Questions Every Church Leader Should Be Asking About Staff Culture Part 2
Last week, we started digging into five questions that came out of O.C. Tanner’s annual Global Culture Report.
We only made it through three.
Those first three questions were about compassion and expectations, developing people, and trust.
Now, let’s finish the conversation with the last two.
1. Do we really want people’s ideas, or just their execution?
I think almost every church leader would say we want people to bring ideas, but are we actually creating space for that?
There’s a point where we need to stop brainstorming and get the work done. Sunday is coming. But if people repeatedly bring ideas and nothing happens, eventually they stop bringing them.
One of the leaders at our recent Large Church Gathering said, “Why would we not want their ideas?”
That’s the attitude I think every leader who’s invested in their culture should carry.
Sometimes the best ideas are coming from people much closer to the front lines than we are. They’re seeing things we may never see from the leadership table. They’re having conversations with people we may never have. And they’re often closest to the places where something is working really well or where something needs to change.
I’ve seen churches where leaders say they want ideas, but the systems tell a different story. Every decision is already made by the time the broader team hears about it, or people have offered ideas in the past and never heard anything back.
Eventually, people learn to put their heads down and execute.
There are absolutely times when we need that. Once we’ve made a decision, we can’t keep reopening it forever. But healthy teams need places where people know, this is the time to bring your ideas, and places where everyone understands, now it’s time to execute.
That clarity matters.
2. Would the people furthest from the leadership table describe our culture the same way we would?
My guess is probably not.
At the leadership table, we have more information and context. We know why decisions were made, and we usually hear a somewhat filtered version of what people are experiencing.
Years ago at Willow, we started asking teams about their experience on staff. One production team told us they hated our all-staff meetings.
That was hard to hear, but when we really listened, they were right.
The meetings weren’t very intentional, and from their perspective, they weren’t worth the time.
So we changed them.
We became much more intentional about the content, thought further ahead about what would actually be valuable to the team, and started building in some fun along the way.
When I went back to that same production team more than a year later, their experience had completely changed.
The important part wasn’t that we fixed a staff meeting.
It was that they told us what their experience was, we listened, and then something actually changed.
Asking for feedback is one thing. Being willing to hear it and change something because of it is another.
And I think that’s where leaders can get into trouble with culture. We ask people what they think, but then we explain away the answers we don’t like. Or we run a survey and never talk about the results again.
Eventually, people stop telling us the truth.
Culture is always moving. It’s either moving toward health or toward unhealth, and the difference is intentionality.
Take These Questions Back to Your Team
Across these two conversations, we’ve covered five questions:
Can we care deeply and still hold a high bar?
Are we developing people or simply giving them more information?
What are we doing every day that builds or erodes trust?
Do we really want people’s ideas, or just their execution?
Would the people furthest from the leadership table describe our culture the same way we would?
Take all five back to your team. You may be surprised by which one opens up the conversation you most need to have.
A Resource for Your Staff Culture
If you want a simple resource to help you think more intentionally about your own culture, we created a free ebook called Culture Matters that you can download here.
Listen to the Full Conversation
If you want the full picture, start with Part 1 of The LeadingSmart Podcast, where Holly and I unpack the first three questions around compassion and expectations, developing people, and trust.
Then listen to Part 2, where we finish the conversation with these last two questions.
How LeadingSmart Helps With Staff Culture
Sometimes you can tell something in the culture isn’t quite right, but it’s harder to identify what’s actually underneath it.
That’s where we spend a lot of our time with churches.
Through LeadingSmart culture consulting, we help leadership teams get an honest picture of their current staff culture, understand the gaps between the culture they intend to have and what people are actually experiencing, and build practical rhythms that move the team toward greater health.
The goal isn’t to create a culture that looks like somebody else’s church. It’s to help you build a healthy culture that supports your people and the mission God has given your church.