Every month, I solicit questions from our community, and this time, many of you submitted some good ones! In this post, we’ll consider a question from a pastor like yourself:
“How do you handle a staff member or situation when you’re not satisfied with the creativity, ideas, or results they are producing?”
That’s a great question—one I believe every pastor (and leader, for that matter) continually faces.
Note: The suggestions in this post apply to both staff members and volunteers. And yes, volunteers can be fired, moved, or reassigned!
A Question That Leads to Other Questions
When you realize there’s a gap between what you want from a staff member and what you’re getting, you immediately begin asking additional questions like:
What’s wrong with them?!?
Kidding, but seriously, we do start questioning:
- Why can’t they do what is expected?
- What’s holding them back?
- Do they have what it takes?
- Should I move them? Release them?
These are all valid questions. But notice something—they’re all focused on them.
Why Won’t THEY Do Better?
Frustration lives in the gap between what’s expected and what’s experienced. Our question today exists in this gap. The pastor asking expects more creativity, ideas, and results. Let’s assume this staff member works in a creative or production role.
It’s fair for a leader to expect creativity and results from their team. But before we dive into the “them” questions, let’s first assess our role in the frustration.
If frustration occurs in the gap between experience and expectation, it’s the expectation side of the equation that allows for a gap. Therefore, expectations are where the analysis must begin.
Often, staff members are unaware or oblivious to the expectations of leadership. If you’re a leader, you might be thinking, “I’ve told them dozens of times!” Maybe you have, but perhaps they simply haven’t heard it correctly or clearly.
Often, what we say isn’t what is heard. Personalities and conflict avoidance on both sides of communication can make what is said to be far from clear.
What WE Should Evaluate First
When we find ourselves frustrated with a staff member, our first response should be a mirror, not a magnifying glass.
In the mirror, we must honestly reflect on the following questions:
1. Have I made the expectations abundantly clear?
Ask the staff member to repeat what they believe is expected. This isn’t overkill—it’s clarity. If you want to ensure what you’re saying is being heard, ask the hearer to repeat what you’ve said. I’ve even asked staff members to email me a few days later with what they understood from our conversation to ensure it was clear. A lack of clear communication falls on the speaker, not the listener.
2. Am I usurping their ability?
Leaders (not you, but others) have a tendency to ask for something and then micromanage the person being asked. If a staff member doesn’t have the freedom to execute your request, we cannot hold them accountable for the lack of results.
3. Have I given them authority?
If a staff member is given a task but not the authority to complete it, we should preemptively expect to experience a gap. Authority may mean giving them a team, budget, or decision rights.
4. Is failure acceptable in the organization?
This is a big one. If people don’t believe they can fail, they won’t take risks. In creative endeavors, risk and experimentation are required, making failure almost certain. Great leaders take risks and admit their failures to encourage their teams to follow suit.
5. Is my frustration subjective or objective?
Have you ever heard the phrase, “You don’t get art, it gets you?” In any creative space, subjective measures dominate. Be sure your assessment isn’t purely subjective.
These five questions are a great starting point for pinpointing the source of our frustration. Once we’ve honestly answered these questions, it’s time to refocus on the other side of the problem: them.
But we’ll touch on that in another post coming soon. Do the mirror work before you pick up a magnifying glass.
One More Thing…
You’re probably aware of our Church Accelerator Community. All our Partners have unlimited access to our resource section, full of courses, frameworks, supporting documents, and our new Custom AI tools (Sermon Outline Creator, Sermon Evaluator, Small Group Question Writer, and more).
In our resources, I have a full HR section containing an annual review process, one-on-one meeting guidelines, staff engagement surveys, and skip-level meeting questions. If you’re interested in growing as a leader, these documents and systems will help.
Partnership begins at $149 per month. The annual review framework is worth $499 alone. Don’t wait. Become a partner today.
If you’d like personalized coaching for you, a staff member, or your church, check out the Strategic Partner and Community Partner options. I limit the number of these options to maximize my investment in each church and pastor. Let me know if you are interested.
Leading With You,
