Jeff Borders joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of 19, and since then has had many opportunities to serve in leadership roles including: Ward Mission Leader, Elders Quorum Counselor, Elder’s Quorum President, and Young Men’s Counselor. When not serving at Church, Jeff works as the Respiratory Therapy Manager and Clinical Informatics Specialist at a rural hospital, and the Safety Lieutenant for his local volunteer fire station. Jeff writes regularly for This Week in Mormons and Spokane Faith and Values. He has also published with Leading Saints, the Spokesman Review and Church Ensign. You can follow him at www.jeffbordersbooks.com, and Facebook.
Enter Jeff…
I remember the first calling I received after joining the Church. I was called to be the sacrament coordinator. Never mind that I was a brand new Priest, having rapidly investigated the Church and joining a week after my 19th birthday. Never mind that I clearly had no idea what I was doing. My knowledge of setting up for the sacrament was little to none, other than what I had witnessed during my visits to church. I hadn’t grown up watching older boys carrying out their duties. That first Sunday felt like a train wreck.
There’s not a doubt in my mind that the Bishop felt inspiration in issuing the calling, but I felt completely clueless. I don’t say this as a knock against him, but there was very little instruction given. And I wasn’t experienced enough to know what to ask about. The adage of “You don’t know what you don’t know,” is very true. The next several callings went much the same way; call extended, not much in the way of training, but here you go, you’re now the Sunday School president, or a Young Men’s counselor. As I said above, as a convert to the Church in my late teens, I’d never witnessed any of these callings being carried out in my youth. I wasn’t sure if I was doing them right or not. I was living off of prayer and the whole ‘fake it till you make it.’
I think that I’ve felt similar in most, if not all of the callings that I’ve had over the years, even the ones I’ve done more than once. The training I’ve received has been very little, except for, “Read the handbook.” Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve learned a lot from reading the handbooks. But even then I still felt as if I was missing critical pieces. I wasn’t even really sure how to lead when I first started. That’s not to say there weren’t helpful people along the way. There definitely was. When I became an Elders Quorum president, The High Counselor over our ward was invaluable, and to this day I am grateful for his mentorship. Another example has been my Bishop as I was called to serve as one of his counselors. He has given ongoing training and I consider him a mentor—whether he realizes it or not.
I don’t blame the people issuing the callings. They may or may not be the experts at what is expected in every calling. In truth, I’ve gotten used to that over the years. I seek out any and all information on my calling; reading articles, listening to talks or podcasts, studying the scriptures and the handbooks. I’ve learned to thrive in this environment and even enjoy the challenge, but there are many who don’t enjoy it, and even struggle with it. These struggles can lead to feeling like a failure in your calling, and I think that is the last thing we want people to experience within the Church.
Since joining the Church, I’ve grown in my leadership skills due to not only the callings I’ve held, but especially because of my professional life. During my time spent as a supervisor or manager in the various places I’ve worked, I’ve had to develop consistent and efficient onboarding processes, which I am constantly updating. I’ve also developed skills in feedback and communication with my staff. While I fully understand that, in the Church sense, we are not managers or bosses of other people, we are, however, often called into positions to lead. I truly believe there are principles used in the business world that can and should cross over into church leadership.
The Onboarding Process
It’s probably safe to say that we aren’t consistently the best at orienting people to new callings. But can we get better at the onboarding process? Sure. But first it might be beneficial to understand what onboarding is.
If you are unfamiliar with the term onboarding, it is a process through which new employees acquire the necessary skills and knowledge, and in which behavior expectations are made, to help them become effective members of the organization.
Onboarding should be used to convey brand and values, explain culture, align expectations and performance, and explain the tools available to make the employee successful. All this is done in an effort to help with a quicker ramp-up to productivity.
Within the Church, there are opportunities when calls are issued to do just this. We can explain and expound on the ward and stake goals, we can empower and encourage, and we can help give the tools and support someone might need to be successful in their calling.
Bring in the Expert -The List of Duties
I’ve been just as guilty as the next person when issuing a calling or assignment, in not being able to explain everything that is expected for that particular calling. For example, if I were meeting with someone to call them as a Relief Society meeting committee chair, it might be beneficial to have the Relief Society president or counselor over meetings provide you with a list of responsibilities, meeting times and dates, and goals of the committee. This requires a little pre-work on our part, but it’s not impossible. Plus, it gives us something to hand to the person with information, so they are walking out of the meeting with something solid.
If I might even go a step further, and this isn’t something we routinely do, have the organization president close by, so after the call is issued and a person accepts, you can bring in said president and have them there to answer the inevitable questions that would arise.
Empower
Empowering people is always a good thing and makes them feel validated. Help them to understand the sphere of their influence in their particular calling and empower them to act in a capacity to make that calling work.
An example might be in calling a Young Women president. Once the call has been issued, encourage them to receive and act upon revelation to lead their organizations. But it doesn’t just have to be presidents; it could be a Sunday School teacher or a nursery leader. All of us will need to seek revelation to help us fulfill our callings and adapt to the situations of those callings.
Which brings us to micro-managing. Nothing undercuts productivity more than micro-managing. Of course there will be times when an organizational leader might receive specific direction or revelation for their organization. However, most of the time, if we allow people the room, they will magnify their callings in amazing ways.
Feedback and Communication
Timely feedback and communication is the basic backbone of any working relationship. We are all busy, but communication with those whom we serve is essential. Along with the feedback comes recognition. In the Church we don’t serve to earn recognition, and if we do, we should probably reconsider some things. However, it is always nice to be recognized for your efforts.
“I really appreciate your hard work on the Primary program. It was amazing.”
“Thank you for your lesson. It was enlightening and uplifting.”
It doesn’t take much, but gratitude goes a long way. I’ve even seen a sister in one of the wards I’ve lived in send handwritten thank you notes to the young men who passed and blessed the sacrament each week.
When we feel appreciated and empowered in our callings it can make all the difference.
We All Can Improve
Ultimately this Gospel is all about improving ourselves. Most of us, myself included, aren’t experts in the roles and responsibilities we find ourselves serving in. Callings are meant to grow and stretch us, sometimes uncomfortably so. But we as leaders can help alleviate some of the angst that accompanies a new calling, and set people up for success.
