Implement a staff stewardship plan

Your staff members play a vital role in carrying out your organization’s mission. Because you care about your staff and because you want to be a good steward of the staff God has provided, you ask yourself, “How can I energize, focus, and unleash the staff?”
 
Answer: Document and implement a Staff Stewardship Plan that outlines how you provide your staff with the support, encouragement, and accountability they need to pursue God’s calling for their lives, both personally and professionally. That’s right—how they can pursue God’s calling, both personally and professionally.
 
While God’s calling for each staff member includes carrying out your organization’s mission, God’s calling for each staff member is broader than your organization’s mission. God’s calling for each staff member also includes things like family and church involvement.
 
Question: What’s the rationale for providing support, encouragement, and accountability for personal life?
 
Answer: That’s a good question. Investing in personal life demonstrates holistic care and empowers staff to more effectively carry out the organizational mission. For example, by providing coaching at work, you can help staff members reflect on and address personal concerns like balancing home/work. When personal concerns are addressed, staff members feel cared for and can more fully focus on work.
 
Or for example, you want to have staff use SMART goals in carrying out the organizational mission. Start by having staff members develop SMART goals for something in their personal lives (for example, maintaining good health). Then, have staff transfer what they learned about SMART goals in their personal lives to their professional lives.
 
Question: What can you do to address the personal life of each staff member?
 
Answer: Here are 4 options:
  1. Devotions: Read the Bible and pray together each day.
  2. Social gatherings: Have fun together—wedding and baby showers, banquets, sightseeing trips….
  3. Support for personal life: Provide days off for weddings, funerals, maternity/paternity leave….
  4. Coaching: Provide coaching to help staff balance work/home and maintain good health.
Question: What can you do to address the professional life of each staff member?
 
Answer: Here are 4 options:
  1. Professional development: Provide the learning opportunities your staff need to carry out organizational mission.
  2. Job debriefings: To promote reflection on work, give staff a set of questions they can ask each other.
  3. Staff supervision: To help your staff grow professionally, provide accountability/feedback.
  4. Coaching: Provide your staff with coaching to help them focus and work smart.
Bottom line: Provide your staff with the support, encouragement, and accountability they need to pursue God’s calling for their lives, both personally and professionally. Get started by taking this self-assessment (designed for international Christian schools) and by looking at this sample Staff Stewarship Plan.
 
Pursue excellence. Implement a staff stewardship plan. Today.