Are you a great “company” to work for?
Recently Fortune Magazine came out with their 100 best companies to work for. Their criteria for companies consisted of a survey done of more than 277,000 employees who responded to questions about their “attitudes about management’s credibility, job satisfaction and camaraderie”. In addition, employees answered questions about pay and benefit programs as well as training and recognition programs. Click the links to see the full 100 companies and the criteria.
So you might be asking yourself, “Tom, how does this apply to ministry”?
Good question. Great companies not only have a vision that people support and buy-into but they also treat their staffers well. In many ways, as ministries, we are really pseudo companies. If we promote an environment for our employees (both paid staffers and volunteers) to thrive in, we’ll never lose them. They want to work for us the rest of their lives. On the other hand, if we promote an environment of insecurity and uneasiness where nothing is ever good enough, then our possibility of retaining the best and brightest may be short lived.
With this in mind, think about your ministry. Is your ministry a “company” people desire to work for? That they wake up in the morning with a passion and zest to be a help and contribute? Or is it just something they “do” because God calls us in the great commission to go and make disciples? I pray that it is the latter.
I believe great Ministries and Churches to work for…
- Appreciate and Honor their staff/volunteers
- Keep you focused on the task at hand and gives you a vision of what can be
- They keep a good balance between setting and maintaing expectations while also being an environment of grace.
- Allows you to use your gift set to its best ability
- Have fun together…never take each other too seriously
- Allow you to fail
What else makes your “company” great to work for? As valuable as I believe these are, they may not be the only ones. So, TAKE A MINUTE right now and think through what other qualities do you think makes up a great ministry to work for. Then, share your thoughts below. It’d be cool to see what everyone writes down.
Then, TAKE A MINUTE and think through your “company”. Are you a great company to work for or are you losing your best and brightest? If you are on the latter, what changes do you need to make in order to keep them?
Remember, our ministry’s primary goal is NOT to be the place where people want to work for us. But, if we become a “company” that is known for treating it’s volunteers and staffers great, then isn’t that a vital part of a successful ministry as we’ll be able to attract and retain the best working towards a common goal of reaching more and more people for Christ?
So, what do you think? How are you doing treating volunteers and staffers? Are you a good “company” to work for? Share them below or on social media using #ymsidekick when you share.
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