The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
We're all about helping create a healthy, positive, and spiritually positive environment for church staff members and leadership teams.
The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
From 'Overlooked' to 'Essential': Recognizing Staff Contributions
Do you ever wonder if a simple 'thank you' could transform your church staff's work environment? As Todd Rhodes of chemistrystaffing.com unravels the threads of staff appreciation in faith-based teams, we're enlightened by the stark contrast between those who feel cherished and those who feel unnoticed. The Healthy Church Staff Assessment's revelations guide our journey, shedding light on the 76% basking in the warmth of respect from peers, and the 24% left in the shadows, questioning their worth in the team. This episode is a treasure trove of strategies destined to uplift the undervalued, magnify unseen efforts, and bestow meaningful project ownership, all leading to a more united and empowered church community.
With a focus on actionable insights, we get personal about the significance of feeling valued and how it can dramatically affect the quality of teamwork and staff morale. Rhodes compels us to celebrate the success of existing recognition programs and the supportive leadership that nurtures a positive atmosphere. Yet we don't shy away from the challenging task of engaging with the 24% on the fringe, contemplating how to best help them gain a sense of recognition and respect. This episode isn't just talk; it's a call to action for leaders to listen closely, act thoughtfully, and ensure every staff member feels their contributions are pivotal to the church's mission. Join us for an episode that's as much about nurturing the human spirit as it is about fostering team dynamics.
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Do your staff feel appreciated by other staff members, their colleagues, or are they feeling unacknowledged? We're going to talk about that today, right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. My name is Todd Rhodes, I'm one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom and thanks so much for joining us today. Do your staff feel appreciated? And, if you're on a staff, do you feel appreciated? These are the results that we got from last year's Healthy Church Staff Assessment that we did. It had over 1,000 people, 1,000 staff members respond, and it turns out that about 76% of church staff say well, yeah, I actually do feel respected, acknowledged by my coworkers, I feel like they value my work, I value their work and that's great. But in everything that we've mentioned, 76% is great. But what about the 24%? We're going to unpack that a little bit. Let's make sure that your church is a place where everybody feels like their work matters. So we're going to unpack that a little bit. Let's make sure that your church is a place where everybody feels like their work matters. So we're going to unpack those survey results.
Speaker 1:As we said, 76% feel valued and respected in their work. Now, that mileage may vary a bit in your church. Some churches do really great in this area. Other churches don't. But overall, 76 is pretty good. But there's 9% that feel the opposite, that feel very unappreciated. And then there's another 14% that are just unsure. They're neutral, they're in the middle, they've got a foot on both sides of that fence, which is just a very uncomfortable position. I don't know if you've ever tried to straddle a fence for a long, but I haven't. It's not comfortable. We're going to talk about the 14% as well. Really, every voice matters in building a great team.
Speaker 1:So let's unpack these three groups. Let's first talk about the positive responses and, as we said, 76% positive on this idea of feeling valued by your colleagues. That means something good's happening, and maybe your church has some recognition programs, maybe a team that supports each other, or just leaders who are really good at praising people publicly. Whatever it is, don't stop doing it. Those things that are going really well, do more of those things that are going really well. Reward that positive behavior, tie it back to your mission. Every chance you get, remind everybody how crucial it is to work together. Where things are going well, make them go even better. Okay, so make that 76% go up as much as you can, all right.
Speaker 1:So let's talk next about those that don't feel recognized, that don't feel respected. And again, that's about 9%. Let's just stop it, just for hoots and hollers. Let's say 10% one in 10 that feel unappreciated. How do you reach those people? Do your people feel like their voice is just kind of lost in the crowd?
Speaker 1:If you are a leader of your staff, dig in and find out the specific problem. Maybe it's more feedback, maybe the staff member needs some more feedback. Maybe it's spotlighting those that are behind the scenes or in those kind of unseen roles, or we're giving people ownership over a project. All of those things can be really helpful to help people feel like they're recognized and that they're respected. It goes back to what we've been talking about all this week, which is just fostering an atmosphere of teamwork on your team. Okay, so that's the 9% that feel unappreciated. You really have to do your best to identify who they are first of all, and then figure out how can I help them to feel recognized, how can I help them to feel respected?
Speaker 1:All right, so let's talk about the neutrals, and the neutrals come out in this question to be about 14%. So maybe they're new on your staff, maybe they're like we said, maybe they work behind the scenes, maybe they're okay and they don't ever like to. Maybe they get uncomfortable when they're recognized. That might be something, but they're neutral Some days. Maybe they feel good about it, some days they don't and they're unsure if their contributions are really valued. So what you need to do with the neutral group, just like with what you need to do with those that are unappreciated, is change that any way that you can. Again, maybe it's just giving them a little bit more authority or putting them in charge of a small project. Maybe it's just giving them a little bit more authority or putting them in charge of a small project. Maybe it's just a bit of encouragement.
Speaker 1:I think so many times we underestimate how much our words and our encouraging words mean to people. Even a public thank you at a staff meeting or even from the pulpit at times for a job well done, just saying, hey, this person just really knocked it out of the park and maybe just directly ask them hey, how are you feeling in this area? Do you feel like we appreciate you? What would make you feel more appreciated? How can we make you feel a more integral part of the team? That's really what.
Speaker 1:A lot of the things that we learned in the church staff health assessment were from last year is that, hey, we've got a pretty good benchmark here, but, man, there's some areas that we can really approve Even with that. What was it? 76% that feel good about it? What would it look like if we could get that to 100%? Now, that might be unrealistic, right, but just think if you could get closer and closer to that 100% of your team feeling valued, of your team supporting each other, of your team really feeling like they're a part of something. That's making a difference. What would that do to your staff, to your morale and to your effectiveness as a church and the effectiveness of the ministries that they lead? It would be huge.
Speaker 1:When staff feel valued, I'm telling you, in my previous and current life actually, I help run a church staffing firm. We help churches all over the country find church staff members and I can tell you that staff, when they feel valued and a part of the team and the morale is high on a church team, people will stick around longer. It's when they don't feel valued, it's when morale is bad, it's when communication suffers that people start looking and that's when they're calling me and saying Todd, can you help me find my next role? Not always, but sometimes it has to do with kind of a lack of teamwork, a lack of communication, lack of belonging, a lack of feeling like their work is valuable. Anything that you can do as a church staff leader, anything that you can do as a church staff person to get to a point where you're healthy in these areas, it's going to make a huge difference in how long and how effective your reign at your church is. That's my two cents on the subject. Can I just encourage you to do one thing Build into the team that you have. Build into the team that you have. Help them feel encouraged, help them to feel valuable, help them to feel like they've got some input and help them to feel like they're making a difference.
Speaker 1:Hey, if you've not taken so far the 2024 Church Staff Health Assessment, I hope that you will do that today. Had a few hundred people take it already, we still need a few hundred people to reach our goal for the assessment for this year. It's absolutely free to take and we'll send you a free report based on your answers. It's an individualized report. We'll send that to you right after you take the assessment. Like I said, it's free of charge. You can just take it at churchstaffassessmentcom churchstaffassessmentcom, and I hope you will join us next time right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. If you're a member of a church staff and you enjoy this podcast, could you maybe leave us a review A good review, hopefully, but leave us a review or just share with your team, with your staff. Hey, I listened to this podcast. I think you might like it, share the link with them, and I would really appreciate that. All right, have a great day and we will see you back here on the next edition of the Healthy Future Channel.
