How To Ensure Your Church Staff Members Are In The Right Roles

In Good to Great, Jim Collins discusses the idea of “getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.” This principle is true for businesses and church staffs alike. Not only is it vital that each team member is a great fit for the church staff, it’s just as important that they are in a role that is maximizing their skills, allowing them to provide the most benefit for the organization.

A large part of putting your staff in the right place is making sure your staff are the right people.

Pastors and church leaders, here are four questions you can ask to help determine if the right people are in the right seats on your church staff.

1. Are they meeting the expectations & goals set for them?

Every member of your team should have clearly defined expectations of him or her set upon hire. Of course, these will shift and change as their role develops and things are fine-tuned, but as these evolve, so to should their abilities to perform their duties.

If an employee is not fully meeting and exceeding what is expected of them, it may be an indication that they are in a position not in line with their giftings. Ultimately, each team member should be in a place where they can flourish, both personally and within the organization.

2. Are their natural giftings being utilized & highlighted? 

Here at Vanderbloemen, we use a personality assessment called Insights – though there are many other great ones out there – that helps to determine what a person’s natural strengths are. While it’s important to use caution and not place too much weight on these assessments, they can be very useful to determine where on the team someone might be a great fit.

Naturally, as certain abilities grow, people’s strengths may shift, and it might be time for movement or restructuring. Have their leadership abilities grown as they’ve take on more responsibility? What extra tasks have they taken on that may change their placement?

3. What does their past work experience reveal?

As I mentioned before, placing too much emphasis on one area could be damaging to your church staff, however, one area to pay particular attention to is what their work history reveals about them. Perhaps their personality assessment suggest they are not a natural-born leader, but their past experience has allowed them the opportunity to grow and learn how to lead teams effectively. This could suggest an area in which they would excel and benefit from further experience.

4. Are they happy in their role?

This sounds like a basic, easy question, but because of its simplicity it can be easily overlooked. Staff reviews and open communication are wonderful ways to guage your church staff members' contentedness in their role. By creating a culture and environment where leadership is readily and easily approachable to hear troubles or concerns allows for a platform of growth.

An employee who is happy in their role will be contributing new ideas and coming up with ways to improve systems or ministries. They will push harder and farther than an employee who doesn’t enjoy their position and is just looking to get by.

It’s important to remember that just because someone is a good fit for a role when they are hired, as the organization changes and grows, they may outgrow their duties or the organization may outgrow their skills.

As difficult as it may be, remember the importance of Jim Collins’ second point – “[get] the wrong people off the bus.”

Are your church staff team members in the right roles?

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