Cracking the Church Staff Code: Google's Surprising Secrets to Building a Dream Team

What if the secret to a high-performing church staff isn't about theological alignment or shared goals, but something as simple yet profound as psychological safety? This episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast promises to reveal the game-changing insights from Google's research on team dynamics, debunking the myth that only the smartest and most experienced teams succeed. Join Todd Rhoades, co-founder of Chemistry Staffing, as he uncovers how a culture where team members feel safe to voice ideas, questions, and concerns can lead to a more innovative, productive, and goal-focused church environment.

Todd dives into practical strategies to foster psychological safety within your church staff, emphasizing the importance of empathy, vulnerability, and open communication. Learn actionable steps to create a supportive atmosphere where diverse ideas are celebrated, and mistakes are viewed as opportunities for growth. Whether you're managing a large team or navigating the unique challenges of a solo pastor, this episode offers invaluable insights inspired by Google's findings, tailored to help you build a healthier, more dynamic church staff. Tune in and discover how implementing these principles can transform your team's culture and effectiveness.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Hi there, welcome to this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. I'm your host, todd Rhodes, and one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom, and today we're diving into the fascinating world of team dynamics. But instead of drawing from biblical examples or leadership gurus, today we're going to do something a little bit different. We're going to take a page from the tech giant, google and their playbook. Now you might be wondering what does Google know about building church staff teams? It turns out it could be quite a bit. Google is known, of course, for its innovative culture and high-performing teams, and they've invested significant resources a lot more resources and money than we have into studying what makes a team truly great, and their findings have really some surprising implications on how we build and lead teams in the church. All right, so, todd, what's the secret sauce? According to Google's research, it's not about having the smartest people in the room that have the most impressive resumes. It's not even about having a shared vision or common goals, and while those things are important, the true magic lies in something much simpler, and that's psychological safety. Now, that seems a little kind of psychological speak, todd, but psychological safety? Here's what it is it's the belief that you won't be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas or questions or concerns or mistake, and it's a culture where everyone feels safe to be able to take risks and be vulnerable and challenge the status quo. Okay, so that's psychological safety, and it's important as you build your team, that you have people that feel like they're a part of the team, that can speak up and share concerns, and that they won't feel punished or humiliated.

Speaker 1: 1:59

I work with churches all day long. I work with staff people all day long. All day long. I work with staff people all day long and I'm telling you, the number of churches that have staff members that feel like they're being punished or humiliated is incredible. Staff culture some places is horrible. Psychological safety is huge on a church staff. Now, is it as important as theological alignment? Is it as important as cultural alignment? Maybe not, of course. All those things, everything's important. Right, I'm a both-angler guy, but what Google? All I'm saying is what Google has said is that, according to Google and it might be the mileage may vary in the church, obviously, but psychological safety, according to Google, is one of the single most important factors in determining a team's success. Teams with that high psychological safety are more innovative, they're more productive and more likely to achieve their goals.

Speaker 1: 2:56

How do you get this type of a dynamic the psychological safety in your church staff team? Here are a few tips that I've pulled out, inspired by Google's research. The first is to lead with empathy and vulnerability. Show the team that you're human and that you make mistakes and that you value their input. Encourage open communication. Create a safe place where people can share their ideas and their concerns and disagreements. Celebrate different ideas. Recognize that everyone brings some unique perspectives and experiences to the table. Foster a culture of trust. Be reliable. Keep your commitments. Follow through on your promises and learn from your mistakes. Don't punish mistakes. Allow people the freedom to make mistakes. Instead, view mistakes as opportunities for learning and growth.

Speaker 1: 3:46

Now you might be like Todd this is a bunch of leadership garbage, and I'm here to tell you it's not because, if you're not careful and I see this happen way too often churches eat people up and spit them out, because they lack empathy and vulnerability. They don't encourage communication open vulnerability. They don't encourage communication open communication. They don't celebrate ideas, they don't foster a culture of trust and they don't learn from failure. Matter of fact, if you make a mistake, chances are your job may be on the line in many churches. I don't think I'm over speaking here when I say Google's on to something here and the church. You may not like Google, but the church can learn from some of the things that Google is saying here.

Speaker 1: 4:32

How do I actually implement those ideas in my church? It starts with some small steps and maybe start here Just open and honest conversations with people on your team. Maybe you have a staff, maybe you don't have, maybe you're a solo pastor, but you've got a board. You've got other people that are on your leadership team. Maybe, just for once, encourage them to share their ideas, even if they seem crazy at first. Model vulnerability by admitting your own mistakes and weaknesses.

Speaker 1: 4:59

Here's the bottom line. Building a dream team isn't about assembling a group of superstars. It's not. It's about creating a culture of safety where everybody feels valued and everybody feels heard and everybody feels empowered to contribute their best and they're not scared of losing their job by bringing an idea. You can tell I get a little feisty about this because I see a lot of hurt in the church because of abusive leaders that don't want to assemble a team that looks like this.

Speaker 1: 5:35

Now, if you're looking for more guidance on how to build a high-performing church staff team. Maybe you've stepped into a culture that you're in charge of that just needs some help. Don't hesitate to reach out to me this is one of the things I love to do and come alongside church leaders to help them change culture and DNA in their church. Reach out to me anytime. Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. I'm here to help you unlock some of that full potential in your team and we can together create a plan to do that and create a ministry environment where everybody can thrive. So remember church leaders, the most important, most innovative ideas often come from the most unexpected places. So by fostering this culture of psychological safety, you can really unlock your team and see them soar to some brand new heights. Thanks so much for listening to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. We're here every Monday. We're here Monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday. Every weekday, monday through Friday we're here. I hope you'll join us again tomorrow for the Healthy Church Staff Podcast.