The Secret Ingredient To Your Success…That You Have No Control Over

Many people hold many jobs over a lifetime. Gone are the days when one graduated from college and moved into a lifelong career with a great company. According to a January 2018 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person changes jobs an average of 12 times during his or her career.

The same can be said of ministry positions in the church. It’s rare to see a Pastor’s whole ministry career lived out at one church. In fact, it’s quite common for church employees to move on from a church more than once. Whether a person moves on of their own volition or if they’re forced out, ministry job movement is a reality in our world.

Sometimes people move on based on poor performance. But more often it’s a chemistry thing. Getting along well with others is crucial in every work environment, including the church. So, the secret to maintaining a longer lasting career at a church or business is, you guessed it, chemistry.

Since on-the-job chemistry is so important, let’s dive a little deeper into this crucial, sometimes illusive relational component.

What is it?: A click

Chemistry is defined as the branch of science that deals with the identification of material substances and the investigation of their properties and the ways in which they interact, combine, and change.

Relational chemistry can be defined as the emotion that people get when they share a special connection. You’ve felt it. For whatever reason, you simply like a person. You click. Maybe it’s a coworker or a friend. Or maybe it’s a romantic interest. Oftentimes you can’t put your finger on why, it’s just there. Your relationship just works.

How to develop it: You can’t

Here’s the interesting part. You have very little (if any) control over relational chemistry. You can’t really develop it as you would develop a skill. Sure, you can try to be nice around people, but if there’s no click, it’s just not there. The relationship may remain cordial but will most likely never be close. It’s just the way it is.

I’ve had great relational chemistry with a wide variety of people. Folks who are very much like me, and folks who are quite different from me. And I’m not sure why that is. Chemistry seems to be very unpredictable. Continue reading

The Key to Improving Boss / Employee Relations

Have you ever been in a work environment where you’ve had issues with your supervisor? Ever had disagreements with your boss? If you’re like most people, you probably have. Many factors can contribute to an uneasy work environment, but the most common is the employee / boss relationship.

In his book, The Truth About Employee Engagement, author and consultant Patrick Lencioni says there are three signs of a miserable job. 1. Anonymity – People cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known. 2. Irrelevance – Everyone needs to know that their job matters. 3. Immeasurement – Employees need to be able to gauge their progress and their level of contribution to the organization.

These three factors all relate to the employee / boss relationship. If your boss doesn’t really know you, if he doesn’t let you know you matter, if she doesn’t give you goals and guidelines by which to measure your work, you’ll most likely end up miserable.

Striving for a good relationship with your boss is vital if you’re going to be successful at work. And maintaining that relationship is directly related to how long you will stay employed.

Having worked for lots of bosses in my ministry career, I’ve found the key to keeping a great relationship with your boss. It’s just one word. “Distance.”

Physical Distance
The key question is, how close is your office to your bosses? I have a friend whose boss works in a different state, 400 miles away. Needless to say, this causes issues. I’ve worked in a large, church facility that had four different office locations in four different parts of the building. Again, this led to issues. If you’re in a multisite environment, your boss may be in a different building in a different part of town. While some of these issues can be worked through, suffice it to say the less physical distance between your office and your bosses, the better. Continue reading