The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
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The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
The Church Staff Role No One Wants (But Everyone Needs)
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Hey, there, I'm Todd Rhodes, one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom, and you're listening to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Everybody has a team. Maybe your team is really healthy, maybe they're very dysfunctional, but regardless of that, what if the one person who could really transform your church staff culture and your church staff team and make it much better, what if that one person is the one person that you've been ignoring or resisting? Every team needs a truth teller, but most churches don't want to make room for one, and that might be why the dysfunction that you feel sometimes, that kind of feeling that you have in the pit of your stomach. It's just not going anywhere. Stick around. We're going to talk about the role that nobody wants but every team needs, and that is the truth teller. The truth teller it's a role that risks everything.
Speaker 1:Not every church staff hero has a mic. Some have a mirror, and these are the people, the truth tellers, who lovingly disrupt, sometimes when you don't want them to. They're the people who challenge your thinking. Two they're the people who challenge your thinking, perhaps when you don't want them to, but they do it not because they're cynical or because they're just complainers. They do it because they really care deeply. They are the ones on your team that ask the uncomfortable questions. They're the ones that push back on those sacred cows. They're the ones that refuse to let unity become uniformity. Okay so here's the deal. They know they're not the favorite, they know that they walk a really lonely line because, while every leader says they want feedback, most don't Matter of fact, most punish feedback subtly or directly when it shows up uninvited. Okay so, let's unpack this truth teller and maybe you're already thinking about somebody on your staff, somebody on your board that kind of acts as your truth teller and truth be told. I find that this is a role that I play in organizations a lot of times and in churches that I've been a part of, and it's.
Speaker 1:I have a new book that's coming out here. I'll show it to you if you're watching on YouTube. It's called Silent Alarm. This is very much talking about how the church staffing pipeline has changed. It's very much a truth teller book. It's saying stuff that nobody really wants to hear, but yet I find that I'm sometimes in a place to be that person. All right, so enough side note. I saw a squirrel there and an opportunity to promote a book that's coming out.
Speaker 1:But yeah, let's talk about truth tellers and let's talk about the difference between a critic and a cynic. Okay, the difference between a critic and a cynic. Okay, the difference between a critic and a cynic. Because we've got to clear up something. If we're going to talk about truth-tellers, okay, I am not. When I'm talking about a truth-teller, I am not talking about the serial complainer or the person who just wants to keep it real but always leaves that shrapnel behind. It's like they come into a room, they blow it up and then they leave and somehow they feel good about it. That's not the person I'm talking about when I'm talking about a truth teller. The person that we're talking about here today is somebody that's emotionally grounded, that's spiritually mature, that's biblically anchored, and they're humble enough to listen just as much as they speak. It's really important for you to understand, about a real truth teller, the difference between a truth teller and a cynic. They're not against the mission. They are absolutely for the mission. They're on your side. They're for its health. Their goal is not to disrupt for disruption's sake. It is to lovingly help steer the ship away from those rocks, those hidden rocks that nobody's seeing.
Speaker 1:So why don't most churches make room for this type of a role. We're honest, this kind of voice threatens control, right. It slows down blind consensus. It slows down blind consensus. It pokes holes in plans that we thought were all finished and polished and ready to go. It makes meetings messier, not smoother. It makes meetings longer, not shorter. So what happens?
Speaker 1:Truth-tellers often get labeled as difficult and their input gets sidelined. Eventually they burn out. A lot of times they leave and nobody realizes the wisdom that they lost, until all the wheels fall off and they think. I think somebody told us that this might happen. You know what's worse than a church that ignores its truth teller? It's a truth. It's a church that hires one and then silences them. Okay.
Speaker 1:So how do you embrace this role? Okay, they're never going to be your favorite person. They're always going to be speaking truth and bringing truth to the table, even when you don't want it. So how do you embrace the truth teller on your staff without there being chaos? If you're a lead pastor, this is especially for you because really believe this you need at least one person in your inner circle who's a truth teller. Let me say that again. If you're a senior pastor, you need at least one person in your inner circle that you trust.
Speaker 1:Who's a truth teller, right? They don't flinch when disagreeing with you. They're willing to come to you and say, todd, let me speak something here because I want to disagree with you, and they're not going to flinch. And you're not going to flinch because you respect them. They're going to be the person in your inner circle or on your staff team that can challenge your thinking without being disloyal. That should really be everybody but truth tellers especially. And they're going to speak the truth even if their voice shakes. That means they're going to speak the hard truth. They're going to be the ones going into Pharaoh You're Pharaoh in this situation right? They're going to be the ones going in to speak, and sometimes they know their words not only carry weight but carry some consequences. They don't know how you're going to respond, right?
Speaker 1:So create some structured spaces for critique. Maybe you have monthly meetings where you just you say, okay, push me a little bit with this truth teller specific, not with the whole team. Maybe you have monthly disagree meetings, okay, maybe you take some anonymous staff pulse checks. Maybe you invite feedback publicly and reward it privately. And let me say this because there are probably I know there are some truth tellers that are listening and watching and you're like Todd, you're describing me. This is not a role that I've wanted, and most truth tellers don't necessarily want that role. That's just how God has wired them.
Speaker 1:But you're saying, todd, I'm a truth teller. Speak some truth to me, okay, don't confuse your calling with combativeness. Okay, truth and love isn't a license to torch. You're not a prophet without love. You're just noise. If you do that, okay. So that's my advice to you is just don't be combative. And it's really easy. It's easy for me, as a truth teller, when I'm not listened to, to get a little combative, and that does not. Those are not my proudest moments. So truth and love isn't a license to torch, okay. So here's the bottom line for today.
Speaker 1:Every healthy team needs someone who will say what others won't, and the goal isn't conflict, it's clarity, and sometimes the most loving thing you can do is tell the truth. Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is listen to the truth and not hit the person over the head that brings you the truth. All right, maybe you're a truth teller and you're like Todd this was great. Maybe you're a senior pastor and you're like Todd, this wasn't so great, or maybe this was great, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I would love to hear from you Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom If this resonated with you and if you need some help on your staff team, kind of identifying or working with this truth teller, offer some coaching services. You can reach out to me at podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. I'd love to have you reach out to me if there's any way that I can help you and your staff become even a little bit more healthy. All right, that's it for today on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. I hope you'll join me again tomorrow. We're here every weekday and I hope you'll come back for some more Todd time tomorrow, right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Have a great day.
