Three Questions You Need to Ask Your Team

Earlier this month I stumbled across this article by Eric Geiger. You may have seen it when I shared it on the Women’s Ministry Toolbox Facebook page.

What God drew my attention to was the 3 questions he asked his team:

1. What am I not doing that you would like me to start doing?
2. What am I doing that you wish I would stop doing?
3. And what am I doing that is important to you that I keep doing?

I know the thought of even asking your team those questions may want to make you throw up a little. I am so with you on that!

Stick with me, though, and let’s walk through some ways and reasons we might want to ask God to hold us up as we put ourselves out there.

Here are three ways we can apply these questions to women’s ministry.

1. If you are the women’s ministry leader or a leader of a team, ask your team those very same questions.
2. You could tweak them a bit and apply the questions to your ministry
3. You could tweak them and apply the questions to your women’s ministry team.

You could tweak them like this:

What should our women’s ministry (or women’s ministry team) start doing that we are not doing now?

What is our women’s ministry (or women’s ministry team) doing that we should stop doing?

What is our women’s ministry team (or women’s ministry team) doing that we should keep doing?

I’d even consider taking those questions one step further:

• What do you think God is asking our women’s ministry to start doing that we are not doing?
• What do you sense God is bringing to an end or asking us to stop doing?
• What is our women’s ministry doing that you feel God wants us to continue doing?

So you may be wondering how to collect the responses in the least painful manner possible.

Let’s weigh some of the pro’s and con’s of anonymous responses.

Anonymous responses:

1. Often provide more honest answers
2. That level of honesty sometimes is presented without a filter
3. You’re unable to respond one-on-one to concerns that are mentioned or answer questions someone has. You’ll have to bring them in front of the whole team if you feel it needs to be addressed.

Named responses:
The best antonym I could come up with for anonymous.

1. People can’t hide from their comments.
2. Those that are willing to be more transparent will usually do so in a kinder, gentler manner.
3. Some people won’t answer honestly because they are uncomfortable about sharing their true opinion with you – whether they want to avoid confrontation, worry about hurting your feelings, or don’t want to deal with any possible fall-out.
4. You have the ability to address concerns and questions one-on-one.

Logic would say we’re all adults and especially within the church we should be willing and able to bring our concerns to one another. Unfortunately that is not always the case. I suspect almost every one of us has been hurt by someone in the church. Some folks have been hurt so badly or so many times that they’ll no longer put themselves in a position where they can be hurt.

You’ll have to decide how you want to collect the responses.

And you have to decide how and when you want to respond to the responses.

When you collect responses be sure to give your team members time to think about their response. Give your thinkers time to think and your responses will be richer. (No more than a week, but not less than 48 hours.)

Include the questions on the agenda, ask them to write down their answers and bring them to the meeting, or create an online survey they can complete.

A few thoughts on constructive criticism (ugh)

I am impressed by both Eric’s willingness to open himself up to constructive criticism and his desire to improve.

I don’t know many people that willingly embrace constructive criticism. It’s often painful and it’s often more criticism than it is constructive.

If we want to improve ourselves and/or our ministries we’ve got to be willing to make some changes and seek other perspectives as to what changes may need to be made.

I’ve got a beta team working through the Prayer Warrior Boot Camp ecourse I’ll launch next month. At the same time I’m going thru an edit of the Bible study curriculum God led me to create for our women last fall. I want and need to know what’s working and what’s not.

I’ve had no choice but to put myself out there.

It is scary and it is hard. Sometimes it’s painful.

Sometimes it’s not. (Thank God for the encouragement that many have shared – it is literally pulling me thru.)

I really don’t like it, but I know it’s necessary.

I want the participants of both courses to grow and flourish in their faith and I want to make improvements that allow them to do just that. I need that outside feedback and perspective. The women doing the reviews can see things that I can’t.

Are you willing to open yourself up and put yourself out there to receive feedback that could improve your leadership and/or your ministry?

I encourage you to pray about it. Seek God about the when, where, and the how. Ask Him to help you filter the responses appropriately as not every comment or idea may be valid or require a response.

Praying for you dear ones as you seek to serve the women in your church and community.

You may also want to read:
Seven Super Survey Questions
What do your women really want from your women’s ministry?

One year ago: “Things I Love” Bingo Game (Free Printable)
Two years ago: How to Build a Women’s Ministry Team
Three years ago: 10 Things I’ve Learned About Sweetheart Banquets