Ep. 023 | Holly Tate: Developing High Capacity Leaders

When it comes to developing the people within your staff, do you know where to start? For many church leaders, this can be an area that gets lost in the shuffle of the busyness of ministry but is essential for the leaders you’re leading. In this episode of Church Leadership Lab, Holly Tate share with us key insights on how to enhance and develop those on your staff, practical ways to prioritize the important from the urgent, and how to better lead those around you by creating a healthy culture.

Why Staff Development is Important

Many church leaders tend to be so focused on reaching those outside the church, that they forget about investing on the inside – meaning staff and volunteers.

In a 2021 Barna Research study, it was reported that over 30% of pastors have considered leaving ministry altogether. We’re seeing the consequences of neglecting the development of church staff.

As church leaders, we should think of staff development as a form of discipleship. We’re taking someone from where they are and discipling, challenging, and growing them to where they want to be. 

In reality, a flourishing congregation is the fruit that comes when we invest and develop our staff. When we can first create a healthy culture of staff development, we can create a healthy church.

Defining Your Priorities As A Church Leader

Sunday can feel like the end of the finish line for many church leaders. Every week we’re planning, preparing, and getting ready for Sunday, but don’t get stuck in the trap of the tyranny of the urgent. It’s important to examine what’s necessary. Remember what’s urgent is not always necessarily what’s most important.

When it comes to identifying your priorities, here are four questions to ask:

1. What’s the most important thing?
2. What’s not important?
3. How do you say yes and say no?
4. How are you stewarding your time?

Our pace and rhythms are important to develop and grow as leaders. When we slow down and examine the important needs on our to-do list, we can then prioritize our biggest needs and accomplish the tasks that are the most significant. 

Recognizing the Important Verses Urgent

Sometimes the reason we have a problem seeing the difference between the urgent and the important is we find our value in how much we’re doing and how much is on our plate when the biggest quality of a leader is how they’ve multiplied themselves. Don’t be afraid to give things away.

Here are three practical steps to prioritize the important from the urgent:

1.  Categorize your tasks and responsibilities in three buckets, from the most significant to the least significant.
2. While keeping the most significant task on your plate, consider how to delegate and assign other duties and responsibilities to volunteers to grow and develop them.
3. Giving things away frees up your time to be more creative, solve problems, and focus on the more significant thing as a leader.

When we can identify our main priorities and give tasks away to others, we both win. By handing tasks off to volunteers or other teammates we can empower and delegate authority, equip them to make decisions, and get things done. This helps us all be able to make an impact and excel in our mission. 

How to Create a Great Place to Work and a Healthy Culture

Having a great place to work is essential for any organization, especially the church. Every church leader desires to have a healthy and thriving staff but to get there takes time, intentionality, and dedication.

Leaders need to focus on being healthy themselves, pouring into and developing their team, and allowing that to overflow to create a healthy and thriving church.

Here are three things every leader should be focused on to create a healthy culture:

1. Clarity – Can each team member answer, “Am I winning in my role?”
2. Maximization – Can every manager answer, “Are we resourcing and equipping our team to be able to win?”
3. Rapport – Can everyone in the organization answer, “Do I trust my team and my leaders?”

By understanding where your church is when it comes to clarity of roles, maximizing individual gifts and resources, and having good rapport within your staff, you can then work more diligently. Over time, you will be able to see your church become healthier and start to thrive because of the health of your staff.

Leadr is an organization that focuses on helping you engage and grow your team. Through the people development software, their tools help managers become coaches, create high-performance teams across your church, and invest in every member of your team. They provide guidance and structure of one-on-one meetings, create collaboration and connect to produce action-oriented conversation within team meetings and help track individual goals and growth. People don’t want to be managed; they want to be developed. With Leadr, every church can raise their focus to invest in their staff to create valuable connections and culture. Find out more about Leadr here.

Final Five:

Book: Culture Wins by Greg Berge and Radical Candor by Kim Scott
Music: Runaway by OneRepublic
Technology: Leadr
Quote/Advice: “You need to care, but you can’t care too much.”
What would you say to a church leader? Hang in there. The church is tired and has seen a lot of change lately. Don’t quit. Take time to rest and make sure you are making decisions out of a place of rest and not fatigue.