The Thriving vs. Surviving Test: What Really Separates Healthy Church Staff from the Rest

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, the host discusses insightful solutions to improve church staff well-being, concluding a series of episodes on key findings from the Chemistry Staffing Church Staff Health Assessment. The focus is on leadership choices that foster a thriving workplace culture, rather than budget constraints.• Nine episodes focused on identifying problems in church staff health.• Discussion of 12 factors distinguishing thriving staff from struggling staff.• Key differentiators include clear direction, feeling valued, and prioritizing well-being.• Leadership choices, not budget, are crucial for improving staff health.• Thriving cultures continuously communicate vision and recognize staff contributions.• Healthy cultures model rest, give regular feedback, and include staff in key decisions.• Suggestions for implementing cultural changes with intentional leadership choices.• Listeners encouraged to download a detailed report for further insights.

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Transcript

The Big Differentiators

Choices Not Circumstances

What Thriving Cultures Do

The Compound Effect

Bottom Line And Action Steps

Get The Full Report And Support

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Thank you for joining me on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. If you're a regular listener or viewer, you know that we've been spending the last two weeks unpacking nine key discoveries that we found from this year's chemistry staffing church staff health assessment. And let me be honest with you today. We've spent nine episodes talking about problems. Okay? And these are some serious problems that all of our churches need to take under advisement, right? But today I want to end with some solutions. We've analyzed what separates staff who are thriving from staff who are barely surviving. And there are 12 factors that create a two-plus point gap between healthy and struggling staff. And I'm going to talk about some of those today on the podcast. And I'm going to tell you at the end of the podcast how you can get our full report on this year's church staff health assessment. So stay tuned for that. But the biggest differentiators clear direction, feeling valued, having your church prioritize well-being. Okay? Here's the headline. These aren't expensive programs. These are not things that churches aren't doing because they're expensive to deliver or because they don't have the budget. These are things that are leadership choices. The gap between thriving and surviving isn't budget. It's really intentional. Okay? So here's insight number one. The top three differentiators, clear direction for leadership. That's the first one. Plus 2.32 gap is what we found between healthy and struggling staff. That's clear direction for leadership. Feeling valued by colleagues, that's a 2.31 gap between healthy and struggling staff. Church prioritizing staff well-being. That's a 2.28 gap. Notice what's not on this list, right? It's not salary, it's not building size, it's not church growth, it's not your budget. The things that matter most honestly don't cost money, they cost attention. Thriving staff know where they're going and they feel appreciated, and they believe that leadership cares about them as people. Struggling staff, on the other hand, they're confused, they feel invisible, they feel like they're just being used, like they're a means to an end. Okay? Insight number two, these choices are choices. They're exactly that. They're choices, not circumstances. Small churches can provide clear direction, large churches can fail to. Modest budgets can prioritize well-being. Wealthy churches can neglect it. The factors that separate thriving from surviving are available to every church, every size, wherever you are across the country, whether you're in the country or whether you're in the city. Now listen, this isn't about blame. It's about agency. You can't control the economy. You can't control the attendance trends. You can't always control the budget. But you can control whether or not your staff know where they're headed. You can control whether they feel like they're seen and they're valued. You can control whether they feel like well-being is a priority or if it's an afterthought. These are leadership choices. These are where we see the gaps between the strong and the healthy and those that are weak and barely hanging on. And they create dramatically, dramatic, these leadership choices create dramatically different incomes. So insight number three, what do thriving cultures actually do? Here's some things that if you're doing things right, this should be a part of your DNA, of your church, of your culture. Thriving cultures cast vision repeatedly, not just once a year, but constantly. We talked about this with communication and communicating consistently. Staff need to know the why behind the what. Thriving churches, good thriving cultures, celebrate publicly and specifically. Not, hey, good job team, but here's what Sarah did and why it mattered. And they ask about life, not just about work. They know about the sick parent and the struggling kid. Healthy cultures protect rest. They model boundaries, they don't reward burnout. Healthy cultures give feedback, real feedback, not just annual reviews and not just annual reviews when things are going badly. Staff know where they stand every month of the year. Healthy cultures include staff and decisions that affect them, not every decision, but the ones that really matter. And none of this, none of the things that we're talking about today, none of this requires a capital campaign. It just requires intention and showing up differently. Because inside number four, if you do this, it's going to have a compound effect. These factors don't work in isolation. They compound just like money in a bank. A staff member who has clear direction and feels valued and believes that leadership cares, man, they're thriving. A staff member missing all three of those things, they're already looking for the door. Each factor you strengthen lifts the others. Clear direction makes people feel valued because someone thought about their role. Prioritizing well-being among your staff makes people feel valued because they matter beyond whatever output they bring to their role. And then feeling valued makes people trust your direction because they believe that you have their good in mind. This isn't just 12 separate projects, right? It's one culture shift that shows up in 12 different ways. So here's the bottom line for today. And again, I'm going to give you the link to where you can read in detail about these 12 things and how to pick up on these and how to move to a more thriving culture. And every culture can be better, right? So no matter where you are, I think you'll pick up something in the report that'll help you be better in this next year. But here's the bottom line for today the gap between thriving and surviving, it's not resources, it's intention. Clear direction, feeling valued, prioritizing well-being. These aren't just line items on a budget. They're leadership choices available to every church, every size, every budget. And yes, my friend, they're available to you. The churches that will keep their best people are the ones that choose differently and they start choosing today. So here's your action step. Pick one of these three. Maybe it's direction, maybe it's value, staff value, maybe it's well-being. Which is weakest on your team? Pick one of those. Take one action this week to strengthen it. Recast your vision, maybe in the next staff meeting. Where are we going and why does it matter? Maybe if you pick value, maybe write a specific note to one staff member about their unique contribution. Maybe it's you're struggling with the staff well-being. Ask one staff member, hey, what's one thing draining you right now? I might be able to help you with. Start with one and build from there and watch it compound over the next year. That's the final discovery in our 10-part series on church staff health from our church staff health assessment, but it's just the beginning of the conversation. Right? We've compiled everything, all the data, all the trends, all the practical insights into this free 200-page report. 10 discoveries, dozens of insights, hundreds of data points. And here, get out your pencil and paper, get in front of your computer. Not if you're driving, that would not be here's where you can get it. Churchstaffealth.com. Your churches and your staff's health is your church's health. And now you know what you need to do to actually move the needle. And if there's any way that I can help you or any of my colleagues at Chemistry Staffing can help you, maybe that's hiring staff, maybe it's doing specific health assessment for your own team to find out how your own team is doing. Reach out to me. I'd love to be able to help you and work with you. You can reach out to me anytime. Podcast at chemistry staffing.com. All right, that's it for today. I hope you've enjoyed this series. We always enjoy doing the church staff health assessment every year, but I'm always really excited to dig in and see what is actually happening in churches across the country. And I want to encourage you, man, at Chemistry Staffing, we are for you. We are on your side. We believe in you, we believe in the ministry of the church, and we believe that really when you take some of the information that you find in this church staff health assessment, that it can really make a difference. It can make a difference in your leadership, it can make a difference in your staff. And man, it's going to make a difference in your congregation, in your church, and ultimately in your community. Kingdom growth and kingdom health will come out of the insights that are in this report. That's why we do it. So make sure you download it, churchstaffhealth.com. I'm rambling at this point, but I'm proud of you. Keep doing the work that God has called you and have a great day.