Browsing by Author: Susan Beaumont

What words would you use to describe the ideal staff team? I frequently pose this question to church leaders and the two words most frequently offered are collaborative and accountable.  We want our staff teams to be cooperative, to demonstrate an ease and naturalness in working together that capitalizes on the strength and ingenuity of team members.  At the same time we want the staff to accomplish worthy work that is both effective and efficient. We value a team that fosters both individual and group accountability. Most staff teams function somewhere along a spectrum that favors either collaboration or accountability.  The healthiest staff teams find a way to foster both attributes. 

Recently, author Karen McClintock wrote “The Challenge to Change” in which she made this claim: “I believe congregations are in decline because they have become shame-bound”.  

I haven’t been able to get this provocative statement out of my mind. It certainly proves true in my consulting practice, particularly in any situation that involves imaging a new future. To imagine a new future we must always begin with understanding our past, so that the future is rooted in something real. I often invite leaders to describe the glory days of the congregation, that period of time when the congregation was functioning as its best version of itself. They have no problem reaching consensus on what the glory era was, and they can quickly describe what made it a high point in the history of the congregation (usually, that attendance was at an all-time high).