Executive Pastor Online

Are you a fan of 360 degree performance appraisals?  Does the anonymous nature of the feedback bother you?  We're nearing the end of the process now and it's been interesting.  The assessments have been published and the staff is now reading, considering, and responding to their feedback.

I’ve done this a number of times and this time is no exception. In my case 98% of the assessment is right on, accurately identifying both my strengths and weaknesses. However, there are a few comments that “sting” a bit. I’m not necessarily surprised by them. It’s just a little difficult to see them in writing and to have to deal with them. Ouch!

A typical 360 degree review includes a self assessment and assessments by an individual’s manager, peers, and direct reports. Of course, in the church direct reports most often include a number of volunteers. The assessments are typically completed anonymously; assessors provide feedback without identifying themselves. In fact, the data is collected online and processed by a “third party company” (C3 Statistical Solutions) ensuring the anonymity is maintained.

The obvious advantage of anonymous feedback is that a person gets the “straight scoop” on the perception of others. In my experience there are a number of things a person thinks that they are not necessarily willing to tell me to my face. It is, never the less, important that I know about these perceptions in order to improve my relationships and overall effectiveness over time. Make sense?

Here’s the issue … especially in the church shouldn’t everyone be expected to speak the truth to one another face-to-face? In Matthew 18 Jesus teaches us how to workout our differences. Isn’t it true that if one is not willing to say it to a person’s face it shouldn’t be said anonymously in a review?

The truth is no matter how good we are at creating a “speak the truth to one another” culture in the church, there’s always going to be a certain amount of opinion that is not shared. There’s always going to be a certain amount of unresolved conflict. It’s the human condition. We’re all still sinners, remember?

So what do I say to the people that are thinking, “How do I resolve the conflict if I don’t know who gave me the feedback?” Good question! I’ve struggled with this question since I was first trained in giving and receiving feedback using 360 degree assessment tools. Here are a couple of facts. The chances are good (especially in a larger organization) that if one person is thinking it, others are as well. Therefore, the issue is not who said it … it’s what do I need to do to address it? And, in practice, there is plenty of opportunity to have one-on-one discussions with the team providing the feedback to ask questions about the feedback. Most often, especially in a healthy environment, people will “come clean” and help a person better understand what it is about their behavior that resulted in a criticism or observation.

In my opinion, doing an anonymous 360 on a regular basis is the best way to improve over time. It’s not painless, but it is the best way to really understand how what I am (or am not) doing affects others.

What do you think?

Comment (0) Read More...

Our staff is actively engaged in completing 360 assessments of one another. What a challenge! We've done this type of review for the last couple of years with marginal success. The biggest problem being that they are so much work, getting them done on time is practically impossible.

This year we're working with an outside company that provides a web-based tool to get the job done. We've been able to customize the assessment and it includes automated e-mail reminders.

So far, I would highly recommend these guys. The company we're using is C3 Statistical Solutions. They have been easy to work with and, so far anyway, an excellent resource.

Our reviews (reports) will be generated this coming Friday and will be delivered next week. We'll see how it goes.

Comment (0) Read More...

I wrote a post back in November entitled: Volunteerism - God's Staffing Model (read it here). The gist of it was that serving in the church is a very important part of spiritual development. And, as church leaders we should be asking more and more people to "get involved" in the various ministries of the church. I have often said, "There's no such thing as too many volunteers."

I remember a situation in our church where a couple of new volunteers showed up on Sunday to serve as ushers. They were told (I'm sure nicely) that they weren't needed that morning. I can't tell you how "wrong" this is! Needless to say, I didn't respond very favorabily when I was told about it. It was a great learning opportunity for the team leader. "There's no such thing as too many volunteers."

So how does this relate to automation? When is it appropriate to buy a piece of equipment or otherwise automate ... automation meaning reducing the number of volunteers needed?

A few years ago some of the folks in our office arranged a meeting with Pitney Bowes. You know, the company that provides postage machines and such. Anyway, the purpose of the meeting was to look at equipment that would "automate" the process of buying and applying postage to envelopes, postcards, etc. The cost was pretty steep, but as the salesperson put it, "you will recoup the cost in less than 2 years given the number of mailings your church does." I replied, "but we're a church. The people putting postage on our stuff are volunteers." I told him that we can't justify stuff through "labor savings." In fact, having a machine like this (as it relates to "labor") is not necessarily a good thing because it eliminates the need for a good number of volunteers.

A couple of days ago our Student Ministries guy ran across an article that I found interesting. In fact, it prompted this post. The article is entitled Divided by Communion and has nothing to do with my point. But, it does have a good example of when automation eliminated a number of volunteer positions. Here's just the first part ...

... retired engineer Wil Greenlee has invented a Communion cup filling machine, reducing the average time it takes to fill a 40-cup tray from 5 minutes to 2 seconds. The time savings really add up at Greenlee's church, massive Southeast Christian in Louisville, which goes through 20,000 cups of juice in three weekend services. A process that used to take a 75-member prep team two nights to complete can now be finished in one morning, and with less spillage.

So, what's the answer? I don't profess to know, but I do have an opinion. I think it's more a matter of kingdom impact or what the secular world calls "opportunity cost." There are a number of other benefits to automating the filling of communion cups. Right? There's less spillage (saving money on juice) and the new "machine" is much more sanitary. That's a good thing I guess.

The bigger benefit, though, is what else those 75 people could be doing. Could they be roaming the church's lobby meeting and greeting people? How about working in missions ... feeding the hungry or some other worthy, God honoring activity? Is there some other area requiring volunteers with their gifting and passion that is not being resourced? Probably.

So ... when should be automate to reduce the number of volunteers needed to accomplish a task? I would say only when the task can be greatly improved (quality of the work, less waste, more sanitary, etc.) and the volunteers impacted can be redeployed in even more kingdom impacting ways.

Comment (0) Read More...

Our annual Executive Pastor Summit concluded on this past Wednesday afternoon (1/16/08). In all there were 38 different Executive Pastors attending from around the country. Many of them attending for the first time. As I wrote in my last post, I always look forward to this annual opportunity to come together and discuss topics such as:

• Staff and Leadership
• Human Resources and Organizational Structure
• Church Operations
• Finance (Budgeting, etc.)
• Facilities (Security, etc.)
• Service Planning, Design, and Production
• Capital Campaigns and Building Programs

The Summit was held at the Hilton Garden Inn at Sea World in Orlando. The venue was pretty good but I prefer doing it on the Disney grounds. Last year we were at Coronado Springs, a Disney resort. Awesome! I'll be sure and make a case for going back to the Coronado next year!

I made a presentation to the group highlighting a new online tool for Senior Pastors and other church leaders called Executive Pastor Online. It's a "virtual Executive Pastor" providing church leaders with access to the knowledge and expertise of the Executive Pastor before they are able to staff that position themselves. The site also offers a secure (invitation only) back end for the Executive Pastor. It's an online environment for sharing information and facilitating discussions among Executive Pastors.

Comment (0) Read More...

We just completed one of a number of "major" events we have each year in Student Ministries - Countdown 2008.  It was a HUGE success!

We had more than 360 students (6th - 12th Grade) attend, many staying until 7 a.m. the morning of New Year's Day.  More than 150 of the students had never attended Impact or RIOT (Junior and Senior High) before.  That's the best part.

I can hardly wait until next year!

Comment (0) Read More...