Occasionally, you hear an interesting story in the news. It often concerns an employee of a company who has been pulling a paycheck for years, but there are serious irregularities.
For example, they never come to work. Or, they do no work if they are there. Or, they have no supervisor. Or, no one knows who they report to, if anyone. Or, if they do come to work, no one knows what exactly they do, sometimes not even the employee. They can produce no evidence of work they’ve supposedly done. Yet, this situation has been going on for years.
All these irregularities get laid at management’s door, and they should. It’s a management failure.
We deal with this situation all the time at church. Why should we consider it anything other than a leadership failure?
It IS a leadership failure.
People may not be paid in actual money, but they still get the distinction of the calling, the title, the supposed credibility, and any accolades that go with it.
What is the Church Equivalent?
So, what is happening, exactly? I’ll try to break it down point-by-point.
1. Local Leadership Doesn’t Understand Callings.
There are quite a lot of callings that exist, but are never filled, probably because leaders don’t know what they are or what they do. I’ve covered some of this before: Building Scheduler (Stake calling), Stake Calendar Administrators, Ward Calendar Administrators, Email Communication Specialists, Interpreters, Referral Managers, Church History Specialists, Disability Specialists.
There are undoubtedly others that I don’t know about. An enterprising clerk could probably track them all down.
Instead of tracking down specific callings and how they operate, leaders often create a custom calling and call it good. In reality, this causes absolute havoc. (Maybe I’ll cover this problem in another blog posting. It deserves its own space.)
Besides being unaware of many official church callings, leadership rarely knows how the callings are supposed to operate. Or, if they are familiar with the callings, they assume the callings function like they used to. This is a particular problem with Building Scheduler and Church History Specialists. These callings operate very differently from how they did in the past, despite preserving the title.
Often, leadership just operates by the seat of its pants and makes assumptions. The assumptions are often wrong.
Still have an Emergency Preparedness Specialist called in your ward or stake? You shouldn’t. The Church changed the wording to “Temporal Preparedness” some time ago.
You need to know what you are calling people to do. No, you can’t get up to speed on every calling in your unit or stake overnight. However, you can get up-to-date on every calling you extend. This way, you can explain what people should do, who they report to, and so forth.
2. Lines of Authority are Muddy
Callings that require people to attend Ward or Stake Council Meetings are generally pretty well-defined. For others, not so much.
I’ll give you some examples from my own experience. I served as the Ward Technology Specialist. The calling was a constant nightmare. I’ll only cover some highlights.
Before COVID, I noticed that nobody could get the visual media at church to work correctly, and I mean no one. Teachers and other presenters were adrift.
All these irregularities get laid at management’s door, and they should. It’s a management failure.
We deal with this situation all the time at church. Why should we consider it anything other than a leadership failure?
It IS a leadership failure.
People may not be paid in actual money, but they still get the distinction of the calling, the title, the supposed credibility, and any accolades that go with it.
What is the Church Equivalent?
So, what is happening, exactly? I’ll try to break it down point-by-point.
1. Local Leadership Doesn’t Understand Callings.
There are quite a lot of callings that exist, but are never filled, probably because leaders don’t know what they are or what they do. I’ve covered some of this before: Building Scheduler (Stake calling), Stake Calendar Administrators, Ward Calendar Administrators, Email Communication Specialists, Interpreters, Referral Managers, Church History Specialists, Disability Specialists.
There are undoubtedly others that I don’t know about. An enterprising clerk could probably track them all down.
Instead of tracking down specific callings and how they operate, leaders often create a custom calling and call it good. In reality, this causes absolute havoc. (Maybe I’ll cover this problem in another blog posting. It deserves its own space.)
Besides being unaware of many official church callings, leadership rarely knows how the callings are supposed to operate. Or, if they are familiar with the callings, they assume the callings function like they used to. This is a particular problem with Building Scheduler and Church History Specialists. These callings operate very differently from how they did in the past, despite preserving the title.
Often, leadership just operates by the seat of its pants and makes assumptions. The assumptions are often wrong.
Still have an Emergency Preparedness Specialist called in your ward or stake? You shouldn’t. The Church changed the wording to “Temporal Preparedness” some time ago.
You need to know what you are calling people to do. No, you can’t get up to speed on every calling in your unit or stake overnight. However, you can get up-to-date on every calling you extend. This way, you can explain what people should do, who they report to, and so forth.
2. Lines of Authority are Muddy
Callings that require people to attend Ward or Stake Council Meetings are generally pretty well-defined. For others, not so much.
I’ll give you some examples from my own experience. I served as the Ward Technology Specialist. The calling was a constant nightmare. I’ll only cover some highlights.
Before COVID, I noticed that nobody could get the visual media at church to work correctly, and I mean no one. Teachers and other presenters were adrift.
So, after COVID, I conscripted my boyfriend, now husband, who had keys, to accompany me to the Media Center to examine all the equipment and see what I could find out. It didn’t take much, but I determined that all of it was inoperable. However, it was being checked out and hauled into classrooms every week, even though it didn’t work.
So, utilizing the Church Tech Forum and other instructions online, I looked for solutions. I discovered that we needed adapters and cables/ties to secure all this to the equipment we had, so it wouldn’t go walkabout. With that, we could adapt our existing equipment to the new digital media in multiple ways.
I asked questions and looked for whom to apprise of my discoveries. I never found out. We have three wards that occupy our building. Who do I inform or appeal to? I reported to no one. I had no one to seek information and guidance from. Was it my bishop, other bishops, the agent bishop, someone in the stake? Somebody else? I didn’t know. What budget does it come out of? Who authorizes the purchase? I was adrift.
All of my work was rendered moot when new televisions miraculously appeared in the media center one day, astonishing us all. Problem solved? Not really. The first time I saw them used, I noticed several new problems. For example, even though the televisions looked identical, the remote controls were not. Multiple times, I saw teachers race back to the Media Center to find the correct remote that would work with their particular television.
So, I tried to solve these problems. I discovered that I could get a permanent marker in fine tip white, where I could number or otherwise identify the correct remote and which television it went with.
So, utilizing the Church Tech Forum and other instructions online, I looked for solutions. I discovered that we needed adapters and cables/ties to secure all this to the equipment we had, so it wouldn’t go walkabout. With that, we could adapt our existing equipment to the new digital media in multiple ways.
I asked questions and looked for whom to apprise of my discoveries. I never found out. We have three wards that occupy our building. Who do I inform or appeal to? I reported to no one. I had no one to seek information and guidance from. Was it my bishop, other bishops, the agent bishop, someone in the stake? Somebody else? I didn’t know. What budget does it come out of? Who authorizes the purchase? I was adrift.
All of my work was rendered moot when new televisions miraculously appeared in the media center one day, astonishing us all. Problem solved? Not really. The first time I saw them used, I noticed several new problems. For example, even though the televisions looked identical, the remote controls were not. Multiple times, I saw teachers race back to the Media Center to find the correct remote that would work with their particular television.
So, I tried to solve these problems. I discovered that I could get a permanent marker in fine tip white, where I could number or otherwise identify the correct remote and which television it went with.
Also, velcro tabs could be installed on the remote control and television to secure it to the equipment so it wouldn’t fly off somewhere when getting moved or just get lost. I decided that it needed to be small velcro tabs so it wouldn’t complicate getting the remote control opened when batteries needed to be changed.
I determined that the necessary materials to do all this would cost about twelve dollars. So, who approves this purchase? Who authorizes the expenditure? Who do I ask? Who can tell me? I never found out.
I determined that the necessary materials to do all this would cost about twelve dollars. So, who approves this purchase? Who authorizes the expenditure? Who do I ask? Who can tell me? I never found out.
Being unable to find out anything, address any problem, or get anything done caused me to get burned out. In frustration, I asked to be released.
I’ve asked so many questions like this over the years? Who do I talk to about this problem? Who has the authority and power to decide? Who can I get information from? Nobody seems to know anything. Sometimes I wonder if anyone even cares.
3. Leadership Never Follows-up or Checks With People
After extending a calling, leadership seems to think their work is finished. They seem to throw everything at the person with no guidance or resources. They never follow up with them to ask how things are going, or if they need information or assistance, or anything at all.
No one can operate successfully in this sort of environment. Leadership needs to know how things are going, but they never seem to inquire into anything. People cannot operate in a vacuum, although some members do try, bless them.
We shouldn’t be running to the Bishop with every conceivable problem, but when we are given no line of authority, there is little else we can do. Why isn’t the Bishop designating a counselor to oversee some of these areas and callings that are organizationally adrift? One has to wonder.
All this frustration is leading to a lot of confusion, inaction, and disillusionment.
- Who do the Ward Building Representatives report to and get assistance from?
- Who do the Music people report to and get assistance from?
- Who does the Ward Technology Specialist report to and get assistance from?
- Who do the Young Single and Single Adult reps report to and get assistance from?
- Who do the Self-Reliance people report to and get assistance from?
- Who does the Email Communication Specialist report to and get assistance from?
- Who does the Disability Specialist report to and get assistance from?
I realized I could take the initiative and do things that everyone else was ignoring or evading. I had trouble doing that. I do things by-the-book. I obey. I follow guidelines. I don’t usurp other people’s power, authority, or responsibility. At least, I try not to. However, this assumes that everyone knows what their power and authority are and what power and authority other people have. As I’ve stated already, this is pretty darn muddled.
4. The Handout and Other Guidelines Aren’t Followed
Back in 2010, this panel discussion was part of the Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting:
Elder Holland: Almost always. In fact, if it’s not divulging too much, the secretary to the First Presidency once said that roughly 80 percent of the questions that come even to the First Presidency are answered in the handbook. We just don’t know the books well enough.Elder Ballard: Then, we’re going to follow the policy along the line that you’re talking about, Elder Bednar. We’re not going to wander off. We’re going to keep anchored to where the basic policies of the Church are. Elder González, is that a good idea or not?
Elder González: Oh, it’s an excellent idea. We need to know the handbook very well. Someone said that if you want to have a secret well kept, put it in a handbook. So we hope that that will not be the case with these handbooks.
President Monson was quite blunt in his opening remarks of this meeting:
Over the years, we’ve had to correct many attempts by well-meaning leaders to change some of the programs of the Church. We’ve dealt with lighted candles on sacrament tables, with locally determined changes in the length of Church meetings, with elimination of Sunday School from the Sunday block meetings. We’ve created methods for providing visiting teaching to women gathered in large groups. The list goes on and is fairly long. I would not try to mention all the many changes, errors, and problems which can occur.
The point, however, is that in almost all cases, if the leaders would only read, understand, and follow the handbook, such problems would not occur. Whether you’ve been a lifelong member of the Church or are a relatively new member, consult the handbook when you are uncertain about a policy or procedure. You may think you know how to handle the situation when, in fact, you may be on the wrong track. There is safety in the handbooks.
Notice how he didn’t castigate the leaders for being intentionally disobedient. He acknowledged that they are “well-meaning.” However, being well-meaning isn’t enough. You need to consult the Handbook and other guidelines.
There IS Safety in the Handbooks and Other Guidelines
So many of the instructions for digital tools and other media are simply online, in the Help Center, for example. They change constantly to adapt to our changing world, and we need to access them regularly.
I don’t know how many times or how often I’ve been told to do something that is in direct conflict with the Handbook or guidelines.
Sadly, when I show leaders “chapter and verse,” they continue doing what they want to do and instruct me to ignore it.
We should all follow the Handbook and other guidelines, whether we understand them or are personally convinced of their efficacy. I’ll never substitute my judgment for that of our designated and inspired Church leaders. Never.
When people don’t follow Church instructions, they create problems they often don’t realize they are creating.
Another sad result is that they expose the Church to legal liability. (This is another future blog posting that deserves it’s own space.)
Callings and Conundrums
One ward I was in had a seemingly fully staffed ward. Every calling was filled. Initially, it was impressive. Then, I noticed something curious. Almost nobody attended Church. Sacrament meeting was sparse. Almost nothing got done anywhere at all, ever.
What I discovered, after a while, is that many of the people whose names appeared in the Directory were inactive, or they had moved, or they were dead. However, they still “held” callings.
From comments and observations, I drew some conclusions. In that particular ward, the viewpoint seemed to be that a calling was something you possessed, not something you did. And nobody did much of anything…
I did what I could in my callings there, but I was constantly being stymied and sabotaged, especially by leadership. It was frustrating.
By trying to actually do my calling, I threatened people because it exposed their inaction and made them look bad. People generally did a little something, otherwise they could be accused of doing nothing. However, doing a little more than nothing was all that ever got done.
About seven weeks after I moved from the area into a new home and a different ward/stake, I was informed via email by a friend that I had finally been formally released from my calling.
This atmosphere was fed by leadership.
Conclusions
My concerns are addressed in the Handbook. For example, see 30.2. It includes the following:
About seven weeks after I moved from the area into a new home and a different ward/stake, I was informed via email by a friend that I had finally been formally released from my calling.
This atmosphere was fed by leadership.
Conclusions
My concerns are addressed in the Handbook. For example, see 30.2. It includes the following:
- Tell the member who will provide training and support for the calling.
- Tell the member who to report to on his or her efforts.
- Inform the member of any meetings he or she should attend and any resources that are available.
- Local leadership should have an understanding of the callings they are extending.
- Local leadership should make the lines of authority in callings clear.
- Local leadership needs to follow up with people about their callings.
- Local leadership should follow the Handbook and other Church guidance.
- Local leadership should help enable members to do their callings.
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