Excellence is a worthy target to aim for in church tech ministry.
Unfortunately, in many cases, the term "excellence" is probably overly and incorrectly used, and instead of becoming a realistic benchmark for progress and development, it gets wielded as a crippling burden of bondage.
It’s not a budget size, or a unit price, or a db level, or a throw distance, or a training process, or a call time.
Excellence isn’t really even an end result, per se. More than anything, it’s a mindset, mentality and lifestyle that encompasses constant goal-setting, evaluation, tweaking, and the thirst for progress and improvement.
It’s not a budget size, or a unit price, or a db level, or a throw distance, or a training process, or a call time.
So, instead of bludgeoning our teams to death with the idea that something wasn’t “excellent,” as leaders, let’s work to define what true excellence is--and how we can illicit it from our team members.
1-Setting clear expectations
You will never be able to clearly define what something is or isn’t without having first defined what it should have been in the first place.
Clear as mud?
How will I know if I did a great job with something if nobody ever offered to first define what a “great job” looked like?
If the goal is to fit under a certain dollar amount, or have the drums sound a certain way, or maintain a certain timing of the song lyrics, my job as a leader is to clearly define what that standard should be.
Some things shouldn’t just be defined: they should be shown or modeled. It’s hard to explain to someone what a “good” mix is. It’s better to use virtual soundcheck to then hear what a good mix is. Thus, I’m clearly defining the goals and expectations, while also creating a platform for questions and dialogue.
Is it a black-and-white expectation, or is there some gray area? Is there any situational wiggle room, or are there hard-and-fast parameters?
The worst thing we can do to our teams is to throw them in the deep end of the pool with limited training and murky expectations, then follow that up by trying to correct their performance by saying that it “wasn’t excellent.”
The worst thing we can do to our teams is to throw them in the deep end of the pool with limited training and murky expectations.
Preparation leads to excellence, and without taking the time to prepare teams for the race they’re about to run, they’ll never get there.
2-Extending the grace to make mistakes
Because we’re fallen humans that will never be perfect, nothing we ever say, think, or do will ever be perfect. No matter how many planning meetings have been scheduled and no matter how many rehearsals have been run.
People are imperfect. The end result will be too.
The good news, though, is that as Christians, we understand the idea of grace. Thank God I’m not judged by Him on all of my failures! So if that same grace has been extended to me for the times I dropped the ball, why wouldn’t I leap to do the same thing to my team?
I never want to be in a position to browbeat someone for not getting it 100% right.
Failure is never final, because it’s simply a moment in time. Missing a cue or forgetting a direction can be a notable issue, and yes, it can cause a distraction to the audience at times. I certainly don’t want to lessen that by any means.
But I never want to be in a position to browbeat someone for not getting it 100% right.
Why?
Because I find it hard to believe that someone volunteering their time in tech ministry is choosing to use their energy to intentionally sabotage the church service.
Nobody is making mistakes on purpose, so why would I treat them like they were? In fact, those people often times are the first ones to notice that something didn’t go as planned, and I wager that they are pretty quickly dealing with embarrassment, shame, guilt, condemnation, insecurity, etc.
As a team leader, I have a choice in that moment. Do I continue to pile on all of the accusations they’re hearing from the voice inside their head, or do I offer them encouragement, support, and affirmation, knowing that it wasn’t an intentional mistake?
Nobody is making mistakes on purpose, so why would I treat them like they were?
I have to understand the weight that comes from developing and nurturing my team. Is it important to maintain my equipment and run services smoothly? Absolutely. But Jesus didn’t come to save machines, and my calling as a leader isn’t to run a service--t’s to pastor and develop the people entrusted to me.
Again, none of this is meant to minimize the importance of practice, preparation and communication for a service. Nor should we give a free pass to anyone with a “heart to serve” who hasn’t had the proper training in order to execute their positions well.
Far from it, there are plenty of places in scripture that refer to people being skilled at what they do. It’s important that we have healthy training processes that develop people towards this goal, knowing that a smooth-flowing, distraction-free environment is attractive, comforting and engaging.
However, while we do want to provide the grace for our teams to make mistakes, there should also be a clear understanding that those mistakes must ultimately be learned from.
3-Cultivating an expectation to learn from mistakes
We don’t have the luxury of making a mistake, shrugging our shoulders, and not caring about it. If we’re called to “work out” our salvation and “grow” in the grace that’s been given to us, that means that the life we’ve been blessed with is a journey that continues daily.
God has placed measureless potential inside all of us. It’s my job to steward that potential and, as a gift back to Him, embark on a process to grow and mature that potential.
Mistakes are going to happen. That’s unavoidable. Failures are inevitable.
But growth isn’t.
Unless I embody and emphasize a process of development, it becomes easy to fall into a cycle of repeating the same mistakes over and over again. That’s where we deviate from “excellence” and fall into a trap of complacency.
Unless I embody and emphasize a process of development, it becomes easy to fall into a cycle of repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
We overuse the idea of grace and use our fallen-ness as a crutch to excuse a lack of practice, preparation, or dedication. It’s OK to miss the mark because we’re human, and we’re messy, and we’re setting the example that it’s OK to be imperfect.
Wrong.
Remember, excellence isn’t perfection. It’s a process and a mindset. It’s a mentality that says that where I’m at isn’t good enough, so I’m willing to learn and grow to get better. Why?
Because Jesus deserves the best from me.
I’m not serving in ministry so that other people feel good about mistakes being made. I’m serving in ministry because I’m grateful to the God who saved me and I want everything I do to bring Him glory and praise.
Remember, excellence isn’t perfection. It’s a process and a mindset.
Does cutting corners or being accepting of poor preparation give God glory and praise?
Probably not.
I never want myself or my team to fall into the trap of carelessness. It’s that trap, more so than the end result, that shows we aren’t excellent.
That’s why it’s so important that when something goes wrong, we acknowledge the mistake without condemning the people involved. We want to clearly define the issue without criticizing the person. Then, we want to paint a picture of what it takes to get from where we are to where we want to be. That’s clearly defining growth and helping everyone involved understand how they can be part of the process.
Are expectations clear? Yes. Is there grace in case we drop the ball again? Absolutely. Is there clarity about where we want to go and how to get there? Totally.
That, then, is how a spirit of excellence can come to define our team.
