The goal of employee management is to provide support, encouragement and give feedback. It involves ongoing communication. In order for an individual to feel most cared for in their role, 3 things are necessary:
- Responsibilities clearly defined. Does the staff member know what is expected of him or her and what it takes to accomplish those duties? (See: Creating a Job Description)
- Authority given to carry out those responsibilities. Is the individual in the learning process? Do they need more or less involvement from you? Where are they in the coaching process? I do, you watch; we do together; you do, I watch; or you do and come to me when you need help.
- Accountability to provide integrity in performance. What happens if the staff member does a good job? A poor job? (See: Feedback, Recognition, and Career development)
Management/Leadership
Effective coaching involves ongoing, honest, two-way communication. It also involves consistent and well written documentation.
Both management and leadership skills are necessary in overseeing staff. Management focuses on the task at hand, systems, procedures, and processes. Leadership focuses on relationships, vision and motivation. Together these components help make a team effective.
One model, the Path-Goal Model, developed by Robert House, looks at how a good leader must identify the goal (usually job satisfaction or effectiveness/productivity) and what factors are holding an individual back (either through external or internal factors). Good leadership is demonstrated in helping the missionary to address areas internally or externally that are keeping the missionary from reaching the goal.
Some of those INTERNAL factors may be employee style, emotional health, physical health, spiritual health, confidence, experience, or understanding. EXTERNAL factors could include working relationships, task structure, tools, or processes/systems.
The GOAL for both the staff member and you as the supervisor in a ministry context are usually the same – fruitful ministry. Factors for the goal usually fall into two categories: Employee Satisfaction – work environment and passion for the job; Ministry Performance – seeing desired results, fruitfulness, etc. By helping the staff member identify those factors and providing a plan to exhort and help in those areas, ministry satisfaction and effectiveness can be increased.
When you notice that a missionary does not appear to be satisfied in their role, you can walk back through some of the internal and external factors that may be impacting that missionary to gain understanding as to why. Internal factors might include desire for change because he or she is bored, values or interests have changed, some emotional wounds may have been triggered of which the missionary is aware or unaware, etc. External factors might include conflict that is unresolved, organizational changes which the missionary has not “bought into”, etc.
You may also notice that the missionary has lost some effectiveness in their roles. This is also a good indication that further probing may be needed to understand why. External factors that might impact this could be a change in reporting structure – perhaps the missionary is not as comfortable or does not work as well with their new ministry supervisor. It could also be an internal factor such as confidence - perhaps they received feedback that has caused them to pull back or may have immobilized them.
Some of the tools listed in this section will help probe those internal and external factors.
TOOLS
Staff Working File
Every staff member should have a working file. The working file prevents a manager/supervisor from relying on his or her memory. Anything related to a staff member’s employment can be tracked in a working file. These files must be kept confidential and secured (locked away if a physical copy or password protected if electronic) and should only contain objective, observable information. Items that might be included in a working file include:
- Documentation of things the staff member has done very well – specific examples
- Copies of corrective actions or “Standards of Performance” documents that have been issued
- Time off requests
- Notes of one-on-one coaching times that are specific and refrain from assumptions
- Copies of annual performance evaluations
- Copy of the staff member’s job description
To restate, information kept in a working file should not include assumptions or subjective conclusions unless preceded by objective, observable examples. For example, the staff member has a bad attitude. This is subjective however could FOLLOW this information: the staff member yelled at Joe student on Friday, September 19th and did not speak to any of the staff during the staff meeting on Tuesday, September 23rd . The staff member has often kept their arms folded and frowned during team meetings over the past month leading me to the conclusion that the staff member is upset for some reason and is refusing to engage others in a positive manner.
Management/Coaching sessions
They are sometimes called one-on-ones, tune-ups, statuses, etc. Whatever they are called, they are vital to keeping lines of communication open between you and your staff member. It is the opportunity for expectations to be clarified, encouragement and constructive feedback to be given, and for the relationship to continue to be built. There are many tools to help you facilitate coaching conversations. A “Plus/Delta” and a “Start, Stop, Continue” are sample tools below.
Plus/Delta: A Plus/Delta is a method to do a “quick check” after a project, meeting, event, etc. One side of the “page” (or whiteboard for those of you that like those) are the “pluses” – what went well or things you would want to repeat. The right side is the “delta” – those things you’d want to change or do differently. This tool provides a good brainstorming mechanism.
Start, Stop, Continue: This is another tool that can help with communication, supervision, or even meetings. What would you like me to start doing? What am I currently doing that you would like me to stop? What are those things that work well and that you’d like me to continue?
SMART Goals
Writing good goals can help staff have clearly outlined expectations and give you a good measuring stick for how they have done with those goals. Writing goals that are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable (or Achievable), Results-Oriented and have a Timeframe can help your staff be successful. The measurable part of the goal can be either quantitative or qualitative. An example follows for both a quantitative and qualitative goal:
Poorly Written Quantitative Goal:
Focus on Ministry Team Development each week.
SMART Quantitative Goal:
Designate 4 hours per week towards MTD including making at least 5 calls resulting in additional monthly support of $50 per month.
Specific – 3 hours per week, 5 calls, $50 per month
Measurable – it is clear whether the staff member has accomplished the goal or not
Attainable – is this goal reasonable?
Results-Oriented (Quantitative)– goal is to continue to develop support. $50/month is a results-oriented goal.
Timeframe – each week
Poorly Written Qualitative Goal:
Lead/Facilitate a small group each week.
SMART Qualitative Goal:
Lead a small group every week with the goal of providing a “safe” environment where each person feels comfortable to contribute and where leaders are being developed. By end of semester, identify and begin meeting weekly with one individual (apprentice) who would like to grow into leading the small group. During this time with the apprentice focus on what is happening in her life, go through a book of the Bible together that you mutually choose and co-lead 2 small group times with the apprentice by the end of the semester.
Specific – Weekly group meeting, one apprentice, meet weekly
Measurable –Whether the staff member has led the small group each week, people have participated, and/or whether an apprentice has been identified can be measured.
Attainable – is this goal reasonable?
Results-Oriented (Qualitative) – goal is to have a small group where people are comfortable sharing and to develop an apprentice. By describing what success looks like, the staff member can see what “result” she is aiming for.
Timeframe – each week as well as by the end of the semester
Whether the goal is met or not, feedback is important. Some individuals feel that it is difficult or unfair to make ministry about reaching goals or performance. It is important to understand that the goal is faithfulness. Someone once said that success is cooperating with what God is doing in your life at the moment. If a goal is not met, the next question becomes why. This will be discussed in the Constructive Feedback section.
Knowing Styles: Yours and the person you are coaching
Understanding your own coaching style and being able to adapt to meet the need is one aspect of being a good coach. Knowing your strengths and areas of opportunity for coaching will help you adjust your style to match what your staff member needs. Some staff members need more time for the relational aspect of coaching where others prefer more direct task supervision. There are several models of leadership that can help with this.
The DISC profile and MBTI Personality Assessment are also excellent tools for understanding styles and have applications for coaching, communication, team dynamics as well as conflict resolution. Factors considered include how individuals best take in information – details or the “pieces” versus big picture; how individuals make decisions – objective criteria, logic, pros and cons versus beliefs and values and subjective considerations; whether individuals are more interested in coming to decision quickly and efficiently or feel the process is more important, etc. These factors impact how others hear information as well as how they communicate information. Some conflict situations in a management scenario may come up from how ideas are presented, discussed and decided to how an individual best “recharges” to be able to handle the demands of ministry.
Often times those differences in how we perceive information, make decisions or order our world are the things that can cause conflict in relationships including the supervisory relationship. As we learn how our styles impact others and how to interact with other styles, we can increase our effectiveness in leading and communicating with those we manage and support.
If you would like to look into these tools, please contact Missionary Resources. We have certified facilitators that can help your team identify, understand and learn ways to adapt their styles to increase effectiveness.
