By Eddie Hammett at EHammett@TheColumbiaPartnership.org
Download: Tough Times Calls for New Staffing Models
The tough economic times we are experiencing is forcing the downsizing of staff at every level of church, denomination, and judicatory life. Budgets are tightening and multiple challenges are created as to how to do more with less. Religious organizations are faced with the same, if not more, challenges than those in the business world. Churches are dependent on gifts and volunteers to keep the organization afloat financially. With many faced with decreases in funding, salaries, and even time available on the job, new staffing models are emerging.
As one who experienced a layoff I now feel launched to help create and evaluate new staffing models that might allow churches and other organizations continue to provide needed programs and ministries with excellence in spite of downsized staffs. What options are emerging? Let me simply highlight a few things I’m experimenting with over the next year or so. I would value very much your feedback and other ideas as we all learn together how to swim in these uncharted waters.
Learning to Swim in Uncharted Waters – New Staffing Models for the Church
We are living in days that are uncharted for most organizations. Many who survived the depression can teach us much that help us thrive in tough economic times. Questions emerge like:
- How do we continue to offer excellence in programming with reduced staff time, energy or personnel?
- How do you prevent layering responsibilities when layoffs occur and possibly burning out the staff that remains?
- How do we do more (because the needs are greater in these times for more persons) with less (personnel, money, energy, time)?
- Who is available to help when we can no longer afford benefit packages?
I believe these are days rich with possibilities and new paradigms for leadership and staffing. I will unpack these in forthcoming articles. These are approaches for you to consider:
- Create partnerships and alliances with organizations that can benefit from and desire outside expertise. These partnerships express themselves in different ways and are customized to the client’s need, budget, projects and places of leadership void.
- The partners buy a certain number of days of time to help them accomplish their goals and objectives within a short period of time. This might be project management, coaching a team facing a learning curve or providing training and consulting with their affiliated churches at a discount cost from what my typical daily rates would be.
- Buying time and expertise is not as expensive as employing a person full-time but allows them to have expert leadership for a designated time and at a discount because of the partnership. The level of experience and expertise allows the supervisor freedom to do other things and trust the assignment to a trusted and highly skilled consultant or coach.
- Hiring a coach in residence allows focused, intentional leadership as a coach works with a leader or leaders to keep them moving forward. This relieves others from having to supervise, and frees them up for other roles, and insures that the team accomplishes needed tasks in designated times. Much of this can be done by telephone and e-mail so travel of the coach is saved while the team’s task is completed with excellence.
- Utilizing the internet for web-based conferencing, webinars for training, and online forums and teleclasses designed and customized to move a group forward in excellence and efficiency without a further drain on existing staff.
- Denominations, churches and judicatories can outsource coaching and training events to skilled consultants and coaches. These services allow the supervisor to do other things and trust the experts to offer services that are customized to reach the organizations goals. This is still far less expensive than full-time staff but also insures that excellence prevails in a timely and cost-effective manner.
What experiences have you had that might verify these ideas? How would you improve these ideas? What are the pitfalls of these ideas in your organization?
Important Things to Know
Eddie Hammett is a Ministry Partner with The Columbia Partnership. He is a certified coach with the International Coach Federation. Recent books of which he is the author or co-author are Reaching People Under 40 While Keeping People Over 60, Spiritual Leadership in a Secular Age, and Making Shifts Without Making Waves. He is available to speaking and coaching with leaders, congregations, denominations, and parachurch organizations.
The Columbia Partnership is a non-profit Christian ministry organization focused on transforming the capacity of the North American Church to pursue and sustain Christ-centered ministry. Travel Free Learning is a leadership development emphasis of The Columbia Partnership. For more information about products and services check out the web site at www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org, send an e-mail to Client.Care@TheColumbiaPartnership.org, or call 803.622.0923.
