background:
Staph (pronounced "staff") is medical quick speak for staphylococcus aureus bacteria. This pesky little bacterium is very common (many people have some living on their skin all the time), but when it enters the human body, usually through an open cut or break in the skin, it can cause infection and trouble anywhere in the body.
Staff Infections:
As with many diseases a staff infection is both complex and simple. Complex because often times when we are ill with a bacteria we cannot specifically point to the time when we received the bacteria. It may be easy to diagnose food poisoning for instance if you can pinpoint the last meal or a meal where several people all got sick. The tough part is trying to diagnose other problems that take a few days or weeks to show up. As an extreme example some of our most deadly diseases can go undetected for months or a year before being made known. The Simple part of most all of these diseases is that there are precautions that help us all to avoid the bulk of these threats. Washing hands, eating only fully cooked food, sexual relations with 1 partner for life... these are all things that help us avoid the disasters of disease.
When it comes to staffing a church I have found there are infections that creep up as well. It doesn't matter to me whether that staff is lay staff or fully paid. There are some indicators we all should keep our eyes on. I will list a few here but the goal of this exercise is for you to develop this list and share with others so we can all learn from our experiences.
1. Warm-body syndrome: many churches take the approach that says "anyone is better than no-one". I have learned this is absolutely false. Many times the best thing you can do is avoid a ministry all together if it requires you placing someone in a position they cannot handle or should not have. Don't buy into the warm-body as the qualification.
2. Diverse vision: in the church world there are a ton of people out for their own good. We would like to think that men and women wanted to serve with or in support of their Pastor but this isn't the norm. Many people have 13 reasons they want to be in a position and aligning with the leadership of their church comes in at number 14. The point: they have motives. If their motives aren't pure... toss their file.
3. Lack of Loyalty: Another staff infection is a lack of loyalty between staff. I told my wife before we were married that people in church will come to her for things attempting to get her to bring it home to me. I told her up front to never allow people to do this... call them out. She's done that and we don't' have church people coming between us because me being upset that my wife said something she shouldn't have. I also don't have problems with our church people b/c I've developed a leadership that calls out problem people. Staff is the same way. You must have complete loyalty when making decisions and solving problems. A quick way to staff infection is for someone on staff to break loyalty. It's as simple as trying to look good in front of a parent by saying "Yeah... that Student guy made a stupid call... I wouldn't have done that." Another common way to undercut your Pastor may be to say to someone in the church "Listen, I just work here. He's the boss, I do what I'm told." These attitudes will KILL staff loyalty. Your staff must present a unified front and at all times circle the wagons around a member of the team who makes a poor decision or is dealing with flack. Everyone on the team WILL be in that position at some point.
4. Gossip- Lets face it. In ministry you will walk a fine line between sharing important information about people in the church that can be used to minister to that person and their family vs. sharing information as pure gossip. If you allow Gossip on your staff you will create a distrust among the team. If you share to keep people updated... fine. But don't sit around and joke about people behind their back. You want a staff that takes their ministry seriously and can feel confident that they aren't being talked about behind their backs.
5. Laziness: Too many lazy people have ministry positions. The 'good-ol-boy' system needs to be dismantled and tossed in the garbage. There is a time for fun (all of your work can be fun if you love what you do) but there isn't room for a strategically lazy person on your team. One of the biggest staff infections there is comes from a lazy staff member. Productivity and morale will drop to nothing if a Senior leader allows for "Brother Bob" to remain on the team even though he golfs 3 times a week and is consistently procrastinating on projects.
6. Square Pegs: (round holes). A staff should work together well. If someone is a great person but just doesn't get along with other staff members, it may be a square peg in a round hole problem. You don't want a staff that enjoys each other's company and actually likes each other LESS ONE. It's not fair to the guy/gal who's a loner to keep them on a team that they aren't a part of. You should try to involve this person as much as you can but if you finally feel that the chemistry isn't there... fix it. It doesn't mean everyone on your team has to have the most bubbly personality or talks like you do. You just need a team. There is no sense in keeping someone wearing the uniform who is isolated from the entire group. It's either the group's fault for not being open or it could just be that this person would do better on different staff.
I'm positive you have more. Share them if you'd like. I'm interested to see what others feel are "Staff Infections" that can sink your organization.
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