Tag Archive - vanderbloemen

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7 Lessons from a Sr. Pastor Succession Plan that Worked

Sunday, July 23, 2017

In 2014, I had a front row seat to the handoff of senior leadership of a multi-mega church from one Lead Pastor to another. Serving on the Executive Team at that time I had the privilege of having a behind the scenes view to the whole thing, start to finish.

Scott Ridout, who now serves as the President of Converge Worldwide a movement of over 1,300 churches that have joined together to start and strengthen churches, served in leadership at Sun Valley Community Church for 16 years before handing it off to Chad Moore who now serves as the Lead Pastor.

Both are fantastic leaders and even better men. Now a couple of years removed from leading through that transition with them there are a few things that stand out to me that made the transition successful. If your church will be going through a leadership transition in the future you may want to keep these principles in mind.

Hired from the Inside

Chad had joined the staff at Sun Valley back in 2004 and had already been on the team for 10 years when this transition happened. When you like the culture that you have you hire from the inside, when you want to change the culture you hire from the outside.

Public and Private Trust

As a result of leading together up close and over time trust had been built with 4 unique and important audiences. The church body, the staff, the board, and of course trust had been built between Chad and Scott. That public buy-in and private trust provided a foundation for the transition to succeed.

Reflection of our Culture

Due to his tenure at Sun Valley, Chad embodied the culture we were trying to create. If we had hired someone from the outside it would have marked a change in culture and with it a period of turmoil.

A High Capacity Leader is Essential

While both men are fantastic leaders, they are different leaders. But they are both high capacity leaders. While gifted uniquely they both have a high capacity. When there’s a new leader you don’t want people hoping that they’ll grow into the role. We didn’t have to worry about that in this case.

The Right Timing

The best time to make a baton handoff is at full speed. The best time to make change in a church is when you have momentum. Sun Valley had just gone multisite 3 years prior to this succession and was (and still is today) experiencing new growth.

A Clear Next Step for the Exiting Pastor

Scott had a very clear calling in all of this to become the next President of Converge. Without a clear next step for the exiting Sr. Pastor this would have gone completely different.

Humility

I could have easily led with this one. Humility was the chief characteristic that provided the right environment for the transition to be as successful as it was. Both men chose to do what was best for the church at every juncture in the process rather than grasp for power, prestige, preference or position.

If you want to learn more about succession planning for Sr. Pastors or need help with one at your church, I’d recommend my friend William Vanderbloemen to you. To learn more you can check out an interview I did with him about his book Next: Pastoral Succession that Works

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

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How to Staff your Church to Fulfill your Vision

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

 

The Unstuck Group is partnering up with Vanderbloemen Search Group to offer a webinar on How To Staff Your Church To Fulfill Your Vision.

You need more than a clear vision for where your church is headed. You need a team of people that can lead your church to accomplish it. Join Tony Morgan, Founder and Lead Strategist at the Unstuck Group and William Vanderbloemen, Founder and CEO of the Vanderbloemen Search Group to learn 3 Key Secrets to Building a great Church Staff Team:

#1 How to get the right people in the right position on your staff

#2 How to encourage your leadership team to own the vision

#3 How to evaluate whether your team needs an internal or external hire

Thursday, June 29 at 12:00pm EST
Space is limited to the first 500 registrations
Click here to register!

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

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3 Secrets of an Effective Church Staffing Structure

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Let’s be honest: There’s no shortage of resources out there on building church staff teams. Where churches really struggle is putting what they’ve learned into action.

Later this month my friend Tony Morgan with the Unstuck Group is partnering up with William Vanderbloemen with Vanderbloemen Search Group to tackle this topic. William and Tony work with hundreds of churches of across the country; they witness firsthand where and why churches are stuck in this area.

This free webinar will break this topic down into three priority components and offer you clear next steps to start building a healthier, more effective team.

The health and effectiveness of your church starts with its leadership. This webinar will help you:

  • Get your structure and roles right.
  • Hire the right people (and know when it’s time to let them go).
  • Build a culture of leadership development.
  • Identify practical next steps you can use to circle up with your team and start leading the changes you need to make.

Thursday, May 26 at 1pm EST
Space is limited! Register now.

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

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How to Keep your Best Staff Members from Leaving

Monday, February 16, 2015

One in two church staff members is open to new employment. At the Unstuck Group were shocked to learn this during our latest research on church staffing and structure. At the same time, our experience confirms that many church staff members are simply unsatisfied. If it’s true that half of staff members are willing to leave, how can you possibly build and retain an effective ministry team?

We’re excited to share that our research also uncovered two characteristics of churches that lead employees to be twice as committed. While these are certainly not quick-fixes, if leaders focus on creating health in a couple of ways, they can significantly raise the level of commitment on their team. Consider these 2 areas of health that keep employees engaged:

1. Church Health and Growth

Staff members who believe their church is healthy and growing are half as likely to be open to new employment. It makes sense that players on a winning team would be more committed. Many church leaders look to leave when they see their church plateau or decline with little response from senior leaders. If you’re looking to keep great players on your team, you must be willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish your vision. Stay focused on growing your church while developing health.

2. Staff Health and Effectiveness

Great staff members take notice of the people around them. Just 31% of staff members who believe the rest of their team is healthy and effective are open to new employment. That is a significant increase in commitment! Yet many church staffs include one or more individuals causing relational unrest. If you’re unwilling to deal with problem-people on your team, it shouldn’t be surprising when others start leaving it.

Other ways to develop staff health and effectiveness include developing leaders, clarifying wins, setting clear goals, and aligning the structure with the vision. Each of these and more are discussed in depth in our Next Level Teams report, which we’re offering to you at no cost. Click here to download your copy and start increasing staff commitment today.

Posted in Staffing

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Why are 50% of Church Staff Teams Unhealthy?

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

“1 in 2 church staff members do not believe that their team is healthy and effective.”

The health of a church begins with the health of its team. You simply cannot build an effective church without building a strong staff. We want to help you do just that!

That’s why we partnered with Vanderbloemen Search Group to ask church leaders how they staff and structure their teams. The responses were nothing short of surprising. In fact, we were shocked to learn that 1 in 2 church staff members do not believe the team they work with is healthy and effective. Specifically, that’s 47% of churches that are likely struggling to reach their communities because they are struggling to build a great team.

What would the staff members of your church say about the health of your own team? What steps are you taking to help them become more effective?

In our research, we found that the most effective church staffs operate very differently than most. Their leaders develop Next Level Teams by utilizing the following and more:

  • 3 Critical Aspects of an Effective Senior Leadership Team
  • 3 Key Components of Leadership Development
  • 2 Things Every Staff Member Needs Clarified

What would happen if you learned and applied these insights with your own team? We’d love to equip you to strengthen your staff.

We’ll be releasing these insights in our Next Level Teams webinar on January 21 at 1:00 pm EST. Tony Morgan will be hosting a conversation with William Vanderbloemen and members of The Unstuck Group about the most crucial steps church leaders can take with their staff to increase effectiveness. In just 45 minutes, we’ll provide key insights, followed by a live Q&A.

Are you ready to start building your own Next Level Team? Click here to register and join us for this exciting conversation. Participation is limited so register soon!

Posted in Leadership, Staffing
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