It Takes 12 Months
I just want to save you all the frustration right now. I’ve experienced it a few times in my life. I’ve watched others confirm it in their lives.
It takes 12 months in any new job to figure out the role.
I’m talking about leadership roles here. If you are a widget-fabricator, maybe it’s different for you. For those of us that transition into new leadership positions, though, it always takes a full year to find out what we were really hired to do.
In those 12 months, we get to figure out what the unspoken expectations are. We have the opportunity to determine how our uniqueness fits into the unique organization that now provides our paycheck. We have the chance to see how we relate and work beside the people on our team. It takes 12 months. Until then, we aren’t really adding true value. We’re just trying to survive.
This is why finding the right people before you offer the job is so important. This is why finding the right employer before accepting the job is so important. This is why keeping the right people in your organization is so important. Every time the position opens, we lose 12 months.
By the way, the corollary to this principle is that you can also hide for 12 months. That’s why I never really trust anyone that hops from job to job…even if it appears they’re moving up the career ladder. If they haven’t proven themselves in one organization for a period of time, I assume they never really made an impact.
That groan you just heard was from the guys on my team that just realized they still have several months to go.
Groan.
But also Sigh. It is refreshing to have a boss that understands this.
What if in the middle of your first year, something drastically changes? Does that mean the clock starts all over again?
So wait, I’m supposed to know what my job is by now?
Good stuff Tony. As I was reading, I noticed I was nodding my head. It was one of those lessons that I’ve sort of learned but never really stopped to but the ideas into words. So true, that first year is about learning what parts of your job description are just filler & what parts of your job description were left off the actual printout that was handed to you. The bright side to this post is that in the months & years to follow a leader can be more effective leading from his/her uniqueness while empowering others to partner with him/her to achieve the organization’s/ministry’s mission.
Love it… my current leadership has been telling me that. I have jumped from 15+ years of being the lead guy in a para-church ministry to being on a staff team of a growing church. The first year was #@&& in many ways.
So my question for you O’Wise One (no sarcasm)… what if you realize that maybe the leadership culture is not a culture you can thrive in and has some values that are markedly different then yours. Your 16-20 months in and have some options.
Should I stay or should I go? Okay, I know you can’t answer to the heart of the issue and what the Spirit might be saying. But, do you for the sake of reputation stick it out or take the jump?
Thank you for the great post! Now, can you make sure that Staff Parrish chairs around the country read it??
I’m in my seventh month in my new role as the high school pastor at Calvary Church in Santa Ana. I’ve actually always told people that it takes two years to establish yourself as “their guy” when it comes to youth ministry. By the time the second year wraps up you start to feel like they are YOUR students and you are THEIR youth pastor. I was a youth pastor at my last church for seven years, and I really started feeling at home after year two.
I agree with what you said about losing 12 months. I’ve done my best to contribute during these 7 months, but I’m doing so much evaluating that it’s just about impossible to add anything new. I’ve just been sustaining.
That’s actually very encouraging. My Husband and I took over the student ministry at our church 14 months ago, and it took about 13 of those months for the momentum to build up again!
Hey Lee, go check out swerve.lifechurch.tv it’s the blog for lifechurch. Just about a week ago there was a series of posts entitled “Should I Stay Or Should I Go?”. Very thought provoking & helpful stuff in that series.
i agree with you particularly on the part about having some distrust for those who’ve never experienced crossing that 12 month mark on a job. longevity is huge for relationship and relationship IMHO is huge for a great work environment, ministry or otherwise.
What does this say for church planters who arrive on the field with their team and are supposed to launch in 6-9 months? Maybe this is part of the reason why so many new churches struggle and even dissolve.
This begs the question- is the 12 months organic to any leadership transition, or is it a function of the people and organization involved? If it is functional rather than organic, what mechanisms can we use to shorten the period and improve organizational effectiveness?
Remember, military organizations undergo leadership transition every 2 to 4 years, and leadership effectiveness there is often a life-and-death situation. Of course, understood rightly, so is what we are doing in our churches.
Couldn’t agree more. I was just thinking about this the other day. After two years, I’m seeing the “fruit,” or value, begin to appear in the organization (church). The first year, I willingly entered into guiding my department through healthy deconstruction. Over the two years, new things have happened that I couldn’t have planned. I’m left to follow what Jesus is doing on those fronts.
I’m also gathering that it has taken these two years to build trust with the congregation. Staff positions, I think, are forced to move trust up on the timeline unless there is some deep underlying reason to hold out. It may be the same for military structures.?
Peace, Tony.
I think you are on track with 12 months. I have been in my current position (Small Church Youth Minister) for 9 months and am leaving next week because the church can not financially support the position. When I was brought here the financial problems were not even mentioned to me so I came in with the expectation of being here for years. Now right as I am starting to know my Job and form relationships outside of the church, I am leaving.
To me this is the most difficult part, now students who are forming relationships with me no longer have the person they have started to trust. And there was nothing I could do to stop the problem.
I am leaving so that the church may be saved. Wow, why do churches continue to expect youth ministry to bring in money (another unstated expectation).
Grace and Peace
Mark
Thanks for the great insight. I just recently transitioned into my first opportunity as young lead pastor after spending 13 years in another ministry. I’ve been discouraged at times going through the learning curve and feeling so in the dark about things that used to not evade me. Feeling better now after being reminded of the ‘process’.