When the difficult decision to let a church staff member go looms on the horizon, how do we uphold our values and navigate the aftermath with grace? Todd Rhoades of Chemistry Staffing joins us to shed light on this sensitive issue, imparting wisdom on how to extend care beyond the termination notice. Our conversation delves into the philosophy that every person is treasured by Jesus, and thus, must be honored by us, especially in the context of staff departures. Todd's insights challenge us to consider the ripple effects our actions have on the individual, their family, and the wider church community.
We explore the practical steps church leaders can take to ensure that the dignity and well-being of former staff members are preserved. Todd emphasizes the importance of offering support that transcends the final paycheck, advocating for career guidance, job search assistance, and the potential benefit of a transitional coach. This episode isn't just a discussion on how to handle the mechanics of a tough situation; it's a guide to embodying a gospel mission that cares deeply for people in times of transition. Listen in to redefine how your church can maintain a compassionate and supportive environment, even when difficult staffing decisions must be made.
When the difficult decision to let a church staff member go looms on the horizon, how do we uphold our values and navigate the aftermath with grace? Todd Rhoades of Chemistry Staffing joins us to shed light on this sensitive issue, imparting wisdom on how to extend care beyond the termination notice. Our conversation delves into the philosophy that every person is treasured by Jesus, and thus, must be honored by us, especially in the context of staff departures. Todd's insights challenge us to consider the ripple effects our actions have on the individual, their family, and the wider church community.
We explore the practical steps church leaders can take to ensure that the dignity and well-being of former staff members are preserved. Todd emphasizes the importance of offering support that transcends the final paycheck, advocating for career guidance, job search assistance, and the potential benefit of a transitional coach. This episode isn't just a discussion on how to handle the mechanics of a tough situation; it's a guide to embodying a gospel mission that cares deeply for people in times of transition. Listen in to redefine how your church can maintain a compassionate and supportive environment, even when difficult staffing decisions must be made.
Man, cutting members from your staff and from your team is always tough. Maybe it's because of a performance issue, maybe it's because of financial issues going on in your church, but letting people go is never fun. But we're going to talk about it today and how you can care for your staff after the firing or the termination or the layoff. Hi, my name is Todd Rhodes. I'm one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom and to you are listening to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Thanks so much. I'm not sure how you found us, but thanks for being here Today. We're going to talk about staffing issue and this is something that in my work at Chemistry Staffing I work with churches and with individuals quite often around the topic of termination. Churches that are wanting advice or have just terminated a staff member, candidates that we talked to that were just let go from their church position, again, as I said, could be a performance issue, could have been a moral issue, it could be financial issues, but terminations are never easy. As a matter of fact, I think one of the best ways I've ever heard having to fire a staff person in a church or being fired is that the description goes like this it's like surgery doing surgery without any anesthetic or anesthesia. It's painful and, as the church, we should really care about who we're letting go, even if the circumstances were absolutely the worst. Maybe there's just been conflict, maybe the performance wasn't there, maybe you're just even angry at this person, but we should really care. If we're the church, if we're really the church, we should really care about who we're letting go. Something we always Don and I always told our kids growing up and it's worked our way into the ethos in Chemistry Staffing is that if someone is special to Jesus, then they darn well better be special to us. So as we work with churches, as we work with candidates, we always say every candidate is unique and special and valuable and this really goes to their unique and their special and valuable to Jesus. So they need to be unique and special and valuable to us and as members of your staff even the person that has been the burr under your saddle and you need to let them go even that person we should really take great care of letting them go. People are watching, stakeholders are silently observing how we treat people that we are letting go and how we are treating departing staff members and it matters significantly and by people, everybody watching honestly and obviously the person that you're releasing is watching how they're being treated, and their family, your staff, is watching, your board is watching, your key volunteers that work with this person are watching, and really your entire congregation, your whole congregation, your whole church, is watching to see how you're handling this. Are you doing this? How they would want to be treated?
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And once the conversation is had, here's the truth and the reality. Once you've, once you actually call that person into your office and say, hey, we're going to make a change here and you no longer have a job here, you as an employer or as a supervisor, will have lost much of your ability to care for that person. Moving forward, the relationship immediately changes, but your responsibility to care for them does not. And if you've ever had to let someone go, that as soon as that announcement is made to that person, it changes everything, it changes the relationship and a lot of times going in, you're not sure if it's going to change it for the better or the worse, but it's definitely going to change. So how should you respond? You always you always wanted more than a paycheck from your staff and they wanted and hoped and expected the same from you and many churches honestly, by the way they communicate when they have to make a layoff or they have to make a termination. Stop with that last paycheck. Hey, hey, we're going to let you go and your last paycheck will be here or your will give you this much severance and it will go through that, that point. But it's really important, I think, to provide additional support beyond that last payroll and that last paycheck. If you can assist in ways like career guidance and job search help, maybe some coaching, maybe some counseling, financial stability, help them land.
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I think this speaks well of you and your gospel mission and being the church, and I would consider have you really considered a transitional coach? Now, this is I don't want you to think this is self serving. This is one of the things that I do and really enjoy doing in my work at chemistry staffing. I am a transitional coach for a good number of people that have been transitioned, shall we say, from their church, or fired or let go or laid off, and I think that the goal, one of the reasons I like it so much, is because it just provides such a valuable, such a valuable resource for the person that's been let go. Now, as I said, this doesn't have to be me. There are a number of great organizations and people out there that can do this kind of work, but I know that it can't be you. Okay, like I said, the relationship changes once you let that person go. The responsibility doesn't go away, but the relationship changes.
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Transitions are not just endings, but they're also new beginnings. So any way that you can provide care to the candidate, any way that you can show that your staff, that you care and let your volunteers and church know that you're doing everything that you can, so a transitional coach will will show not only the employee that you're letting go, but it will show your staff hey, this is, we care about you, we care about this person and we're going to do everything we can. Even though their future doesn't belong here in this role, we're going to do everything we can to try and help them land, and transition coaching is one way to do that. Your staff is looking at you because they're thinking okay, bob's out the door, I might be next. I'm going to watch and see how they treat Bob because if this ever happens to me, this is how I can expect to be treated. That's one of the ways that you can show your care not only for the outgoing person but show that you care to the rest of your staff is my transitional coaches.
Speaker 1:
So what does a transitional coach do? What do I normally do when I do transitional coaching with somebody who's been let go? It varies. We usually contract with a church will call us up and say we're getting ready to let somebody go. We want you to come alongside and support and assist them, help them to land. We usually work with those people for About three months. That's our initial contract with them and we have a set week by week thing that we say that we'll go through. But a lot of times we don't even do that.
Speaker 1:
It really depends on what the candidate needs. Sometimes they need a couple of three weeks just to dissect and do a little bit of an autopsy on what just happened. How in the world did I get here? How did I lose my job? Sometimes they really need to sit down and just have somebody that they can open up with and talk with that. Sometimes they need to have their spouse and we offer that as well. They have one of their spouse. Talk with another spouse that's gone through the same thing, because spouses handle these things differently than we do when we lose our jobs. A lot of times they need more help with their resume. Maybe they've not looked for a church job for the last 10 or 15 years and they need help with their resume. Other times their resume's fine. They just need help with hey, can you help me here with some interviewing skills, those kind of things. Sometimes they're not even sure if they want to still be in the church, and that's a conversation that we like to have.
Speaker 1:
Let's go back. This is a great time to revisit your calling and see what God would have for you in this next chapter. Maybe it's church work, maybe it's not, but really, what transitional coaching allows you as a church to do for your outgoing staff member? It allows you to give them support so that they can land well in their next ministry or their next role, whatever it is. So, as we leave this topic, here's some key takeaways. You just have to do this well. You have to do it.
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Nobody likes to fire people.
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Nobody likes to let people go, but when you do, you have to do it well. Everyone's watching. This can and will affect how the rest of your staff use your leadership and your church Everyone's watching and at least offer the opportunity for a transition coach. If you can do that, it's their decision whether they want to do it. Some people will say no, I don't want that at all, no thanks, thanks, but no thanks, that's their decision. But a lot of people do lean in and say no, that's helpful and it does offer support during a staff transition and it just it makes a huge difference in the life of the person that you're letting go and their family.
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So if you would like information on transitional coaching that we do here at Chemistry Staff and you can always reach out to me at podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. As I said, it doesn't have to be me. I'm not a strong salesperson, I'm not begging for business here at all, but I do know that a lot of churches, when in bad case scenarios where you have to fire somebody, just watch it and not caring for the individual and man. As a church we have to we especially be our number one priority is even in the worst of situations and if they're special to Jesus, they need to be special to us. Okay, if you need anything, reach out to me at podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. Hope you have a great weekend. We'll talk to you next week.