No one wants to talk about it, but we have to at times.
You see, there comes a time in every churches life when an IT worker has outlived their ability to perform their job.
Ouch…!
Read on if you dare…
The ‘Situation’
There are two areas where we see this happen: The first is in a new church. When planting a church, the lead planter will take on anyone willing to do a job for free and at least marginally well. This includes IT. A fresh plant may need a guy who can fix a computer, set up a cheap website, and maybe install a print server. His paycheck usually consists of “thank you,” and not much else.
Although we typically hope it’s more than that.
At some point, you are going to need competent (paid) IT guy. You may decide it is worth it to hire your volunteer (if he or she will take the pay cut…) because you “owe it to them.” As your church grows, what happens when you find out this person cannot deliver? Maybe their turn-around-time is two weeks, leaving your pastors and leaders without computer access. Or, they often lose software or hardware and overspend their budgets. Maybe they do incredibly dumb things like lock your video editing team out of Final Cut Pro (I wish it wasn’t a true story, but this happened to me once).
Here’s the second situation: Sometimes you end up with a team of “old dogs” who are not willing to learn new tricks. You see this happen when a director or team lead says something like, “I think we will go with a Linux server” in an all Windows environment. The old dogs grumble and complain because they will have to learn how to set up the new software or refuse to learn at all.
Maybe you wanted to switch to some form of virutalization, but the team does not follow your vision arguing on behalf of physical machines. The last time a team member came up with a new idea or asked to take a risk on something cutting edge was around the time XP was released.
Killing ‘Comfort’
Churches tend to have a relaxed work environment. It is in this environment we tend to keep fruitless employees. Those who work in churches often get into a mindset of “I don’t have to do anything too crazy to keep my job as my boss will extend copious amounts of grace.” IT leads often feel bound by “being a good Christian” and fear firing or laying off an employee based on performance alone.
How do we manage this? Standards.
Setting the Standards
This includes both planters and IT directors. From the start, you have to let your volunteers and employees know they are replaceable. You should be as clear as possible, yet tactful, when communicating this. Your people should know average talent can and will be replaced by rock-star talent.
For planters, I would recommend telling your people there are no guaranteed jobs once your church launches. If you are in the early stages of hiring, make your expectations known to all perspective employees.
These should include:
- Periodic evaluations will determine the need for the person as well as a paid employee in an IT position.
- The expectation of technological advancement (assurance new technology will be considered or used as needed)
- The expectation of building leaders who could potentially take over your IT department if needed.
- The expectation of hard work and building ones skills set beyond its current capacity.
What about the Old Dogs?
If you have older departments, “cleaning house” may be more difficult. A lot of personal ties and relationships have formed making this tricky. Cleaning house should not be done in a careless manner. Careful evaluation of each employee should be exercised to include whether or not a person can be resuscitated.
It may be they have just become relaxed because the director (read: you) has become too relaxed or lazy. Offering training or giving leadership roles may be enough to revive your old dogs.
Some of your dogs will have to be released. It is a sad fact that some people will not change. When you do this, make sure they know you were appreciative of their years of work, and make every attempt to help your former employees to find jobs.
This may mean offering to be a reference or helping write a resume. Remember, some people cannot be revived and your poor leadership may be to blame. The least you can do is apologize and try to help them. While personal responsibility plays a huge role, as their leader, you may have lead them down the wrong path or facilitated their poor performances and behavior.
What about You?
Have you ever had to fire or let go of a poor IT performer? Why? How? Do you have any advice for others who may be in a similar situation?
Let’s hear about it.
Maddie Morgan says
Really great article. Its tough to let those people go as so many of these individuals are volunteer. (At least thats how it is at our church). In the past we’ve just brought in some more experienced volunteers and they have trained our existing IT workers. It also helps because we just got a new pastor who shook things up a bit. He brought a lot of new life into our church…
Don says
Ouch. I never thought about having to let a volunteer go. That could hurt even more.
Amy says
Really great article. Its tough to let those people go as so many of these individuals are volunteer. (At least thats how it is at our church). In the past we’ve just brought in some more experienced volunteers and they have trained our existing IT workers. It also helps because we just got a new pastor who shook things up a bit. He brought a lot of new life into our church…