I was a young pastor, conscientious, concerned for my congregation and the unity of our church. So on that Sunday afternoon when John, an experienced deacon, showed up at my home unannounced, my antennae went up. John’s agitation and dire…
Read MoreUnburdening Ourselves: E-Mail Management Tips from the Experts
The need to manage our e-mail has spurred a number of authors to write entire books on the subject. If books aren’t enough, e-mail management experts are available to offer further training through their seminar programs and consulting services. And…
Read MoreAsk Alban: Committee Charters: Helping Us Be Our Best
Q: Right now we just tell our committees what we would like them to do. We don’t put anything in writing. Should we develop a formal job description for our committees? A: Committee charters are definitely worth the time they…
Read MoreAsk Alban: Helping Volunteers Get Back on Track
Q: Congregational leaders are challenged to help staff and volunteers work cooperatively—in other words, to be aligned. What should a leader do when a valued volunteer is on the wrong track? A: To help congregational leaders and members have the…
Read MoreThe Performance Planning Meeting: Putting Our People Where Our Mission Is
Whether we are talking about congregations with one staff person or very large congregations with dozens, volunteer and employed staff—people—are the primary resource used to accomplish the mission of the congregation. Commonly 65 percent or more of a congregation’s annual…
Read MoreAsk Alban: Re-inventing Boards that Bore: Overcoming Micromanagement
Q: Our board spends too much time reviewing and approving work that should be done by staff and committees. We know we shouldn’t micromanage, but we can’t seem to help it. How can we change? A: You have a lot…
Read MoreThe Abilene Paradox Goes to Church: A Management Concept Suggests Why Some Congregations Can’t Nail Down a Decision
The letter was crystal clear: “You have precipitously dismissed the most valuable member of the church staff. And now you will pay the price.” So it seemed. After 40 years of employment, the choir director at Sunnyvale Church was being…
Read MoreA Pioneering Spirit: Speed Leas Celebrates Four Decades of Conflict Management Consulting
What would motivate someone who never has enjoyed being in a conflict—whether his own or someone else’s—to spend almost four decades in the midst of congregational conflicts? “I’m curious,” explains Speed B. Leas, a long-time Alban Institute consultant who has…
Read MoreA Time to Every Purpose: Competent Time Management
For many of us, the most serious challenge in competent time management is neither finding a block of time to take a sabbatical nor making the effort to create a healthy daily schedule on paper. The most serious challenge is…
Read MoreChanging Emotional Systems
by Peter L. Steinke I doubt Sir Isaac Newton ever expected his theories to be used to explain human behavior, but in my experience working with more than a hundred conflicted congregations, two Newtonian principles do indeed seem to apply. When…
Read More