Before You Go - Evaluating Expectations and Realities

This episode focuses on the critical importance of aligning expectations with reality when transitioning to a new church role. By addressing job responsibilities, performance metrics, and support resources, the discussion highlights how clear communication can prevent burnout and enhance job satisfaction throughout church staff transitions.

• Aligning expectations as a foundation for healthy transitions 
• Understanding job responsibilities and aligning them with reality 
• Importance of discussing performance metrics and church goals 
• Clarifying workload and work-life balance expectations 
• Outlining necessary support and resources for success 
• Identifying red flags in mismatched expectations during interviews 
• Emphasizing direct communication to prevent misunderstandings 

**If you'd like a copy of Wade Hodges' book, just email Podcast at chemistrystaffing.com.**

Have questions or comments?  Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com

Be sure to subscribe to The Healthy Church Staff Podcast wherever you regularly listen to podcasts.

- - - - -

Is Your Church Hiring?
If your church is searching for a new staff member, reach out to Todd for a conversation on how he might be able to help.

Are You Looking for a New Ministry Role?
If you are open to a new church role in the next few months, add your free resume and profile at ChemistryStaffing.com.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

Hey there , welcome to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast . I'm Todd Rhodes , one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom . Today we're going to continue our series on Before you Go . It's based on a book by Wade Hodges talking about before you leave your current church , before you go to your next church . What are some of the things you should dig into with your prospective church , the church you're considering going to . What are some questions you should be asking ? And today we're going to be talking about how to align your expectations with the reality of a new role . Are the church's expectations for you clear and realistic and do they match really what you're expecting ? We talked about this a little bit earlier when we introduced this whole culture , part of looking at things .

Speaker 1 0:47

But one of the biggest challenges in any transition and it starts actually during the interview process , even before you accept a position one of the biggest challenges is managing expectations . I hear we work with churches all the time and sometimes we'll hear from churches that , hey , we're interviewing this candidate , we really like him , but then we followed up with him afterwards . It's been three days . He's not replied to our email . That's an expectation that the church has Candidates . At the same time , when we're talking to them . They have expectations and they're like man . I really like this church , but they didn't do this . The church missed an expectation . Part of the dance of discovering whether or not this church is going to be a good church for you and whether you're going to be a good fit for this church is managing these expectations , and Wade in his emphasizes and reminds us that mismatched expectations can really lead to frustration . They lead to disappointment and , over the long haul , lead to burnout . Those couple of examples I just gave you they led to frustration . Frustration can come really quick . Disappointment can happen overnight . Burnout happens over time . Okay , but it's all because of not having the same expectations or having mismatched expectations , okay . So understanding what's expected of you and communicating what you expect , man , it's just absolutely crucial for a good transition . It's absolutely crucial for a healthy transition .

Speaker 1 2:31

So what are some key areas when it comes to expectations ? What are some key areas that you should evaluate the evaluation right ? First one is job responsibilities . Are the expectations for your role clearly defined ? Does the job description align with what's being communicated ? And you got to watch job descriptions are tricky . You got to watch it .

Speaker 1 2:53

You may be handed a job description from a person that was there 20 years ago and they just haven't updated the job description . The job description may or may not be accurate , so you're going to want to dig in and ask some questions about okay , says this here . Is this really explain that to me ? Figure out the expectations that are written and the expectations that are unwritten . So , job responsibilities that's the first thing you're going to want to dig into and ask some questions about . And most of these questions , honestly , are going to come . Probably not . They're not going to come on the first interview , probably not going to come on the second interview . They're probably going to come on either your first or your second site visit , when you're actually meeting with the leadership team at this church . You're going to ask really some these are some nitty gritty things you need to dig into when it's you know you're dating , you're serious , you're about to get engaged , right . So you're doing these checks and balances here .

Speaker 1 3:50

So the first is make sure your expectations and that they all match when it comes to job responsibilities , but also make sure that they match when it comes to the metrics that they're going to measure you on . How are they going to , how are you going to know and how are they going to know that six months a year , 18 months , five years , in that you're doing a good job ? How does the church measure success in your role ? Those are some questions you need to ask . Are these metrics realistic If they're a church of 100 and they say we want to be a church of 1,000 in 18 months ? Is that realistic ? Is that achievable ? Make Understand the metrics and that the expectations for both you and the church align . And then , what are the expectations of the people in the church , the congregation ? What does the congregation and the leadership expect for you , even in terms of preaching and leadership , community involvement and all those tasks ? What expectations do you have ? What expectations did they bring to the table ? Do you match up Workload and schedule ? Is the workload manageable ? Are you understaffed ? Does the church support a healthy work-life balance ? Are there unspoken expectations for long hours ? Are you on call 24-7 ? Those are all expectations .

Speaker 1 5:10

If the church has expectations that you think are unreasonable , this is the time to figure that out and have that conversation . You don't want to have that conversation six months in . It will not end well for you , it just won't . And then , finally , support and resources . Will you have the staff ? Will you have the support ? Will you have the budget ? Will you have the tools that you really need to succeed in your role ? And again , your expectation might be way up here . Their expectation might be down here . You might say I might need an assistant and a worship and a youth guy and gal . And they might say , no , we don't have budget for that . You've got Mildred . Who will help screen your phone calls ? Those are mismatched expectations . You need to make sure that you are all on the same page . So here's the bottom line for today Clear , realistic expectations . They're the foundation of a healthy start in your new role .

Speaker 1 6:13

If you don't have clear and healthy and realistic expectations , it may be a rough haul for you and the red flag . If you come out of that first interview and there are some areas where you don't see eye to eye on some of these expectations , there should be red flags being thrown all over the place . How do you get there ? You ask direct questions during your interviews , you pray about it , make sure that God gives you a peace and you discuss all of those things that we just talked about and make sure that you feel comfortable with any of those . If there's any yellow flags there .

Speaker 1 6:49

This is the time I can't stress this enough Before you accept the job is the time to work out any kind of perceived mismatched expectations . It's imperative on you and it's imperative on the church to be upfront about what you need to succeed and how well you're going to match up and how good of a match this is going to be moving forward . Any questions , you can reach me anytime . Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom . I'd love to hear from you and if you'd like a copy of Wade Hodge's book it's called Before you Go Questions , every Pastor Should Ask Before Taking on a New Role just pop me an email .

Speaker 1 7:25

Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom . It's a fantastic book . It's absolutely free . It's a gift to us from us to you here , from Chemistry Staffing . If there's any way I can help you or your church anytime , just reach out . Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom . All right ? Thanks so much for spending some time with me today . It means so much that you take eight minutes out of your day every day to listen to what I have to say . Hopefully it's helpful to you and hopefully you will subscribe and be back here again tomorrow . Thanks so much .