Job Satisfaction

In our blog, we often write about ministry transitions or how to discern if you are being called to a new role or season in ministry. But what would you do if you felt called to stay in your current church job even thought it’s not a great environment to be in currently?

There are plenty of internal ways to improve your mindset, which tends to be the root cause of feeling unhappy in a role, but it’s also important to have practical, hands-on ways to feel more satisfied in your position. Are you doing your part to contribute to making a better office environment, or are you only focusing on the negative aspects?

Here are 4 practical steps that will help you improve your overall satisfaction in your church position. 

1. Have you talked to your supervisor about being unhappy?

Just as in relationships, communication is crucial to make change happen. You can’t just assume that your supervisor knows or sees that you are unhappy. Talking to your church staff coworkers can feel like a good way to vent, but they can’t actually make a change in your situation like your supervisor can. Are there duties or tasks you feel like you could do really well, but haven’t been given the opportunity? You have to ask.

Great leaders love when someone wants to take on more responsibilities. Even if they decide it’s not the right time or you aren’t ready, most likely they will be impressed you took the initiative and were proactive. It also starts the conversation. If you assume things won’t ever change, yet you are not willing to be proactive, then they probably won’t.

2. Are you intentionally and consistently injecting fun into your team’s day?

This might sound counterintuitive, but it really is okay to have fun at work. Here at Vanderbloemen Search Group, we are all very committed to doing excellent work and producing at an extremely high level. That being said, if you were to peek into our office at any given time there’s a good chance someone in the office would be laughing. One of our team's core values is "Contagious Fun," and it has created a staff culture where we take our work seriously but not ourselves. We all enjoy one another's company and collectively understand that a minute or two to share a funny story or laugh together makes for more focused work the rest of that hour.

3. Does your physical space reflect what makes you comfortable and happy?

I once worked in a basement level office in a cubicle for 6 years, though, like most people, I like bright and comfy spaces. Instead of getting down, I did what I could to improve my immediate surroundings. I added a few lamps with bright shades, some plants that thrive on low light, and a framed photograph or two, and viola! Making your personal space aesthetically pleasing to yourself is a huge step in improving how you feel about being at work.

4. Has your team taken a personality assessment?

Personality assessments have been around for a long time and you might even know your type and what it means, but unless the rest of your team knows, they won’t know best practices of communicating with you (or vice-versa).

Here at Vanderbloemen, we all take the same personality assessment and have the results proudly displayed on our desks. We are all trained in what the best way to communicate with each personality type is. For some people, a detailed email in writing with bullet points works best, for others a brief verbal communication is better.

Understanding the best way to approach and be approached improves interpersonal communication at your church job. 

These are just a few examples of practical ways to improve your current ministry office environment.

What are some practical ways that have improved your church workplace satisfaction?