On the Care and Keeping of Staff
The past two weeks seem like they happened years ago. One week of our MDA campers, running kitchen and other odd jobs around camp. Then, the big one. Christ Presbyterian Church from Minnesota flooded camp and ran their own program as the rest of us tried to keep bathrooms afloat.
Seriously though. So many clogged toilets. So much water on the floor. So much dirt tracked in. The bathrooms were a wreck.
The strange part of being on the leadership team at camp is how much more you end up being responsible for the little things. Like bathrooms, or making sure that chafing dishes are out and lit, or that the garbage cans are getting emptied. Little things that make a huge impact on how the group perceives you, or if dinner will get served on time.
Little things. But they mean the world.
The work you do all comes down to the team. Your team. Do you know your teammates? Their dynamics? Do you know what makes them tick? When their break is? When they need a break? Do you know who's responsible for what? And so now your leadership comes into play because you need to know the little things. More importantly, you team expects you to know all the little things.
So here it is. The "care and keeping" of staff. Here's the requirements you need to meet.
Know the schedule like the back of your hand.
Know where they should be. What they should be doing. How they should be doing it. Why they should be doing it. Make sure to relate it back to how they feel, because it's not about whether the job gets done, it's about how good they feel at the end of the day.
Staff according to preference.
So-and-so can't stand to work with such-and-such. Somebody only wants to work water-sports and will have a bad attitude if you don't put them with that group. This too, is your fault, and as a leader you should be ashamed of yourself. You must only put people where they want to be and with who they want to be with, even if it means no work will get done.
These rules are bogus.
Say what? It's not about me? I have to do my job?
Leadership is complicated, and that is why I love the distinction between the giftings of administration and pastoring. See, administration is task-oriented and focused on the larger goal. Pastoring is concerned on the level of the individual while keeping the dynamic of the whole body in mind.
Generalizing, but you get the picture.
I know myself. I am a task-oriented person. I am not gifted in pastoring, and will often overlook someone's needs, concerns, or feelings for the sake of getting the job done. My gift is administration. However, that does not mean that I get to throw off my responsibility to those under my care. I am not wonder woman (though I'd like to think so) and even if I don't know everyone's schedules I am still one of the people they look to for that information.
Information. That's the key. How much you have and how you wield it. Especially your observations about the staff. Because that's the funny part of leadership I never got told about. You get to observe people and their quirks. You get to observe people and how they interact with each other, how they work with each other, what they need in order to succeed. It's the best! You get to go in and mediate and delegate and watch it all unfold and you get to let people flourish.
So it is a little bit about emotions, about making sure your staff is doing okay, that the dynamics are going well, that everyone knows where they should be and when and what. But it's always about giving them the tools to succeed. Like the schedules that Tonks makes every Friday for the staff. Like the talk I give to my IMP staff at the beginning of the week. Like the twenty minutes of business we do every day at staff meeting. Like the one-on-ones between Moonie and Tonks and the staff that give people room to vent and confide.
Information. And again, it's all about switching my focus from myself and pointing it outward. Because it is in those moments of outward observation where I catch the most. Those are the moments where the "willing heart" comes into play. But more on that later. I'm just glad another week is done and I get the chance to start afresh again.
Seriously though. So many clogged toilets. So much water on the floor. So much dirt tracked in. The bathrooms were a wreck.
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| Getting Ready to Wake People for Polar Plunge |
Little things. But they mean the world.
The work you do all comes down to the team. Your team. Do you know your teammates? Their dynamics? Do you know what makes them tick? When their break is? When they need a break? Do you know who's responsible for what? And so now your leadership comes into play because you need to know the little things. More importantly, you team expects you to know all the little things.
So here it is. The "care and keeping" of staff. Here's the requirements you need to meet.
Know the schedule like the back of your hand.
Know where they should be. What they should be doing. How they should be doing it. Why they should be doing it. Make sure to relate it back to how they feel, because it's not about whether the job gets done, it's about how good they feel at the end of the day.
Staff according to preference.
So-and-so can't stand to work with such-and-such. Somebody only wants to work water-sports and will have a bad attitude if you don't put them with that group. This too, is your fault, and as a leader you should be ashamed of yourself. You must only put people where they want to be and with who they want to be with, even if it means no work will get done.
These rules are bogus.
Say what? It's not about me? I have to do my job?
Leadership is complicated, and that is why I love the distinction between the giftings of administration and pastoring. See, administration is task-oriented and focused on the larger goal. Pastoring is concerned on the level of the individual while keeping the dynamic of the whole body in mind.
Generalizing, but you get the picture.
 |
| IMP Group from Yakima Washington |
Information. And again, it's all about switching my focus from myself and pointing it outward. Because it is in those moments of outward observation where I catch the most. Those are the moments where the "willing heart" comes into play. But more on that later. I'm just glad another week is done and I get the chance to start afresh again.
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