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Whoever Fixed the Projector Owns IT Now · The Healthy Church Staff Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say the associate pastor fixes the video projector five minutes before the service, and everybody's released.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: And you thank them, the slides appear, someone moves forward.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Next week, somebody asks them to look at a microphone.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then the live stream has a problem.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the children's check-in system freezes.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody can connect to the office printer, and before you know it, every technical problem in the building comes from the same instruction.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Ask Chris.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Chris knows how to fix that stuff.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Chris, meanwhile, thought you hired him to lead discipleship.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we're going to talk about that today here on the Church Staff, Healthy Church Staff podcast.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about the staff member who became your tech department without ever agreeing to the job.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, my name's Todd Rhodes, and I'm your host, one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffing.com.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you'll check us out at chemistry staffing.com.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Chris used, we're using Chris as a hypothetical example, right?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: The discipleship pastor that now is the unofficial tech director.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: But you may already have had somebody else in your mind.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a tech person, maybe it's something else that they've just inherited something because they know how to do it and nobody else does.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Usually starts pretty innocently.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Something breaks, someone helps, and you discover a skill that you didn't even know that they had.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a good thing.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Churches benefit when people share their abilities and help outside of their actual responsibilities.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's called being a team player and collaborating, right?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a point where occasional help becomes ongoing ownership and it has some unwritten rules attached to it, right?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Chris stops being someone who can help with it with a technical problem and he becomes the person everyone expects to solve the technical problem.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that change deserves a conversation because the work has to fit somewhere.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: If Chris spends Sunday morning troubleshooting the live stream, he may miss the volunteer meeting that he was supposed to leave.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: If Monday afternoon disappears into a networking problem, an IT problem, preparation for his small group training moves into Monday night while he's trying to be home with his family.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: You might see a dependable staff member keeping things running.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he may be looking at a calendar where his original job keeps getting pushed back into the margins because he needs to do all of these things that need to be done and he's the only one that knows how to do them.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The first step is to find out what he's actually carrying.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a suspicion that this might be happening on your staff, sit down with Chris, okay, or whoever, whatever their name is, and say, hey, what responsibilities have become yours that we've never really discussed?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's that job description creep.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then let him walk you through a normal week.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Include the preparation, include all the interruptions and all afterwards.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: A five-minute fix may come after an hour of troubleshooting that you just never you never see.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Also, ask what he feels responsible for simply because nobody else knows what to do.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: That answer may be broader than the work you intended to do to assign.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So next, decide who should own each responsibility and be careful about treating every technical skill as interchangeable.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Running a sound uh a soundboard, managing an office network, and supporting a children's check-in are totally different kinds of work.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And someone who knows how to make a slide appear may have no particular expertise in network security or repairing equipment or knowing what to do when your Wi-Fi is down.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you need a realistic expectation of what your staff and your volunteers can support and where outside help makes sense.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean a small church needs a full-time tech director.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's not at all what I'm saying, but it might mean that a trained volunteer handles service production, maybe an outside contractor or provider provides the office network, maybe a staff member coordinates all of those relationships.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe it means that technology becomes an intentional part of Chris's role.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's fine too.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: If that's the decision, though, discuss it with him.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Find out whether he wants to do that, whether he wants that as part of his responsibility, what training maybe he would need to make maybe help him to be more proficient in that area if you're going to give him that responsibility and pay him for it.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: And what other work may need to be taken off his plate or change.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Review compensation when the scope warrants it.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And most importantly, give him priorities so he can actually follow those priorities.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And if he's leading a discipleship event and the office printer stops working, where does he put his time?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Which responsibility comes first?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: He shouldn't have to negotiate that question every time somebody asks or a problem appears, which is pretty much every day, right, if we're honest.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then build support around that work that you want him to do.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Start with a few functions that matter most on Sunday, and for each one identify who normally handles it, who can provide some backup support, and what to do when the usual fix just doesn't work.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: You can write a short checklist, let the backup person practice while the experienced person watches.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Reading instructions is helpful.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, starting the stream or setting up a check-in helps reveal what the instructions missed.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And agree on what happens if something can't be fixed immediately.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Can the service continue without the screen?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Is there an established alternative when check-in is unavailable?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Who decides when to stop troubleshooting?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Those decisions are easier to make, and you know this, easier to make calmly on Thursday than with a room full of people waiting on a Sunday morning.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: So here's a practical step for you.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Meet with your accidental tech person.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you have one, identify three responsibilities creating the most disruption, and for each one, agree on who will own it, what support they need, and a date for making the change, and then absolutely follow through.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Keep appreciating the person who steps in during a crisis.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Also, while you're appreciating them, give them a clear answer about what happens after the crisis ends.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Helping once should open a conversation about their skills rather than quietly rewriting their whole job description.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's it for today.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Hope this has been helpful to you.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: My name's Todd Rhodes.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: If there's any way that I or my team at Chemistry Staffing can help your church, particularly with hiring, that's what we do a lot, but also succession planning, compensation analysis, transitional coaching, any of those kind of things, reach out to me.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to start a conversation with you, see if there's a way we can partner together.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Reach out to me, podcast at chemistry staffing.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: All right, that's it.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be back tomorrow.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you'll join me again for the next episode.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow will be episode 734.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Here on the Healthy Church Committee.