Surface to Soul - Manage Well

Reinvent your systems . . . everyday!

Vibrant, fruitful, growing congregations create a cycle of ongoing innovation and reinvent. It's a Spirit-driven process that involves asking powerful questions, the art of noticing, a willingness to experiment and prototype possibilities, and learn from our results. This training address reinvention from the mindset of discerning and developing a strategic vision and as a process embed reinvention into our daily lives and routines. Join the conversation, share your wisdom, and learn from others.

1 | RETHINK STRUCTURES

Align structure with purpose & priorities.
Establish operational values.
List outcomes for teams & programs.
Write job descriptions for teams.
Keep structure simple & strategic.
Create scorecards/wins for ministry..
Assess staff & structure regularly.
Inform leaders about structure/process.
Create leadership roster (master list).
Reduce friction; increase collaboration.
Create a leadership planning calendar.

2 | RETHINK STAFFING

Roles - separate between major & minor roles..
Define your rocks; schedule time for them.
Create space for rest, rethinking, and reinvention.
Leaders raise up new leaders to multiply ministries.
Make reviewing results your norm.
Get the right people on the bus; in the right seats.
Build on strengths; work around weaknesses.
Help leaders lead better meetings.
Make staff review self-led; more future-oriented.
Create plans for checking the pulse of your leaders..
Use coaching principles to empower your teams.

3 | RETHINK CHURCH NORMS

Connect whats to whys.
Challenge everything; assign people to observe.
Create norms for setting & reviewing goals.
Create norms for evaluating events & programs.
Create 1-page ministry plans; include deadlines.
Include "next steps" in your meeting agendas.
Share "Why Transformation Efforts fail with leaders.
Create new norms for onboarding/evaluating staff.
Ask new people to help you see with new eyes.
Use CTAD form for programs & processes.
Experiment with "clean slate" exercises.

SAMPLE NEXT STEPS

1 | Streamline our church structure

IDEAS FOR NEXT STEPS

Assess our current church structure (what's working/what's not working).
Clarify the role of committees, teams, task forces, and project coordinators.
Create job descriptions for team members.
Establish criteria and process for selecting vision team members.
Discern the appropriate size and meeting frequency of our teams.
Create and maintain a current list of all ministry leaders.
Assign a person to send monthly updates to ministry leaders.
Establish quarterly "check-ins" with volunteer leaders to support their efforts.

QUESTIONS

If we were a brand new church, how would we organize ourself?
How do we differentiate between board and staff roles?
How large should committees/teams be?
How often to our committees/teams need to meet?
How will help leaders stay abreast of what's most important?
How can we help all leaders be ambassadors of our mission?
What types of ministries can be done outside of a committee?
Which committee/team job descriptions need to be updated?
How often are job descriptions updated? Who updates them?

2 | Design new norms for onboarding & developing staff

IDEAS FOR NEXT STEPS

Update Leadership Toolkit; reintroduce to lay/elected leaders.
Update Employee Handbook.
Embed 15-minute leadership training modules into Board meetings..
Assist paid staff with setting 5 annual goals (3 ministry/1 development/1 self-care).
Train paid and unpaid leaders to listen, observe, evaluate, and experiment.
Create a roster of current ministry leaders to support increased collaboration..

QUESTIONS

Does your church have a current strategic plan?
What's the status of your ministry teams/committees?
What's working? What's not working?
What's for process for onboarding members? Leaders?
Are we staffed for the past, present, or future?
List expectations you have for members.

3 | Help leaders plan and leader better meetings

IDEAS FOR NEXT STEPS

Create video training series to teach leaders how to lead impactful meetings.
Work with lay leadership teams to use and submit meeting planner forms.
Equip paid staff to help lay leaders build meeting agendas and action steps.
Help teams to create one-page ministry maps related to annual goals.
Help leaders design different meetings based on different meeting outcomes.
Explore ways to move meetings out into the community.

QUESTIONS

What prevents people from befriending others?
What norms can be create help people befriend?
Is it safe for people to let their guard down?
Do your leaders regularly befriend?
Which church events are idea for befriending?

4 | Use Rethinking Norms forms to reimagine worship & communications

IDEAS FOR NEXT STEPS

Contract with worship consultant to assess our worship services.
Develop a worship evaluation tools that helps us assess the right things.
Form worship and communications task forces to help us rethink our norms.
Contract with a coach for 6 sessions to new opportunities to observe & experiment.
Develop 1-page project road maps to guide our next steps.
Develop evaluation tools to assess the new norms we experiment with.

QUESTIONS