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Cover Until We Hire Became Their Second Job · The Healthy Church Staff Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, can you cover this until you find somebody?
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's a reasonable question.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Staff member leads, somebody's coming, somebody needs to help.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: So you ask somebody that you trust, and they know the church and they care about people, and thankfully, they say yes.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: The only problem was, that conversation happened six months ago, and they're still covering it.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Their original responsibilities haven't changed, and the search you've been meaning to get back to them.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to talk about what happens when a temporary assignment quietly becomes somebody's second job.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Hi there, my name's Todd Rhodes, one of the co-founders over at ChemistryStaffing.com, and you're listening to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's a tricky situation because asking for help during a transition can be absolutely necessary.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: The problem comes when the arrangement just keeps going and going like that little energizer bunny without another honest conversation.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And before you know it, six months, you haven't had another conversation.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: That person is still doing extra responsibilities.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So think about this for a second.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine your associate pastor agrees to oversee student ministry while the student, right after the student pastor leaves or the youth pastor leaves, right?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And initially, when they say, Yeah, I can do that for a short period of time, the the assignment is manageable.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Keep the weekly gathering going, support the volunteers, handle any urgent questions, make sure the wheels don't fall off of the youth ministry until we find somebody new.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: But then summer camp needs planning.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: A key volunteer steps down, parents want to know what's happening in the fall, and pretty soon your associate pastor is doing much more than just keeping things moving.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: The wheels are starting to fall off because they're doing too much.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: They're leading the ministry, and meanwhile, you still expect everything that they were doing before as well.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And because they're a great employee, a great staff member, and they're dependable, most of it gets done.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where a lot of really good leaders can misread the situation.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: From our aspect, from our point of view, we see that the ministry is still functioning.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: We assume that the arrangement is just it's peachy keen.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's working, right?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: But work isn't getting done doesn't tell you, but work getting done doesn't tell you what it's costing the person doing it.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're preparing lessons after their kids go to bed.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe their original ministry gets less attention.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want that.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe their day off has become the only place to fit the extra planning.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: So they're doing that on their day off.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And those are the things that you may not see, even if you're a really good leader, you may not see those trade-offs unless you specifically ask.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we already determined you've not had a conversation for six months sometimes at this point.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And there's another problem.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Reliable coverage can make a vacancy feel less urgent.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And this happens all the time.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the deal: the service still happens, parents aren't complaining, volunteers have somebody to call.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing, the wheels are not falling off, right?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: If we continue to use that analogy.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: From the leadership team's perspective, the immediate crisis has passed.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: From the covering, from the covering of the staff members' perspective, the extra work keeps arriving every single week, though.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: And nobody is intended for this to happen.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: It can develop one postponed decision at a time.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: So how do you handle temporary coverage fairly?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think you need to start by defining the assignment.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: What exactly, specifically, are you asking this person to do?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: There is a substantial difference between supporting a volunteer leader for a month and taking responsibility for an entire ministry over a few months.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Be specific about the essential work, the decisions that they can make, and what can wait.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because they cannot do physically, realistically, spiritually, mentally, they cannot do two full-time jobs.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what you're asking them to do if you don't set down the parameters.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Look at their existing responsibilities of what you actually hired them to do.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you're adding something significant, decide what to remove or postpone or give to somebody else, right?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Don't leave the staff member to quietly choose which expectations they're going to disappoint you on eventually.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: You need to help make those decisions.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Next, you need to discuss support and compensation.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: A brief emergency assignment and several months of additional leadership deserves some different conversations.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Depending on the situation, support might include maybe a temporary stipend or some kind of something to show your appreciation.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it deserves some additional administrative help.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe some outside assistance.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe a temporary person or a remote employee that can come in and take some of the at least the administrative thing.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe a substantial reduction in other responsibilities.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: An extra paycheck can acknowledge the added responsibility, but it still won't create more hours in the week.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: You have to address that workload head on.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, number three, give the arrangement a timeline that you can actually manage.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I get it, you don't know what the timeline is.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know when you're gonna, it might take six months, it might take a year, it might take a year and a half sometimes to hire a new youth pastor.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: But put a timeline on this.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: You may not be able to promise the right candidate will accept the job in this certain timeline.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Searches have uncertainties.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: But you can commit to a review date, a clear next step, a decision about how long the current arrangement can reasonably continue.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Those kind of things.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: For example, hey, let's plan for this coverage through the end of June.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: We'll meet every two weeks, and by June 1st, we'll decide what happens if we haven't hired anybody.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then do that.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Meet every two weeks and do the final assessment to the first of June.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: That meeting needs to include a real choice.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Adjust the coverage, bring in additional help, maybe simplify the ministry, or discuss a different role with the person that's carrying it.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, an automatic extension isn't much of a review.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And not having the conversation is actually no review at all.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: If the church has decided that it won't fill the vacancy, say so.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Have an honest conversation about the staffing structure instead of continuing to describe it as just kind of a temporary structure.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So here's your step.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in this situation right now, here's your step for this week.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: List every vacant position somebody on your team is covering for.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Write down when the arrangement started, to the best of your knowledge, what they've taken on, what's come off their plate, if anything, and when you last reviewed it together.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And if those answers are unclear, you gotta schedule the conversation.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Schedule the conversation and start with, hey, you stepped up when we needed help.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I appreciate that.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: I want to make sure what we're asking is reasonable.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then listen before defending the arrangement.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Their willingness to help deserves thoughtful leadership in return.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope you'll do that.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And when somebody says yes to carrying an extra responsibility, just give them clarity, give them the support they need, and give them a plan that they can trust.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to hear your feedback on this, or maybe you're going through a situation like this, and you're like, Tom, I just need a little bit of help, a little bit of guidance on on how to how to even have this conversation, or how do we even structure this?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: What should we do for this person?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: We tend to ask the people that we really trust to take on extra responsibilities.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's the competent people that always get stuff added to their plate, and they can only do that for so long.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: So if there's any way that I can help you, staffing wise, or even have just having a conversation about something like this, reach out to me anytime.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Podcast at chemistry staffing.com.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: All right, that's it.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you'll join me right back here again tomorrow on the Helping Church of that podcast at the moment.