Lean Staff Survey Results

April 14, 2010 in Growing Strategies with 1 Comment

A few months ago, I asked you to participate in a survey from the Leadership Network on lean staffing. The results are in. Some of the findings might surprise you. For example:

  • Lean staff churches do a better job with volunteers and lay leadership development.
  • Lean staff churches invest a noticeably higher percentage of their budget beyond the walls of their church.
  • Growing churches spend a smaller percentage of their budget on staffing costs, so they’re “leaner” than plateaued or declining churches.
  • Staff costs become leaner with size — as overall weekend worship attendance increases, but not dramatically so.

Visit the Leadership Network blog to find out more about the results. There you’ll have the opportunity to download the full report for free and to participate in some additional next steps.

So, what do you think? Should spending less on staff be a priority for churches? If so, what would you do to help make that happen?

One Response to “Lean Staff Survey Results”

  1. mark riggins April 14, 2010 at 10:30 pm #

    2 things stood out to me:

    1) “Lean staff” approach results in a significant increase in the % of church budget going to people beyond the walls of church. Wow! Pretty good incentive.

    2) “Lean staff” churches are generally made up of a poorer congregation. Not sure why that is since this survey is comparing % of budget.