There are a lot of responsibilities that a pastor has to jungle throughout the week, but none more important than shepherding his or her staff. No matter if you have part-time, full time or a mix of both on your staff, here are 10 questions that you should be asking everybody who works for you:
1. How is the Lord forming you to be more like Jesus right now? – It isn’t enough to ask them if they are spending time with God. We need to ask our staff a more penetrating question that gets to the heart of what’s happening in their souls when they spend time with God. God’s agenda for all of us is to make us like his son Jesus. We need to help our staff see that God uses everything in our lives (victories, losses, obstacles, failures, and successes) to help our staff move from where they are to where God wants them to be. It matters not how much time they are spending with God if they are not being transformed into the person God wants them to be.
2. What do you want more of or less of from your spouse (or friends)? – Help your staff build a healthy relationship away from work with his or her spouse (or with their friends if they aren’t married) by asking them a deeper question of what it is they want in their relationship with their spouse or friends. Most of us find it tough to ask this question in our closest relationships. We think it is too self-serving. However, when we don’t allow our relationships to be challenged to grow, we end up settling for far less in our relationships. Accommodating relationships that aren’t supportive and life-giving with those who matter most in our lives can create resentment and anger or discouragement and neglect. These feelings will eventually act like poison in our souls, and lead us to feeling alone and unsupported in our most important relationships. So ask what your staff want more of or less of from their spouse or from their friends, so your staff can begin building deeper marriages and deeper friendships that matter.
3. What is the number one challenge you face in your ministry right now? – Help your staff unload their burdens of ministry on you. Asking this question relieves them of carrying it alone, and it also shows them that you are attune to the difficulties they are facing. If you ask this question AND you are willing to hear their concern without giving them a solution, they will be less likely to complain about their ministry at home because you have shouldered the burden for them at work.
4. What encourages you most about your ministry right now? – Just as it is helpful for staff to verbalize their challenges, it is also helpful for staff to tell you where they are encouraged. Once they finish sharing their encouragement, you have the opportunity to put more wind in their sails by affirming those good things in their work and their role in bringing them about. Most people let the negatives linger far longer than the positives. So here’s your chance to brag on your staff and their ministry, so they can hold on to the positives in their ministry a little bit longer.
5. What is the number one opportunity you face in your ministry? – Always ask this question after you have asked question number 3. The reason is that people have a hard time thinking about new opportunities unless they have been heard about the current challenges they face. The benefit of leading your staff to think about the opportunities they face in ministry is a way to inspire them to hope even in the midst of the challenges they face.
6. What is your plan for dealing with your challenge and taking advantage of your opportunity this month? – This is a great question that rarely gets asked. Most of the time, supervisors think it is their job to tell their staff what to do. Instead, show that you value your staff by showing them that you believe they have what it takes to overcome their challenge and take advantage of their opportunity. Have them come up with the plan for action this month in their ministry. If they ask for your help, feel free to give it, but only if they ask for it. There are two things that you want to do when you hear the staff’s plan: 1) Make sure that their plan isn’t in conflict with another staff’s plan, and 2) Ask them how you can help them succeed in their plans. This will really motivate your staff to own their ministry.
7. How are you taking care of the volunteers in your ministry? – From administrators to the Lead Pastor, every staff should have volunteers in their ministry. Volunteers are the most precious resource in your church. If you want to keep them, you need to learn how to serve them well. Help your staff not to neglect their volunteers by leading them to think through a strategy for how they can serve those who lead alongside them in their ministry.
8. Are you in conflict with anyone (including me), and if so what what is your plan to deal with it? – Conflict is never fun to go through, but conflict only kills our relationships if it is left to fester like an untreated wound. If you don’t deal with conflict when it arises, then conflict will sap all the relational energy in your church. It won’t go away with wishful thinking. Because conflict is so difficult for many people, you need to ask about it. Give courage to your staff by helping your staff come up with a good plan for dealing with it in accordance with Matt. 18. Again, you aren’t creating the solution. The staff comes up with the plan of action. Note: If the staff is in conflict with you, encourage him or her to share with you his or her issue. Be open to hear the staff’s concern. Let him or her know that you are willing to hear the issue he or she is concerned about. Make sure the staff knows that your goal is to work through the conflict in order to build trust. Just know that as their supervisor, you have more power in the relationship. In order to create a level playing field, you might want to ask the staff if he or she would feel more comfortable having someone from the board be present during the discussion in order to create a safe environment for the staff.
9. Is there anything you would like to talk to me about that I haven’t asked about? – This is a great question because it allows the staff to bring his or her agenda to your attention. There are some staff that have great ideas or insight for another area of ministry outside their own. Cultivate your staff to support one another by allowing them to share their thoughts about the big picture of the church, not just their own ministry.
10. What’s one thing I can be praying for you about this month? – After the staff answers this question, spend time praying for them right then and there. Too many times we miss a great opportunity to bless our staff. The staff usually are the ones praying over others in their ministry. Don’t miss this opportunity to return the blessing to your staff by praying over them in person. Take the time to bring their cares and concerns to the Lord. Use your prayer to encourage them by bragging on them in the Father’s presence.
BONUS: If you want to get the most bang out of these questions, send your staff these questions a week before you meet with them. Have them write out their answers, and then talk to them about it in person. This will help your introverted staff be ready for the conversation, and it will help your verbal processors be focused on what they want to say.
Are there other questions you are asking your staff that have been helpful in supervising them?
