Some hard truth for a winter Wednesday…
As a church consultant, I coach leaders and staffers and also help entire church teams with strategy, worship and production ministries, as well as organizational structures and communications. One of the biggest issues I see in interpersonal communications on church staff is exaggeration, or – as the old saying goes – making mountains out of molehills.
From staff members, I see it manifest most often in hyper-dramatizing problems. Hurdles that are common to most jobs (especially people-focused jobs in ministry) are made to seem as if they are unique (and insurmountable). Certainly, any job that deals with people can be challenging – just think of all of the people that you challenge when you’re feeling crabby or self-focused. A little perspective – we live in an age where life is the easiest that it has ever been in the history of the world. All of the imaginary slights and battles that we endure are a big, big part of what makes things seem so tough. We continually hurt our own feelings and suffer anxiety from things that never happened…
From senior leaders, I often see it in exaggerating imperfections. Minor issues are treated as if they are earth-shattering fails, blowing problems WAY out of proportion. Any imperfection is treated as a massive failure – including times when staff don’t do things the way you would have (ie when they aren’t able to read your mind). This can turn into imagined disloyalty when in reality staffers – and often volunteers – are just trying to figure out what you want.
So – right now – pause. Take a deep breath. Relax a bit. Deal with the problems that actually exist, not ones that you imagine COULD exist. And be thankful. Keep calm and carry on…
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