How Can I Supervise People Whose Jobs I Don’t Know How to Do?
Most supervisors must supervise people whose work they could not do. One key to success is a well-written job description.
supervision
Fixing a Toxic Team
Transforming the culture of a toxic team is hard work, and it begins with looking at the team’s behavioral norms.
Navigating the Congregation’s Reaction to a Firing
Terminating a staff member is difficult under the best of circumstances. When the congregation gets reactive in response to the termination, leadership becomes especially tricky. Five guiding principles can help you navigate the turbulence than follows a dismissal.
Eight Tips for Managing Part-Time Staff
Part-time employment relationships are on the rise. Many congregations are converting full-time positions into part-time roles due to declining budgets and the rising cost of benefits. Part-timers offer many advantages to a staff team, but they also pose unique supervisory challenges.
Supervision and Cultural Differences
Performance management conversations are inherently difficult. It is just hard to talk with another about failed expectations. When the supervisor and employee don’t share similar cultural backgrounds, these conversations can be treacherous.
How Many People Can a Pastor Supervise?
Only the largest congregations have the resources to hire full-time supervisors. The average congregation employs a “head of staff” who also preaches, teaches, provides pastoral care, leads mission and ministry, and guides the work of the board. Given this breadth of responsibility, how many employees can a pastor effectively supervise?
What Can We Expect, When We Pay So Little?
Healthy employment relationships require accountability. Accountability involves setting clear expectations, providing ongoing feedback, and inviting employees to step it up if performance falls short of expectations. This fundamental cycle of communication seems easy enough to grasp, in theory. In practice, many of us demonstrate a failure of nerve when it comes to holding church employees accountable. We grapple with whether we can expect much from our employees, especially when we pay them so little.