The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
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The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
When to Fire Someone on Your Church Staff
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Firing Church Staff: Hard but Necessary
Speaker 1Firing someone on your church staff is never easy and it's never something you should rush , but on the other hand , waiting too long can be just as damaging . And today , on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast , I want to walk through some of the red flags , some of the prayerful discernment and some of the leadership clarity that you need to know when you think it's time to let somebody go . It's not just about the staff member , it's about the health of your entire church and the health of your entire team . So we're going to look at that today . Hi there , my name is Todd Rhodes . We're the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom and I'm also your host right here on the Healthy Church Staff podcast .
Speaker 1All right , no one goes into the ministry dreaming of firing someone at least , hopefully , you didn't but sometimes not making the hard call does more damage than letting somebody go . And today we're going to talk about some of the most difficult leadership decisions that you'll ever face in ministry , and what I'm talking about is knowing when it's time to remove someone from your church
Finding Clarity Before Taking Action
Speaker 1staff team . All right , First of all , you have to come to some clarity . You have to have clarity before you take action when you're thinking about terminating a staff member . If you're not sure whether or not to hire someone , a staff member , If you're not sure whether or not to fire someone guess what You're not ready to fire them . That doesn't mean the situation isn't serious . It means that you need to do the work of discernment . You need to ask yourself some really key questions . Number one have I clearly communicated expectations to this person on my team ? If they're murky , if I feel like I've not clearly communicated expectations , or I feel like they might be murky or they don't know exactly what's expected , man , you need to hold back . You need to hold back , Okay . Another question have they had adequate time and adequate support to improve ? You shouldn't just fire somebody just to fire them . You shouldn't just fire them without any notice . Have you communicated your expectations and have they had adequate time and have you provided support , either personally or with some other mentor or some other team member ? Have you given them the time and support that they've needed to improve ?
Speaker 1Another question are there moral issues or relational issues , or are there performance-based issues ? Each one of these is really important . You need to know , before you go in to fire somebody , what you're firing them . You would think this is common knowledge , but sometimes I ask somebody somebody just said I had to fire somebody . Why'd you fire them ? And they have a hard time answering the question . So is it a moral issue ? Is relational people that just don't fit well on the team , or is a performance base ? They're just not able to do the job . And then you need to ask yourself , hey , is this a pattern or is this a one-off ? If it's a one-off , then you probably need to do a little bit more work , okay ?
Speaker 1Second thing you need to do is you need to seek wise counsel . You should never make firing or termination decisions in your own bubble . Seek wise counsel . Pray Document Firing without clarity is reaction and firing with clarity
The Cost of Waiting Too Long
Speaker 1is leadership . Okay , so let's talk about we talk . There's two different things you can do . You can fire too quickly or you can fire too slowly . So let's talk about . We talked about firing too quickly in the last section .
Speaker 1This time I want to talk about the cost of avoidance or waiting too long . So if you keep the wrong person on your team too long , some stuff's going to happen . Right . It's going to hurt the morale of your team . If you keep somebody too long , it's going to damage trust . If everybody else on your team thinks why is that person still here ? It's going to slow momentum and it just sends the wrong message to the rest of your team . Sometimes the healthiest move for the church is the hardest move for the leader . Let me repeat that because that's really key and vital here Sometimes , sometimes the healthiest move for your church is going to be the hardest move for you as the
Moving Forward with Compassion
Speaker 1leader . Okay , my next point is when you know , when you're sure , when you've done your due diligence and you've given them opportunities , when you know it's time to let a person go , you need to move forward with compassion and courage . Okay , Once the decision is made maybe it's by you , maybe it's by your board , maybe it's by your elder team , maybe it's by your leadership team but once the decision is made , don't delay , you need to do it . Okay , Don't outsource it unless it's necessary . This is one of those things .
Speaker 1I'm a strong proponent of delegation and outsourcing , but this is something you need to do yourself . Because it's a big deal . Okay , you can't outsource this unless it's absolutely necessary . If it makes sense organizationally , Okay . But if it's something you know you need to do organizationally , okay . But if it's something you know you need to do , you need to do it .
Speaker 1I once had to hop on a plane and fly all the way to Dallas , Texas , to terminate an employee . I could have done it over Zoom , I could have had someone else on the team do it , but it was the right thing to do . It was hard , it was messy , it was not taken well , it was expensive , but it was the right thing to do . I didn't outsource it because it was necessary . The next thing you need to do once you've made the decision is don't make it personal , okay , Don't make it personal . You need to communicate with kindness and honesty and clarity , but don't make it personal . You need to communicate with kindness and honesty and clarity , but don't make it personal . Give them dignity on the way out and any way that you can help them if you can , and care for them . Care for your team .
Speaker 1Even the right decisions can still leave a mark and here at Chemistry , one of the things that we do offer as a service and I'd love to serve your church in this area if you ever have a person that you need to terminate is we will come alongside after that termination and provide them with 90 days of kind of soul care . It's career counseling . It's soul care , Because once you terminate the person , you are by and large , going to lose your ability to build into that person . And all firings are different . Sometimes you fire somebody because it's a budget issue or because you hate to do it . They're a great person , you love them , but it's just not working out . Other times firings happen more out of conflict and it's not going to go well and it doesn't go well Either of those scenarios . Once you make the call , once you have the meeting and you terminate the person , you personally and your church lose the opportunity to speak into that candidate . So if you'd be interested , you can reach out to me at podcastchemistrystaffingcom . Just when you have a need , when you've had to terminate someone and you want your church to care for them , because they're children of God , they're important to Jesus and they need to be important to you even after the termination , If you need to have somebody come alongside and provide that career and calling , counseling and soul care . That's something that we can do here at Chemistry Staffing , Because even the right decision ,
Final Thoughts: Leading Through Hard Decisions
Speaker 1even if it goes well , it's still going to leave a mark . It's going to leave a mark . Nobody likes to be fired . Okay , I know that Nobody likes to be fired . Okay , All right . Here's the bottom line , the final thought for today Firing somebody isn't a failure , but avoiding the hard conversation might be .
Speaker 1You are called to lead , not just manage , and sometimes that means protecting your church and your culture at all costs . And , unfortunately , sometimes it means sometimes you have to let some people off your team . I believe Andy Stanley I heard him say this and it's always stuck with me . He says I need to free your future . That's his nice way of saying pack your bags .
Speaker 1I would love to hear from you . Maybe you've been fired and it went really well . It's like I was fired but I was cared for . I would love to hear your story . Maybe the exact opposite is true . I would love to hear your story as well . If there's any way I can help your church navigate , maybe even through the steps of should I terminate this person ? Do I have grounds to terminate ? Reach out to me Any of those things I would love to hear from you . You can send me an email to start the conversation podcast at chemistrystaffingcom . All right , that's it for today . Hope this was helpful to you . I hope you don't need the advice , but I hope , if you do need the advice that . It's helpful to you and we'll be back here again next week right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast . Have a great day .
