Welcome to Lessons From the Church Boardroom—The Blog, a 40-week journey through the new book, Lessons From the Church Boardroom: 40 Insights for Exceptional Governance, by Dan Busby and John Pearson. Each Wednesday, we'll feature a guest blogger’s favorite snippet from the week's topic. William Vanderbloemen is our guest blogger this week for the first of three lessons in "Part 3: Nominees for the Church Board Member Hall of Fame.”
LESSON 8 OF 40 – Thrive With Four Kingdom Values
Pastor Carlos said he didn’t have the spiritual gift of board meetings!
THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: In Lesson 8, it’s clear that working with a church board can be a frustrating or unproductive experience, but with the right kingdom values, it doesn’t have to be that way.
MY FAVORITE INSIGHTS from Lesson 8, pages 44-49:
The authors suggest how a church board can function best, based on looking for certain values and characteristics in a board member to maximize spiritual fruit and impact, and minimize dysfunction:
• The right people are everything: “When the right people—with the right motives and God-honoring character—serve graciously together...board members and pastors will thrive in board meetings as the Holy Spirit deploys their spiritual gifts and their God-designed personalities and strengths.”
• Once you have the right people, look for things like passion, discernment, deployment, commitment, and enjoyment of serving on a church board. The authors quote Steve Macchia: “Passion is the fuel that keeps the engine of your vision alive.”
MY COLOR COMMENTARY:
When I was reading this chapter, I thought a lot about my own hiring practices (the same practices that I advise clients to embrace—how to do well every day), and the way that I hire internally for my own team.
Last year, I wrote a book, Culture Wins: The Roadmap to an Irresistible Workplace, and in it, I emphasize that culture trumps competency when it comes to hiring. It doesn’t matter how well someone will do a job, if they aren’t a good culture fit—they’ll ultimately be unhappy in their role.
I’ve made it my goal to look for potential employees who weren’t just showing up because it was their job, or just for the pay, but because they wanted to be a part of the team. I look for people who want to be doing what we are doing, the way we do it. In return, we’ve built an award-winning culture of people who work great together as a team, consider themselves “framily—friends as family,” work hard, take their work seriously but not themselves, and give their heart to their work because they really want to be doing it, and they are inspired and motivated by the way we do things at Vanderbloemen.
In some ways, I think this concept can be applied to church boards, too. When you’re selecting members of a church board and looking for specific characteristics, you’re searching for the kind of people who embody the culture of the organization.
You want board members to work together, inspire each other, motivate, challenge, and push each other to achieve the greater mission of the church. You’ll maximize fruitful kingdom work and minimize frustration, unproductive meeting time, and get work done faster and better when the board is aligned around the same cultural values.
I like the closing boardroom lesson that sums up this chapter: “Invite people to serve on your church board who have high passion for your mission and ministry—and who discern board service as a holy calling. Inspire board members to leverage their spiritual gifts and strengths—or their experience will be draining and joyless.”
Culture wins, every time.
THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY WILLIAM VANDERBLOEMEN:
William Vanderbloemen is an entrepreneur, pastor, speaker, author, and CEO and founder of Vanderbloemen. He is a regular contributor to Forbes and is frequently asked to contribute to many media outlets on staff culture and team building.
As CEO and founder of Vanderbloemen, an executive search firm that helps churches and faith-based organizations find their key staff, William’s passion is helping leaders of faith build, run, and keep great teams. Hiring was William’s number one issue and roadblock as a pastor and is his number one focus as an entrepreneur.
His third book, Culture Wins: The Roadmap to an Irresistible Workplace, describes how a contagious culture will drive sustainable growth and innovation for any organization. Culture Wins shows forward-thinking leaders how to apply key principles into today’s new job-hopping culture.
The firm serves teams with a greater purpose by aligning their people solutions for growth: hiring, compensation, succession, and culture. Through its retained executive search and consulting services, Vanderbloemen serves churches, schools, nonprofits, family offices, and Christian businesses in all parts of the United States and internationally.
TO-DO TODAY:
• Decide and discern what kingdom values are foundational to the church board’s theology and philosophy of governance—in other words—define the culture of your church board.
• Find people that match the culture, not the work you are trying to do. Look for people with calling, passion, the spiritual gifts to serve well in this setting, and those who have true joy for the work of the church board.
• Visit the ECFA Knowledge Center and read and share the short chapter, “Lesson 8 – Thrive With Four Kingdom Values.”
NEXT WEDNESDAY:
On April 17, 2019, watch for the commentary by Ron Edmondson on Lesson 9, "Listen to the Wisdom of Many Counselors. Don’t ask board members to vote against God!”
ORDER THE BOOK TODAY!
BULK ORDERS: Click here. For more resources and to download the book's Table of Contents, visit the book's webpage.
Welcome to Lessons From the Church Boardroom—The Blog, a 40-week journey through the new book, Lessons From the Church Boardroom: 40 Insights for Exceptional Governance, by Dan Busby and John Pearson. Each Wednesday, we'll feature a guest blogger’s favorite snippet from the week's topic. Glenn Wood is our guest blogger this week for the second of three lessons in "Part 2: Boardroom Tools and Templates.”
LESSON 6 OF 40 – Enhance Harmony by Clarifying Your Participant Hat Expectations
Understand the three board hats: Governance, Volunteer, and Participant.
THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: In Lesson 6, the authors remind board chairs, pastors, and church leaders to clearly communicate our expectations to the board on a regular basis.
Too often leaders assume that all board members, small group leaders, high capacity volunteers, and staff will all have the same passion. This leads to incorrect assumptions, hurt feelings, and tension that will not enhance church unity—and it won’t help the church in achieving our mission. Leaders must clarify expectations for board service—especially expectations about the “Participant Hat.”
For example, board members may choose not to attend the potluck dinner, volunteer appreciation event, or leader training for a variety of reasons. While we hope board members are all dedicated to the success of the church—they may not prioritize attendance at church functions the same as other leaders—especially if expectations are not communicated in advance.
MY FAVORITE INSIGHTS from Lesson 6, pages 31-35:
I loved these statements:
• “Guilt and shaming are a poor substitute for clarity and inspiration.”
• “Your board members, similar to your volunteers, will respond when you appeal to high ideals, not mixed messages.”
Both are good reminders and offer great motivation for creating an annual affirmation statement. Communication is the key to solid board relations.
The Church Board Member Annual Affirmation Statement is a helpful tool for guiding the board as it discerns board member attendance requirements at key events in the coming year. This document can also communicate expectations for spouses of board members.
MY COLOR COMMENTARY:
Often times we see board members just wearing the “Governance Hat” that provides oversight for the church in key areas, such as: legal, HR, compensation, audits, and other areas. But many board members also wear the “Volunteer Hat,” serving as high capacity volunteers, Sunday School teachers, small group leaders, team leaders, and more.
Board members also wear the “Participant Hat” in the life of the church—they are attenders, members, small group members, and participants in church functions and events. So it’s especially important that board members are clear about what events—throughout the year—where their attendance is required.
The contents of the Church Board Member Annual Affirmation Statement will be different for every church, but the use of this tool will help our boards, church leaders, and staff to all be “on the same page” regarding our expectations of board members.
While I would love to say this will eliminate all struggles on the board—it won’t! But it will significantly reduce many misunderstandings when board members are clear about board service expectations.
THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY GLENN WOOD:
GLENN WOOD is the Pastor of Church Administration for Seacoast Church. Seacoast is a non-denominational church that operates in a multi-site model. Seacoast currently has 13 physical locations (in North and South Carolina) and an online campus with attendance of roughly 15,000 on a weekly basis.
Glenn has served in this position full-time since 1995 and has served and attended the church since 1991. He oversees the administration of all campuses which includes: legal, contracts, leases, insurance, construction, and many other areas that no one else wants to deal with! He is also the staff contact for the Board of Trustees.
Glenn is also active with the Church Network where he provides oversight for the Metro Network, a group of churches with over 2,000 in weekly attendance. Network members share ideas and policies and give leadership to their roundtable and national conference meetings.
Glenn also writes the “Pastor Excel” article for the Church Network quarterly publication where he shares his knowledge of spreadsheets, MS Excel, PivotTables, training, and using technology to make church administration a little easier. He is also a regular speaker at church conferences and meetings on MS Excel and its use in the church.
TO-DO TODAY:
• Download the Church Board Member Annual Affirmation Statement from the ECFA website and review and customize it with your board.
• Set a date for your annual review of the three “board hats” to ensure your affirmation statement is current.
• Visit the ECFA Knowledge Center and read and share the short chapter, “Lesson 6 - Enhance Harmony by Clarifying Your Participant Hat Expectations.”
NEXT WEDNESDAY:
On April 3, 2019, watch for the commentary by Monty Kelso on Lesson 7, "Eliminate Fuzziness Between Board and Staff Roles. Keep your leaders on track with a one-page Prime Responsibility Chart.”
ORDER THE BOOK TODAY!
BULK ORDERS: Click here. For more resources and to download the book's Table of Contents, visit the book's webpage.
