Enhancing Leadership Effectiveness in Church Staff

Can effective leadership truly transform your church staff environment? Join us on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast as we uncover the surprising findings from our 2024 Church Staff Health Assessment. Host Todd Rhoades, co-founder of Chemistry Staff, navigates the complexities of leadership effectiveness within church settings, especially how it has evolved in recent years. With varying perceptions of leadership among staff members, Todd emphasizes the importance of transparent and inclusive decision-making. Learn why younger staff members crave more involvement and discover actionable steps you can take to elevate your leadership game.

This episode is packed with valuable insights and practical advice on how to set the right tone, craft a compelling vision, and cultivate a culture where everyone feels valued. Whether you’re a seasoned leader or just starting out, Todd shares four key strategies to help you enhance your leadership effectiveness, including the crucial step of seeking regular feedback. Tune in to understand how you can make your leadership not just good, but great, and build a healthier, more engaged church staff environment.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Hi there, welcome to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. My name is Todd Rhodes. I'm your host today, as well as one of the co-founders over at Chemistry Staff. We are in the middle. We started last week, and we will continue this week, on a series based on the findings of our 2024 Church Staff Health Assessment, and today we want to talk about leadership effectiveness. Now, leadership is one of those topics that, honestly, I could discuss for days. But what does effective leadership actually look like in churches today, especially with all that we've experienced in the past four or five years? Our 2024 assessment has some insights that I think can help us figure that out.

Speaker 1: 0:51

So here are a couple of the top level findings that we discovered from this year's report. The first is just that there are varied perceptions of leadership. The results of our assessment from this year revealed that staff perceptions of leadership. The results of our assessment from this year revealed that staff perceptions of leadership effectiveness are pretty much mixed. Matter of fact, they're a little bit all over the place. While some staff feel absolutely supported and valued by their leaders and their leadership, others report feeling less satisfied with their leadership. Now, of course, this really isn't rocket science, right? Some people are happy, some people are not happy. Some churches have great leadership, some churches have really bad leadership. But just know it's really important for you, particularly if you lead a staff team, that what are the perceptions of your leadership. Do they appreciate and admire your leadership or are they put off or maybe even disgusted by your leadership or the lack of leadership? So every church is a little bit different and our surveys across the board, with 1,200 staff members responding, brought that to bear. Yes, some people are very happy, some people are very unhappy, but the second thing is that there needs to be yes, some people are very happy, some people are very unhappy, but the second thing is that there needs to be some transparency and some inclusive leadership, and the data really suggests a desire among staff for more transparency and more inclusion in decision-making processes, and we found that this happens not only just across the board, but particularly the younger your staff member is, the more transparency and inclusion that they would like to have, no matter what the role in the church, and some of the decision-making process Staff really told us that they want to feel like their voices are heard and that their input is valued.

Speaker 1: 2:48

Okay, so let's unpack this just a little bit. Leadership effectiveness is crucial. It's just absolutely crucial for the health and growth of any church, and that, last time I checked your church, is part of any church. Right, it's about more than just making decisions. It's about how you set the tone. It's about how you create the vision. It's about how you foster an environment, really, where everyone feels valued and included. Now, not everybody can be included in every decision. Absolutely that's not what any I don't think that's what anybody wants.

Speaker 1: 3:19

But the mixed perceptions of leadership that we've seen from the results of our assessment suggests that, while some leaders are doing really well in some of these areas, there's always still room for improvement. Staff members want to feel like their leaders are approachable and transparent and at least willing to somehow include them in the process. All right, todd, that's all great. We need to be more inclusive and allow people to feel like at least they have some say into decisions. But what can we do? How do we implement this? What would you suggest that we do in the next year to enhance our leadership effectiveness? I've got four ideas here for you, and maybe pick one or two of these and see if this helps move the dial where you are in your church Because, like I said, this isn't a switch.

Speaker 1: 4:11

This is something that you can constantly make better. If you're good, you can make it better. If you're bad, you can definitely make it better. But even if you're excellent in your communication and in your leadership, there are still ways that you can make it better. Here are four ways.

Speaker 1: 4:24

Okay, the first is to just seek regular feedback. When was the last time Some churches do this well, some churches never do it. When was the last time you sought feedback? Create some opportunities for your staff Todd, I'm a solo pastor, I don't have staff Make some opportunities for your key volunteers, your key stakeholders, to provide feedback on how you're doing with leadership. It could be through a survey, it could be regular check-ins, it could be open forums. My best advice is start taking some staff members out for coffee, maybe individually or in a small group. The goal really is to create a culture of open communication where staff feel comfortable even sharing their thoughts.

Speaker 1: 5:11

So, number one seek regular feedback. Number two model it comes from the top Model that servant leadership, effective leaders, lead by example. So the more you can show humility, the more you can listen. It goes along with number one get that regular feedback, the more you can be willing to serve alongside of your team rather than lording the leadership and the authority over them. This will build trust and it will build respect within the team. Number three encourage shared leadership. Empower your staff by involving them when you can in the decision-making process. That doesn't mean you need to get consensus on every little thing. It doesn't mean that everybody has a say in every decision that's not at all what I'm saying. But it does mean that you give staff members some value by just valuing their input and making them feel like they are a part of the process that they're just not being dictated to, that they have a dog in this fight. So seek regular leadership, model servant leadership, encourage shared leadership. And then, number four invest in leadership development. Provide some training and development opportunities for both current and future leaders, and this helps to ensure that your leadership team is continually growing and evolving as well.

Speaker 1: 6:30

So here's your bottom line for today. Effective leadership is more than just having the right answers. It's about creating an environment where your team, where your staff, where your volunteers feel valued and supported and engaged. So here's your call to action for this week Take this some time this week to reflect on your own personal your own personal leadership style. Maybe ask for some feedback from your team, be open to making some adjustments and remember the best leaders are always learning and growing. I've never met a great leader that has just been at the same level forever. They're constantly learning, they're constantly growing and they're constantly adapting. So that's my challenge to you this week Take some time to reflect on your own leadership style, ask for feedback from your team and make adjustments where you need to.

Speaker 1: 7:35

You can download our 2024 Church Staff Health Assessment Report Church Staff Health Assessment Report. It's 84 pages of, I think, pure gold when it comes to understanding church staff health in America and you can download that Right now. It's absolutely free. You can go to chemistrystaffingcom slash staff health chemistrystaffingcom slash staff health and you can reach me anytime. If there's any way that I can help your church with any staffing issue, with any staff culture issue, reach out to me. Just send me an email at podcast at chemistrystaffcom. Okay, until tomorrow. Have a great day. We'll be back here tomorrow on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Have a good one you.