Eight Church Staff Culture Building Assessments, Surveys and Questionnaires
Building a healthy and engaged church staff culture is a never ending process that requires a consistent and ongoing intentionality. And, because there are so many factors that influence staff culture it helps to come at it from a variety of different angles and approaches.
Below are some of the tools, surveys, assessments, and questions I have successfully used as an Executive Pastor and Church Consultant to build healthy staff cultures. You certainly don’t have to use them all to see results. You can pick and choose the ones you feel might be most impactful with your staff.
Eight Church Staff Culture Building Tools
Using these tools with your church staff will communicate just how much you value building a healthy staff team, how vital it is for the overall health of the church, and its impact on the mission of the church. Click on each bold heading to see a copy of the assessment, questions, or survey.
How Intentional Are You In Building A Healthy Church Staff Culture Assessment – Use this assessment as an anonymous survey tool in a staff meeting, compile the answers to come up with an overall score for each question, and then discuss the outcomes at the next staff meeting. The book mentioned in the opening paragraph is a good one to read together and discuss as a staff.
Staff Discussion Questions – These questions can be used in two ways. First, provide the questions to each staff member to complete in writing and then discuss them in a one-on-one meeting. Secondly, select specific questions from the list to ask in staff meetings for everyone to share their answers with the group.
Personal History Exercise – This exercise encourages transparency and allows staff to possibly learn something they didn’t know about each other. It can be used in staff meetings or in staff retreats at night sitting around a table or fireplace. Experience suggests that staff tend to be more vulnerable and trusting in an informal retreat setting than they do in a formal staff meeting.
Pulse Survey Questions – These questions can be used in several ways. First, as a written anonymous survey. Secondly, as selected questions to pose in staff meetings. Thirdly, break staff into groups of 3 and ask them to discuss selected questions and then to report back to the entire group with their answers.
Church Staff Satisfaction and Engagement Survey – This survey can have a profound impact on your staff work culture. The Gallup organization determined there are 12 factors that are indispensable to a healthy work culture. These have been adapted to the local church context. This assessment works most effectively when staff are allowed to take it anonymously. Once the results have been compiled, determine the questions where improvement is needed and together brainstorm things you could do in the coming year to raise your average score. Take this survey annually until you can score 4’s and 5’s on all questions. Here is a supporting article: Performance Management Beyond The Annual Review
A Feedback Focus – A Church Leader’s Priority: These are questions you can ask staff to answer for themselves and provide you with their answers or you can ask them in one on one meetings with staff or in some cases, as questions to ask and answer in staff meetings.
Powerful Coaching Questions For A Staff Supervisor: These questions can be used in the same contexts as above.
20 Employee Engagement Questions: More questions and activities that can be used in the same contexts as above to draw out staff and increase openness, understanding, and vulnerability
Posted on April 6, 2021
