Last week I wrote about “The Rule of Eight” as it relates to leadership team meetings. I also shared the “Two Transitions Every Growing Church Must Face.” Today, I’d like to continue this conversation by addressing this challenge: How do we keep everyone informed if everyone isn’t at the leadership team meetings?
First of all, let me just state the obvious–you can’t invite everyone to the meeting. That’s a big challenge for pastors who are typically inclined to be people pleasers. Because of that, you want to invite everyone because you don’t want anyone to be left out. You don’t want to hurt their feelings. What distinguishes leaders, though, is that they weigh the impact on individuals, but the overall health of the church always prevails.
This is actually an important principle that applies to many areas in the church aside from leadership.
- We should never let someone teach others if they don’t have the gift of teaching. The overall health of the church is more important than the feelings of the person who thinks they can teach.
- We should never let someone lead worship if they don’t have the ability to stay on pitch. The overall health of the church is more important than the feelings of the person who thinks they can sing.
- We should never let someone attend the leadership team meeting if they don’t have the leadership gift. The overall health of the church is more important than the feelings of the person who thinks they can lead.
You get the point. We shouldn’t give people a platform because they think they deserve the platform. There are times when we need to say no. That includes making sure we have the right mix of leaders in the our leadership team meetings.
So, how do we keep the entire team engaged if everyone can’t attend the leadership team meetings? I’ve shared these before, but let me offer these specifics.
Ministry Team Meetings
The leadership team should be focusing on the strategic direction of the ministry. That means there are still are many conversations and decisions needed to execute that strategy. These should happen at the ministry team level rather than the leadership team level. Ministry teams will need regular meetings that include support staff, volunteers and other leaders. The primary focus of these gatherings should be execution. They’re deciding how do we get it done?
All-Staff Meetings
I also recommend you use regular all-staff meetings to share vision, information and stories with everyone. Remember, though, these are not decision-making meetings. That’s where “The Rule of Eight” comes into play. The goal of these all-staff gatherings is to keep everyone on the same page and pulling in the same direction. That’s easier to do if you have shared vision, values and stories.
Communications After the Meeting
At the conclusion of every meeting, you need to answer two key questions. The first is what are the action steps? It’s pointless to gather as a leadership team if it doesn’t lead to action. And, once you determine that next steps that are required, someone needs to own it. Who will be responsible?
The second key question is what needs to immediately be communicated? Patrick Lencioni calls this “cascading communications.” You need to determine what our the priority messages that need to be communicated to the rest of the team. These communications should happen face-to-face (not email) and they should happen as soon as possible. By being intentional in this way, you will limit the activity of the rumor mill and you will give people the opportunity to contribute questions and ideas.
Most important, letting ministry teams execute, gathering the entire staff and being intentional with communications all help to build trust. When trust is present, people will be more fulfilled in using their gifts to further the mission of the church and more supportive of letting the leaders lead.
