3 Secrets To Keep Your Leadership Team Happy

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about “How to Keep Your Lead Pastor Happy”. 

This week would not be complete if I didn’t discuss the flip side of this relationship coin: “How to Keep Your Leadership Team Happy”.

Some lead pastors may ask why this is so important. 

Don’t they already get a paycheck …

Aren’t they called by God to do this … 

Why am I responsible for their happiness … 

For those lead pastors, here are a few reasons, from my research, why you should care about the emotional state of your leaders:

1. Happy leaders are more motivated to get their jobs done.
2. Happy leaders are more productive toward the future vision of the church.
3. Happy leaders seem to stay longer at the same church.

Just these few items are on every boss’s wish list and can be achieved faster than you think.

So, here are 3 secrets to keep your church leadership team happy in the coming weeks:

1. Never Think They Already Know The Vision

As the leader of the church, you have the responsibility of praying to God to give you a vision for the future.

You have spent hours alone in prayer with God so that He can share what that vision is. 

The problem isn’t that you don’t have a vision, but that you think everyone else already has it too. 

Lead pastors often forget that the rest of the team didn’t climb the mountain as they did to hear from God. 

They often get frustrated when the rest of the team isn’t on the same page as they are, but forget the second part of their job. To share the vision God has given them with the rest of their leadership team.

Nothing is as frustrating as a church leader who doesn’t know where they are heading. 

It is the lead pastor’s job to (intentionally) share with their team the vision God has given them for the church.

If you struggle with this, here are a few tips to help:

1. Have your team join you as you pray for vision for the church, and then brainstorm afterward together.
   • Nothing tells your team they belong more than inviting them into the process.
2. Put a line item in your next meeting to go over the vision step-by-step.
3. Put on the church calendar a quarterly meeting to revisit the vision, and evaluate how you and the team are doing in accomplishing it.

2. Don’t Micro-Manage Them

If you want your church leadership team to be happy, they will need you to simply trust them.

After you have shared with your team God’s vision for the church, you will need to explain to them what their parts are in accomplishing it.

After that, you must trust your team with these responsibilities. 

For some lead pastors, this can be hard because they feel the need to have their hands in practically everything the church does. 

We all know the type …

They finally get the right leaders but still want to lead them “step-by-step” to make sure the job is done right. 

Some would call this mentoring, but if not careful, it can turn into micro-managing fast. 

This problem can really rise to the surface if the lead pastor used to work in the church leader’s department years before as a youth leader, kids leader, worship leader, etc. 

They know how they did it, and want the leader to do it the same way. 

The problem is that ministry culture shifts as time goes on. 

The way a lead pastor used to do it may not work as well in today’s world.

Even when given the vision clearly, most leaders will eventually quit if they are micro-managed too often.

If you struggle with this, here are a few tips to help:

1. Stop trying to be involved with all areas of your church, and let your team take the lead you hired them for.
2. Don’t get upset if a leader doesn’t do something the same way as you would have. Their way could be different, but also better.

3. Notice Things They’re Doing Right

Every leader needs to be praised when doing something right. (it’s human nature)

This could be a struggle for you because you didn’t experience this as a volunteer or staff pastor. 

When you were doing the same job as your leaders are doing now, your boss didn’t give you a “that-a-boy” when you did something right. That was just your job. 

But this philosophy of being a boss has shifted over time. 

Church leaders want to know more than ever that they are doing things right. 

If the lead pastor’s approach doesn’t change with the times, it can be devastating to the team and church.

If you are anything like me, you tend to only notice the things that are not done right. 

As a lead pastor myself, I’ve found myself doing this more than I would like to admit. 

I can get so busy that I don’t notice things until they disrupt my day. 

But when we do this, it makes our leadership team feel small and unaccomplished. 

They feel like we are just waiting for them to mess up so we can bring out our spotlight and show everyone. 

I’ve had to learn to look up more and take notice when something is running smoothly. 

If we start noticing the things our team is doing well, it will change the climate of the office. 

I’ve found that when I intentionally notice the strength of my leaders, they start jumping over mountains to help me … and what boss doesn’t want more of that?

If you are like me and struggle with this, here are a few tips to help:

1. Make it a point to live with your eyes wide open to notice the things you normally wouldn’t.
2. When you notice an accomplishment, even if small, praise your leader for doing a great job in front of others.
3. Don’t be tempted to react to a leader’s mistake right away, but think about how you can help build it into a win for the next time.

Call to Action

Do you, as a Lead Pastor, identify with any of the scenarios above?

If so, what is one idea you can put into practice this coming week to help the happiness of your team?

What Do You Think?

Do you have another tip I didn’t mention that has helped you? 

Feel free to share in the comments section below!