An important part of developing infrastructure related to staff, the definition of authority, compensation, duties, and responsibilities, etc. is the Organizational Chart. It seems like a “lost art” these days, however.
What do I mean? Nine times out of 10, when I ask a church leader if they have an organizational chart for their church staff, they say “no.” I’m like, “Why not?” They usually say that they’ve never needed one, but when I get into issues they’re dealing with or otherwise helping them with infrastructure development, I discover they do need one.
Here’s what I’m recommending. Somewhere in your documentation related to the staff you should have a revision controlled document that shows the organizational structure. From there, you should be keeping it updated and readily available to everyone on staff. Make sense?
I know it seems pretty simple, but it always surprises me the number of leaders who do not have their organizational structure documented.
It’s pretty easy to do. PowerPoint has organization chart functionality, as does Word, Visio, and pretty much any good drawing or charting application. We’re now using Gliffy.Com for all of our charts. It works best with our New Management System. (Read more about the New Management System HERE.)
Click HERE to view an example copy of a Ministry Staff organizational chart.