from 30K feet

Performance Appraisals

If you lead a team of people, then you need to put some thought into how you can give them feedback on what they do. I am currently in the process of conducting performance appraisals for the staff I lead. This is somewhat of an experiment since I have never done them before.

So what tools do you use? How do you do it?

What you are trying to accomplish will influence how you do these reviews.

DON'TS

• I didn't want to "rate" their job performance. This only causes problems because it can tend to be subjective. What you see as a 10, I might only see as a 7. Plus, if you are going to rate someone you better have given them very clear expectations of what you are rating them on.
• I am not using these reviews for terminating employment or justifying raises.

DO'S

• I want to bring more clarity to every one's role. Their input is crucial.
• I want to get people working where they are gifted and energized. I can observe this but they can give better insight into what they love to do.
• Everyone likes to know where they are being successful.

Our performance appraisal has three parts.

1. Their input
2. My input
3. Collaborated summary

I borrowed the basis of this PA from some church that I am willing to give credit, but I can't remember where I got it. Old age I guess.

Download Fellowship Kids Performance Appraisal

How are you organized?

There are fundamentally two different ways to organize your team in children's ministry.

1. Organize by Area
2. Organize by Function

Both of these have advantages and disadvantages. After my first year at Southside, I reorganized primarily because of the staff that I had.

Here is how I think about it:

Organize by Area

This is a fairly traditional method of organizing. You will staff based on your different departments which are usually based on age groups. Most churches have a preschool and elementary department and maybe even the nursery is separated into its own group.

Advantage: Your team can give focused effort towards leadership development and it allows for growth.

Disadvantage: This can create a silo effect and you will likely have a duplication of effort.

Our Preschool Director was very organized and a great recruiter but these were not the gifts of the Elementary Director. Consequently, the preschool area was well staffed but the elementary area struggled. It created an "us" verse "them" mentality.

Organized by Function

This type of organizing keys on specific roles that are used throughout your ministry. You will staff based on crucial roles.

Advantage: It allows you to maximize people's giftedness and leverage it for broader influence.

Disadvantage: Becomes more difficult with growth. Great leaders who multiply is a must.

Soon after taking the job, I lost my elementary director so I had to reorganize. I choose to reorg. by function so that my best recruiter was recruiting for the whole ministry instead of just one department. As we grow, I am re-looking at how we need to be organized to carry us into the future.

Organizational Structure

Have you given much thought to your organizational structure?

Clarity of roles id crucial not only for your current situation but also as you grow. Clarified roles will allow you to put the right people in each position so they may greater use their gifts and talents.

In addition, a well organized reporting structure will allow you to maximize your work as a team. As you think about you organizational structure make sure it allows for leadership development and multiplication or you will soon find yourself in a leadership crisis.

There are very easy ways to start thinking about your organizational structure. One of my favorite ways is to draw everything out on a white board.

First, list everyone you have within the team you lead, both paid and volunteer. Also make a quick note of the role they play. (You don't have to go into tons of details now. Save that for later when you clarify each person's role.)

Second, begin thinking about who are your key people. I know everyone is replaceable but think of the people who carry the most responsibility. Who are your leader of leaders?

Third, begin drawing out the structure using traditional boxes and lines.

Some things to think about:

1. Organize based on area or function?
2. Is the structure simple or complex?
3. Is everyone included?
4. Is the reporting structure balanced?

While this is not our current structure, this is what I am thinking in the years to come.  And there are likely position that will be needed that are not included yet.

  Download Future Organizational Chart

Taking time to write

As a guy, I am not really into keeping a diary but I do like to write. So instead of writing in a journal I choose to call it a journal instead. While I am not really all that good at, the discipline of putting your thoughts on paper will help you in other areas.

• As a leader, you have to cast vision and communicate all the time. Writing down your thoughts will help you think more clearly as a communicator. Many times I have gone back and read what I have written only to find it makes no sense. Oh, somewhere deep in my mind it makes sense but it wouldn't to anyone else. Writing helps develop the skills of communicating clearly.

• As a leader, you always need to be growing. Over time, keeping a journal will give you a glimpse into where and how you have grown. When I read the things I wrote a year ago, I can see the journey God has lead me on. It gives me courage to move ahead.

• Writing helps you record historical moments that allow you to praise God for how He is working in your life and ministry. Many times I have gone back and read an amazing thing that God has done. I was praising Him then and it gives me a chance to praise Him again.

• Keeping a journal helps you gage your spiritual temperature. There are times when I am at a loss for what to write. Usually this happens when I am too busy or too tired which is a great warning light that something needs to change.

I am sure there are other benefits but these are just a few. Grab a simple spiral notebook, your favorite pen and a comfortable chair and start writing. It will help you as a leader.

Knowing God

Often times as we lead Children's Ministry, we try to boil down what we do to the basic element. It helps us as leaders assess if we are doing the right things. Andy Stanley would call this identifying the win.

Our focus in Fellowship Kids has been to help our children know God more. We try to focus our teachers and leaders on pointing our children towards knowing God. I am convinced more and more that we have to help our children understand better the almighty God. The truth is all of us see God too small and see ourselves too big.

I am currently teaching a very small class on Sunday mornings of 4th and 5th graders and we have begun to go through the Bible chronologically but first we talked through who God is. As we began in Genesis, they groaned at having to go through the Creation story again. They have heard it hundreds of times and know all the facts and details. But I wanted them to go through it and see God in the whole thing based on what we had just studied about Him.

We say all the time that the Bible is God's One Big Story. I realized that they knew it was one story written by God but failed to see it as one story written about God.  

Communication and Focus

I have found that there is a connection between communication and focus. Our focus is reflected in what we communicate and what we communicate influences the focus of those we lead. 

If you find the people you lead and the volunteers you serve are focusing on the wrong things, then take a look at what you are communicating to them.  

If you want their focus to be on ministry but all you talk about is administration and strategy, then that is where their focus will be. Ultimately that is where your focus is.

How do you fix it?

Start by changing the things you focus on and then reflect it in your communication. Soon you will find those you lead changing their focus too.

Reflection Mode

Have you ever had one of those days where you are in major reflection mode?

Well, today was that day for me. I really didn't want to work on any of the normal tasks but instead all I wanted to do was sit and talk and dream. I realized that if you get out of the habit of dreaming it can begin to feel foreign.

We went to lunch as a staff to enjoy some food and chat some about what the future might look like. We need to do it more often.

The Right Focus

I use the fitness room where we live during the week as I continue to rehab my torn achilles tendon. Every morning this kid is in there working out on the ancient equipment.

Now I have never been into the whole pumping iron thing but I have been in the gym enough to know this kid needs some help with the exercises he is doing. This morning as I ran on the elliptical machine, the only piece of equipment I am allowed to use, I began thinking about this kid as I watched him workout.

• This kid does not lack dedication. I only use the equipment a couple of times a week and he is always there at 5:50 am.

• He has the right resources. While the equipment is out dated, it still works. (plus he has some nice lifting gloves)

• He cares about progress because he is constantly checking out the development of his "guns"

• His goal is a little off. He obviously believes lifting the most plates instead of form is the key to success. 

Here is what I came away with.

You can have dedication, the right resources, and a focus on progress but if your process is messed up and you lose the attention to details, then you will struggle to get the results you are hoping for. It is true for pumping iron and it is true in our spiritual lives and ministry too.

Refining the Vision on Volunteers

Our team has been talking a lot about volunteers as we look to staff through the summer and for the next Fall. Our conversations spurs ideas and values that will shape how we see and use volunteers. Here are a couple of those thoughts.

• Recruit people to ministry not a position - When you have big needs in certain areas it is easy to begin recruiting for a position. Example: we need a teacher in the 2 year old class during the 10:00 service. People are more likely to rule themselves out on this and it screams that something is wrong in this area. Instead we want to recruit people to reach into the lives of kids and then place them where we need them.

• Fill roles based on people's gifts AND your greatest need -I know we want to match people up with where they feel "called" and where they are gifted but it can create a self-serving volunteer base that never fills your greatest needs. If you are recruiting with the first point in mind then you will have people focused on where they can be used more than where they want to plug in.

• Recruit people who think ministry first / self second - This means you may have to pass on the person who says they can only serve the 4th Sunday of the month and only during the 10:00 service. The truth is people whose heart cries out, "use me where and whenever you need me" are much more valuable. This is the attitude we need to foster and encourage.

Summer Intern: Part 2

Playing off my previous post, I have put some more thought into this Summer Internship thing.

When you think of getting a summer intern, what comes to your mind?

• Someone to take over VBS this year.
• A new person to do the recruitting for the Fall.
• An able body to organize the registration for the new year.
• The intern can <fill in any job you don't want to do>

When I interviewed the potential intern... let's call Bethany the PI. When I interviewed the PI, I asked her if she wanted to learn about working in Children's Ministry or learn about leading it. Thankfully, she said she wanted to learn about leading it. (that just happens to be one of my favorite subjects) She said her goal was to learn about leading CM to help her discern if that might be a future direction God is calling her to.

Great reason!

Instead of seeing her as cheap motivated labor, I plan to invest in her as a future colleague and maybe even team member. The potential is endless and it will be very cool to see what God does with it.