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Unmasking the Invisible Problem: A Bad Culture in Your Church Staff
While churches oftentimes attribute issues like turnover, morale dips, or underperformance to people, it's often a deeper issue – a culture problem. Hidden beneath superficial problems, cultural dysfunction in the church staff can subtly undermine the church's mission. Let's explore how to diagnose and start the process of change for a healthier church culture.
Diagnosing Cultural Dysfunction
A church's culture is not about its value statements – it's about how your staff feels. It is crucial to be aware of how your church staff members feel when they step into your church offices and how they perceive their roles and relationships.
Bad culture in churches typically exhibits a few distinct signs:
- Conflict is unresolved and ignored,
- Honest feedback is withheld due to fear,
- Decisions are made behind closed doors,
- Expectations change without warning,
- Performance issues are avoided instead of addressed
- Multiple good people fail in the same role
Changing a Broken Culture
The first step in changing a broken culture is admitting and identifying the problems. It's essential to create a safe space for staff to voice out their thoughts and concerns. This includes asking for their feedback and not penalizing them for their honesty.
In cultivating a healthy culture, you can:
- Document behaviors you want to enhance and those you wouldn't tolerate.
- Discuss and reinforce positive change in every meeting.
- Be patient, as culture change requires consistent and intentional leadership over time.
Building a Healthy Culture
Remember that a healthy culture is built and maintained over time. It's not enough to plant a seed; you need to ensure the soil is good for growth. In this context, the soil is the staff culture. Addressing cultural issues is not only the responsibility of the staff but of the church leadership as well. Prolonged neglect could cause the culture to deteriorate further.
Share your thoughts and experiences about tackling cultural issues within your church staff. Or if you need help navigating these tricky territories, reach out for guidance and support.
Discover more on tackling church staff culture problems by tuning in to today's Healthy Church Staff Podcast episode. Creating a healthy staff culture is critical to lay a strong grounded foundation for your church's mission — it's time to start investing in it.
