Seven Rules For An Emotionally Vital Organization

Creating a healthy business, organization or ministry, requires having emotionally healthy people in leadership. Does the church, by and large, have healthy leadership teams for the long haul? One statistic says 1700 pastors leave the ministry each month! Hundreds of churches close their doors each year. There is a need for church leadership to help create emotionally stable leaders and cultures for their people on all levels. Here are seven rules (from The E-Myth Enterprise: How to Turn a Great Idea into a Thriving Business, page 107).

1. People Need Order

This requires structure, documentation, principles and standards. Everyone on the team needs to know this information in order for them to feel like they are involved in a fair and productive organization.

2. People Need to Feel Heard

Opinions, thoughts and suggestions need to be genuinely heard from all levels of the organization – from the employees, to the executives, to the customers.

3. People Need to Feel Connected to Something Bigger Than Themselves

If the point of the organization is just to stay afloat, that doesn’t motive anyone. A big, compelling vision is what helps people get connected and stay focused on the mission.

4. People Need to Have a Purpose

A plan is needed so that everyone understands how they fit into the structure. They need to know they have a purpose in being there. The purpose needs to go beyond money, and must include a more internal motivation that can only come when someone believes in what they are doing.

5. People Need to Feel Like What They are Doing has Moral Weight

The organization must act with integrity, doing what is right for it’s employees and it’s customers. When things begin to shift from this moral compass, it quickly becomes a drag on the self esteem of all involved.

6. People Need to Know What They Personally do is Important

Everyone involved in the organization must feel like his contribution maters.

7. People Need to Feel That the People They Associate with Love Them

They need to know, no matter what, they are cared for, valued and loved.

What can senior leaders and long standing church members in leadership do to help create an emotionally healthy organization for the staff and/or the church body?