We’re already halfway through September, and it’s clear that summer is long gone and fall is upon us. Your kids are back in school, the weather is beginning to cool, and the occasional overzealous neighbor is beginning to put pumpkins out on their porch. As you prepare for the coming months, what does fall mean for your organization?
As we’ve talked about in previous blogs, for many of you, this fall is a time of relaunch. Churches are trying to get back to full capacity, schools are in-person, and new initiatives and campaigns are being launched everywhere you look. You hopefully spent the past summer months resting up and getting ready for what will inevitably be a busy new season. We are anticipating that this fall will be a season of rapid growth, as people are desperate to finally be out of isolation and return to a sense of normalcy. And with all of this upcoming growth, you might be realizing that you need to expand your team.
Going into the fall, in the midst of all the busyness, here are three things you can do to develop a thriving workplace:
Restructure your staff roles,
Work on filling those positions to expand your team, and
Embrace a flexible approach to new systems and structures.
When the pandemic started, many people took on additional roles and responsibilities in order to keep their organizations afloat. Now that we are no longer in as much of a crisis mode as we were in this time last year, it is time to consider what responsibilities can be offloaded from certain team members’ workload, what roles can be added back to your teams, and where each team member lies in the structure of leadership. Now may be the time to perform an audit on what each person on your staff is actually doing, and whether those things are the best uses of their time and talent. Ask yourself these questions:
What tasks need to be rearranged for efficiency?
What are we doing now that no longer will need to be done once people begin returning to in-person activities?
Is there anyone who needs to be entrusted with more leadership, or moved into a new position entirely?
What roles need to be filled by new staff members in the upcoming months?
As William Vanderbloemen predicted in January, we are seeing immense job churn in the U.S. right now. Many people are choosing to leave their jobs to seek out employment where they feel like their talents and skills are more valuable. Additionally, as people begin to come out of isolation, they are going to lean hard into their communities for social support. This means they will either seek out that community in their workplaces or stay as far away from work as possible, leaning into community elsewhere. If you want to retain staff well into 2022, equip them in finding community and fulfilling work in your church, school, or organization, by providing opportunities for them to do the work that they thrive at.
If things feel busy and chaotic at your organization now, know that it is only going to get busier in the coming months. So if you are noticing gaps that need to be filled, now is the time to start the process. Don’t wait until winter, as winter holidays will inevitably slow down your processes. If you’re wanting to be ready to fill those roles in 2022, now is the time to get started. You will want to allow proper time for a thorough search and interview process, rather than rushing to add someone to your team and running the risk of them being a bad fit. Remember, the most expensive hire is a bad one.
As you look for people to fill in the gaps and take on new roles, you may begin to feel overwhelmed. Whether you’re starting from scratch or re-hiring a position that had to be cut at the beginning of the pandemic, the process of outlining a new role, deciding where they will fit within the team, and preparing for change is exhausting in and of itself. When you add the actual search, interviews, and selections into that process, it can be too much for an individual or even for a team to handle.
If you feel like you are essentially doing a search on your own, are overwhelmed with the process, or think your network doesn’t have enough depth to find a candidate who is the best fit, Vanderbloemen is here to help. We have all the tools to fill gaps in your structure and grow your team. Get in touch with us now to start that process!
As we mentioned earlier, this fall, it is essential that you look back on the past months and see what needs to be rearranged within your staff. While you work on understanding staff roles going forward, you should also look back on what systems and structures were put in place during a season of crisis that no longer needs to be in place. The pandemic forced people to adapt quickly and drastically, and we all had to learn to be flexible. Going forward, it’s obvious that we won’t be able to go back to all of our pre-pandemic systems or work. But after 18 months of a pandemic, you may have started to get comfortable with the new way of things. That’s not a rut you want to fall into either. As things slowly start to ramp up again and in-person events approach on the calendar, decide what you want to keep from the past 18 months, and what should be adapted or scrapped entirely. Otherwise, you will see your teams falling behind.
As you head into a busy season, take heart. The chaos of fall that you may already be feeling brings with it growing anticipation of possibility and changes. We here at Vanderbloemen are eager to help guide your team during this season, so over the coming weeks, we will be continually providing resources centered on navigating seasonal transitions and preparing for hiring and growth. If you are considering how your organization needs to recalibrate going into the fall, keep an eye out for our upcoming blogs, podcasts, and partnerships, and in the meantime, you can find our other wisdom and encouragement for heading into the fall season here.