Keep the Bar High
Loriana Sekarski
Loriana Sekarski is the founder and president of BONSAI, a consulting company that transforms leaders (and businesses) into the best version of themselves. Outside of BONSAI, Loriana serves as an adjunct professor at Washington University's graduate student program. Additionally, she's fine-tuning her passion project, TakeFlight, a program that addresses domestic abuse within the Christian community.
I ran across a church advertisement recently that said, “Bring your spiritual health back… without a heavy time burden.” This lowering of expectations seems to be a theme these days. Don’t expect too much or they may not participate. Don’t ask for too much or you might be looking for a new employee or volunteer.
In my experience, lowering the bar leads to even lower results because:
- Low performers are validated in achieving little.
- High performers get frustrated that they are working harder while others aren’t held accountable, and they choose to either lessen their contribution or leave entirely.
Help People See Their Potential
People want to be a part of winning organizations. But overall, people want to be encouraged to strive for more, learn more, and contribute more. Jesus knew this. He never left people where they were but challenged them to reach the potential He saw in them. Are you doing that with your leaders or members of your congregation?
I’ve coached many leaders through the process of having difficult conversations with someone about needing to raise the bar. Even though the leaders felt uncomfortable going into those conversations, they discovered that their employees nearly always appreciated the feedback.
The employees usually knew their performance wasn’t up to par but didn’t think the leader had even noticed! In many situations, the response wasn’t defensiveness but rather along the lines of, “You actually noticed and care about how I am doing!” From there, a powerful conversation ensued that strengthened that working relationship and resulted in better outcomes for the employee and the organization.
Don’t Lower Expectations
I have many examples of this from my work as a leadership coach, but I also have many thoughts on this as a church member. This gets personal because leadership is always personal for the leader and those being led. When I hear pastors not calling us to a higher level of holiness or sending a message we don’t want to “burden” anyone with having to read a book in a small group, my heart sinks and questions cross my mind:
- Why don’t you think we are capable of more?
- Why are we being encouraged to settle for less when Jesus wants the most for us?
- How will we reach the loss if we model mediocrity and aren’t serious about the gospel?
- If the church isn’t taking this (whatever “this” is at the moment) seriously, why should I?
As churches struggle to increase engagement post-COVID, this is something critical to consider. Since we know the workers are few for the harvest, we want them to be as productive as possible. Having more workers but dropping expectations and thereby lowering productivity isn’t the answer, but it can be easy to find yourself on this slippery slope.
Even though the leaders felt uncomfortable going into those conversations, they discovered that their employees nearly always appreciated the feedback.
Consider These Questions
Have you or your leadership:
- Reduced any expectations to get people to come to church or small groups?
- Rescued people by quickly offering excuses for why they didn’t do something? (“Oh, I’m sure you were just too busy this week…” or “It’s not that big of a deal”)
- Stopped or reduced required reading or prep work for small groups?
- Apologized for expecting something from your employees, volunteers, or members?
- Started using caveats or apologies with requests because you feel like you are putting people out?
Jesus didn’t say, “When you have time, go and make disciples,” or “Go and make disciples of some nations with a focus on the low-hanging fruit,” or “Teach them to observe some of what I commanded because you know they can’t really handle it all.” You will need to discern between those who can’t do more because they haven’t been trained or equipped to do so yet and those who choose not to. If someone chooses not to contribute, don’t keep lowering the bar to accommodate them. Keep the bar high and equip those who want to contribute.
If you are a leader, your true followers want to be challenged. I would assert they need to be challenged. And if you lose a few, you probably didn’t have them anyway. With a smaller, more engaged, and on-fire team, you will accomplish even more.
