One of the many legends about Google as a work environment is the different places they created for their staffs to have fun. It’s not just work at work, there is some fun involved, too – by design. The folks at Google (and tons of other companies) realize that employees need to have their brains stimulated in new and creative ways, the staff need to decompress even during the work day, and they need do things together so that they can bond and bind together as a team. Coming to work, doing just work, going home and then repeating that ad naseum creates a workplace that can lead to employee burnout.
Here’s a solution for churches:
- Allocate $1,000 from your church budget to be spent $250 each quarter (feel free to allocate more, it just depends on the size of your staff)
- Divide your staff into four groups and assign each group a quarter of the year.
- Each group is tasked with finding something fun, creative, and new for the staff to do and they’ve got a budget of $250. It may cost a little more and then each staff person might have to chip in a couple of bucks, but try very, very hard to not make this an expense for the staff.
- Find one day each quarter when the church is closed for a “staff development day” (if you can only do a half day, that is okay, too)
- Then, close the church, put a volunteer on the switchboard, and go have fun. Once you do this a few times, it will begin to change the way the staff interacts with each other. They will recall fun times, goofs by each other and themselves, etc.
- This will create memories that are NOT church or work related. The staff will have something to talk about other than work. This will create a much healthier work environment.
Here are some suggestions:
- Bowling
- Painted pottery
- Movies
- Tour of a local historical site
- Team Hide & Seek in a mall
- Paintball
- Ropes course
- Kayaking or canoeing
- Frisbee golf
- Scavenger hunt
- Raking leaves for a shut-in
- Habitat for Humanity home build
You get the idea. Some of these ideas are free; some are not; all are beyond the walls of the church. Some are outside the comfort zone of a few staff; none are difficult; all are different.
Go have FUN with your staff!
Lead On!
Steve
www.financeforchurches.org
www.facebook.com/financeforchurches.org