We continue the “Ten Best Ways to Ruin Your Church Staff” to avoid for those pastoral leaders who want to keep and develop quality staff ministry colleagues, (For those pastors who want to get rid of troubling church staff, then this is the way to do it!). Today, no. 3: Divide and Conquer.
3. Divide and conquer. Insecure leaders tend to play a game of divide and conquer with their staff. Fearful of losing control or influence they are not able to develop their staff into a team of colleagues. They engage in secrecy, sharing information with some individuals on staff while withholding it from others. The result is that staff members never really know what’s going on and become perpetually territorial. Effective leaders realize that specialization does not mean compartmentalization. The best staff members are team players and they understand that the ministry belongs to all of them together, not separately. Effective pastoral leaders work at cultivating a team of ministry colleague by developing trust through honesty. They appreciate that a strong staff team is their primary resource for ministry leadership.
From, Perspectives on Congregational Leadership: Applying Systems Theory for Effective Leadership, by Israel Galindo. See the new Perspectives on Congregational Leadership blog site.
