survey

Effective staff evaluations do not focus on critiquing past performance, but rather supporting, encouraging, and guiding staff members into even greater ministry effectiveness in the future. Taking time to assess past performance can translate into future growth for both the staff person and the organization. Growing leaders grow healthy organizations. 

Here are five tips to help you make the staff evaluation process as beneficial as possible:

Tip #1 - Focus on Strengths

How many staff evaluations end up focusing on weaknesses? We identify a key weakness and then expect the staff member to devote considerable time and energy to strengthening that “growth area.” Of course, we all need to shore up areas of weakness that may be hindering us from really moving a ministry forward. However, this can be very discouraging for a staff member if taken too far (not too many people like to focus on their weaknesses for prolonged periods of time). It also doesn’t account for the role of team members who may be able to offset the staff member’s weaker areas. In my blog, Four Reasons Why You Should Invest in Your Strengths, I argue that focusing on strengths often results in much higher returns within a ministry while helping staff members feel engaged in their work.

I’m convinced that character is foundational to long-term leadership effectiveness. The link between a person’s character and their influence is too strong and too consistent to be ignored. Character is not only one of seven key dimensions of leadership, I believe it is the defining characteristic of leadership. As Wayne Cordeiro has said, you can teach others what you know, but you can only reproduce what you are. 

Yet, the specific character qualities that most greatly impact a leader’s effectiveness are unknown. This is why I’m conducting an online survey on the character qualities that contribute to long-term leadership effectiveness. The results will help me develop a "character map" that I can help leaders follow as they seek to strengthen the character qualities that are essential for leadership over the long haul.

I would like to invite you to take the survey. If you choose to participate, you will be asked to articulate 10 character qualities that you believe are important for long-term leadership effectiveness. You will also be asked to prioritize them and describe how each one looks in the life of a leader. The online survey will take about 20 minutes to complete.

As a small "thank-you" for the time given to this strategic study, you can choose to enter into a random draw for one of two $25 Starbucks gift cards (provided you participate by June 30, 2016 and choose to provide your e-mail address). 

Thanks for considering this request. To participate, click here, read the consent form, and proceed with the survey.

Randy Wollf is the Director of MinistryLift and Associate Professor of Practical Theology and Leadership Studies at MB Seminary.