The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
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The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
The Staff Member Who’s Quietly Disengaging
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They're still chilling up. They're still doing their job. But something just means like it's a little bit off, a little quieter, maybe they're a little vested, a little harder to read. We've talked about this before on the podcast, but we're gonna talk about quiet quitting and some of the subtle signs that a staff member is just widely disengaging, and what you could do as their leader, as their supervisor, to help them re-engage. Because you want to do that before it's too late. If you don't re-engage them, they're gonna be out the door soon. In ministry, silence isn't always golden. Sometimes silence is a warning, and that's what we're talking about today here on the podcast. Hi there. My name is Todd Rhodes. I'm one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffing.com. Hope you'll go and check us out, chemistrystaffing.com. I'm also your host right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast every day. They're still on your org chart, they're still attending meetings, still leading worship preaching, overseeing kids check-ins, whatever. But inside, man, they're already halfway out the door. And today we're going to talk about the quiet disengagement. We call it quiet quitting that could be happening on your staff and how to spot it before it turns into a see you later, alligator. Goodbye. Alright, so disengagement doesn't always look like dysfunction. Most most, in fact, disengaged staff aren't going around blowing things up. There aren't make they aren't making a bunch of problems. They're just quietly fading into the background. And if you look, you're gonna see some of these signs. If you don't look, they might go right over your head. But here's some common signs that you can pick up. They're subtle at first. Maybe there's less eye contact. Maybe they're just they just don't have the energy, and you just wonder if something's up. Maybe there's just a they used to contribute a lot, but there's just been minimal contribution to brainstorming or strategy. It's just, I don't know. They're just not in the game. Maybe it just seems like there's less ownership, and that could be over wins or losses. Maybe they're they're disconnected from the why. And a lot of times this isn't it's not laziness, it's honestly just a loss of hope or clarity or maybe a loss of connection. And it happens over time. So what causes this quiet disengagement? It could be it, it could be all kinds of things. They might feel disaligned with the mission, and even if they don't say that out loud, maybe they're not even sure what's going on, but they feel that something's different. Maybe they've burned out, but they're afraid to name it. Maybe they've seen, they feel like they're just unseen or underutilized, maybe they're just exhausted from staff conflict or past wounds. Maybe, maybe they've outgrown their their current role, but nobody's really noticed. But regardless of what you're starting to see or how they're feeling, here's the scary part. These are usually your most emotionally intelligent staff. Okay? They're usually your most emotionally intelligent staff. And they won't throw tantrums, they won't make a problem, they won't make a scene. They'll just fade. And as you're as their leader, what you need to do is figure out how to re-engage those people who are, like I said, your chances are your most emotionally intelligent staff. How do you re-engage those people before it's too late? Because if you don't, something's gonna happen and it's gonna lead to a departure from your staff very soon, probably from a staff member that you don't want to have leave. So how do you re-engar re-engage before it's too late, before they decide that, hey, this just isn't the place where I need to be? Here are some suggestions, of course, regular one on one-on-ones that go a little bit deeper, go beyond the hey, tell me what you're working on. Ask some really deep questions, some really heart-level questions. How's your soul? Uh how do you feel most active? Uh what are you most discouraged about? How can we help? And then actually, once you ask the question, actually listen to the answers. Don't try to solve or fix or spin. You just need to listen and give them some kind of a pathway for growth, even if they stay in that same role. You need to reconnect them to the church's mission and to their own spiritual purpose. You don't have to save everybody, but you can show them that they matter. And you need to show them that they matter when you start to see that they're disengaged. You need to do it all the time, but particularly, you need to really kind of lean in when you notice that someone is starting to disengage. Here's my final thought for today. Most staff don't leave suddenly, they leave slowly. First, they leave in their heart, and then they leave in their calendar, and then comes the actual resignation. Don't wait until the resignation letter shows up. Pay attention to the silence. Love to hear from you. Podcast at chemistry staffing.com is my email address. Here's what I'd love to hear from you. What's one way that you check in with your team beyond their task list, beyond what's going on with meetings and all of that? I'd love to hear from you. Podcast at chemistry staffing.com. And if you need any help with your staff, cultivating a healthy church staff, I'm here to help you reach out to me. I'd love to have a conversation with you about your staff and see if there's any way that either myself or someone here at Chemistry Staffing can help you reach out anytime. Podcast at chemistry staffing.com. All right, that's it for today. We'll be right back here tomorrow. Hope you'll join me for the Healthy Church Stafford.
