Executive Pastor Workshop

1. Executive Pastor Workshop Greg Crooks, Luke Friesen

2. Greg intro Luke intro Luke drive slide WORKSHOP OVERVIEW Watermark Overview Leadership Essentials • Leading self & others • Building trust • Ministry tensions & pitfalls Strategy & Execution • Essentials of strategy • Innovation & new ideas • Prioritization & execution HR / Staff Care • Hiring & onboarding • Compensation & benefits • Reviews, feedback & development, offboarding Finances & Budgeting • Budget overview • Financial management • Budgeting process & cycle EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

3. Greg drive “One church, three (four) campuses, thousands of locations” EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

4. Greg drive ELDERS WATERMARK’S LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE Senior Pastor Executive Pastor Advisory Teams • Business • Legal • Real Estate • Technology Dallas Campus Pastor Ft. Worth Campus Pastor Plano Campus Pastor Operations Director Frisco Campus Pastor (New campus) Dallas Leadership Team Ft. Worth Ministry Directors Plano Ministry Directors Operations Team Frisco Ministry Directors EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

5. Greg drive Luke hits his role EXECUTIVE PASTOR / OPS DIRECTOR ROLES Executive Pastor • Interface with elders and senior leadership team to develop and execute on the primary vision and strategies for Watermark across all campuses. • Chief of staff and single point of contact where needed across the organization. • Senior oversight of Operations area. • Leading Real Estate efforts (for now). Operations Director • Day-to-day leadership of Operations team and Directors (Finance, HR, IT, Ext Tech Dev, Facilities) • Lead role on execution of strategic Operations initiatives • Provide operational input for all ministry areas • Make Watermark better and more efficient across the board EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

6. Luke drive WATERMARK STAFF * FT staff has grown by 14% on average the past 5 years, keeping pace with attendance growth * Additional Part-time staff of ~230 are largely midweek Training Ground children’s workers * Dallas staff includes our centralized Operations / Arts teams as well EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

7. Luke drive DALLAS / CENTRALIZED MINISTRY TEAMS • Arts (27)– Worship, Communications, Video/Graphics, Production / Tech services • Operations (26) –Finance, HR, IT, External Tech. Development, Facilities • Children’s (18) –Children’s ministry (varying ages), Parenting resources • Community(17) –Single Men / Single Women, Married • Connecting (10) –Membership, Community Group Formation, Frontlines • Pastoral Care (9) – Recovery, Benevolence, etc. • Young Adults (9) –20s & 30s, College • Equipping (9) – Men’s / Women’s Bible Study, Apologetics, Theology, Watermark Institute • Marriage (8) –Premarital, Newlyweds, Married • Students (8) –Jr. High, High School • External Focus (7) –Local, International, Clinic • Watermark Resources (5) –Equipping other churches • Single Adults (3) –Single Adults35+ EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

8. Luke drive FULL-TIME POSITIONS EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

9. QUESTIONS ON WATERMARK OVERVIEW? EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

10. Greg drive transition LEADERSHIP ESSENTIALS EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

11. Greg drive GREAT CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS Successful churches are both SMART and HEALTHY. SMART: Solid strategy, planning, finances, etc. HEALTHY: Leading people well, resolving conflict, achieving oneness, etc. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

12. Greg drive YOUR RELATIONAL SPHERE OF INFLUENCE “Look to lead well in every sphere of influence you have.” EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

13. Greg drive ”Know who you are. Be who you are. Like who you are.” LEADING YOURSELF WELL • Spiritually –know Who is in charge; your life is not your own; abide regularly and deeply with Jesus. THE most important self-leadership. • Giftedness –focus on your strengths; be brutally honest about what you are / are not good at; work on things that have the biggest impact. • Character –focus on your weaknesses; identify your fatal flaws; put up barriers to hedge against your flaws. • Leadership –make good decisions; recognize patterns; learn from other leaders; become an expert in your area. • Gauges –life is a series of sprints and jogs; monitor your own gauges so you don’t hit the wall and burn out because you’re always at 10,000 RPM. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

14. Luke drive “Emotional intelligence is THE distinguishing factor between great leaders and merely good leaders.” BECOMING EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT • Self-Awareness –knowing your own strengths, weaknesses, drives, values, and impact on others. • Self-Regulation –able to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods. • Motivation –having personal drive; enjoying achievement for its own sake. • Empathy –understanding other people’s emotional makeup and being able to respond appropriately. • Social Skill –building rapport and relationships with others. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

15. Luke drive “Lead from trust – it’s your single greatest asset.” LEADING OTHERS • Your Boss –you are responsible for the quality of the relationship; know what’s important to them; set expectations; don’t surprise them; adapt to their style; get your work done; exceed expectations; bring solutions, not just problems (PAR). • Those you’re responsible for –set clear expectations; communicate well; know what they are good at and enjoy; encourage, motivate, and deploy; develop them; connect relationally with them. • Volunteers & Peers –add value to their lives (prayer & care, fun & fellowship, training & development; ask good questions (don’t just make statements); be sure to follow through. Invest more in them than you ask of them. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

16. Greg drive Every person on staff is trusted to be doing well in these areas. We trust, but we will also lovingly inspect: THREE “WATERMARK TRUSTS” • Spiritual trust – we trust that your relationship with Jesus is your #1 priority, and that you are growing as a fully devoted disciple. You are in God’s Word, confessing sin, and living as an example. • Professional trust – we trust that you take your job seriously, you have the skills you need, and you will get stuff done. You’re working hard, communicating well, and not cutting corners. • Relational trust– we trust that you’re working hard to make sure that all your relationships are strong, healthy, and growing. You’re resolving conflict well and not hiding any information. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

17. Greg drive “The fastest way to build trust is to be highly competent; the fastest way to lose trust is to compromise your character.” BUILDING TRUST Competency • Skillset –practice and refine your skills and abilities as much as you can. • Experience –accelerate your learning wherever possible. Character • Integrity –tell the truth; never compromise; resolve conflict well. • Put others first –take initiative to invest in others; act in their best interest; be a catalyst in others’ lives; love them well. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

18. Luke drive ”Ministry can be hard and discouraging! It’s important to be diligent to encourage one another and build our team’s relationships.” ENCOURAGING & INSPIRING STAFF • Weekly Staff Prayer – keep vision in front of each other; celebrate stories of life change; team meetings • Pray and praise God together regularly • Build in “family time” on teams and as a whole • All-staff retreats and “play days” • Celebrations for birthdays, Christmas, 5-year anniversary brands, etc. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

19. Luke starts, Alternate • Success vs. Faithfulness –Numbers don’t equal success, but they can be an indicator. They cannot be your only measure. • People vs. Tasks –Relationship-orientedor task-oriented; interruptible vs. focused; flexible vs. rigid. • Hands-on vs. Delegation –Don’t micro-manage or abdicate responsibility; you must give ownership and authority to make decisions. • Spirit-led vs. Strategically Planned –Plan strategically through the leading of the Spirit; develop adaptable plans. • Systems vs. Flexibility –Systems around most important data and interactions; flexibility to adapt to a changing environment. • Thinkers vs. Feelers –Must be able to successfully interact with both types; develop your Emotional Intelligence. MINISTRY “TENSIONS” TO BALANCE EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

20. Luke drive LEADERSHIP VS. MANAGEMENT • “Average leaders think about programs as solution; great leaders think about values.” • Are you the police chief (enforcing rules) or the mayor (promoting values)? • Public vs. private vs. actual values • Compliance & accountability EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

21. Luke starts, Alternate • Run Church Just Like a Business –A church is not a business; it’s a family! Families are more inefficient. There is relational messiness that you must deal with. Trust is at a special premium. • Keep Ministry All to Yourself –You MUST equip others do to ministry. • Fear, and Avoid, Conflict –Don’t people-please; have the hard conversations. • Keep People in the Wrong Position –Don’t leave people in roles where they cannot success; can’t put individual needs above those of the ministry. • Say Things Once and Assume People Get It –Say it often! You know you’re saying it enough when people begin to make fun of you for it. LEADERSHIP PITFALLS (pt. 1) EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

22. Luke starts, Alternate • Values Don’t Have Heat –A value is only that if you talk about it a lot and live it. • Assume That People Failing to Thrive is a Knowledge Issue –must view things as a heart issue and address those; it’s not just teaching head knowledge. • Don’t Celebrate or Inject Fun –ministry is hard; fill it with joy & laughter! • Communicate Poorly –you must make expectations crystal clear. • Hide Mistakes –people can’t love you if they don’t know your flaws. Be humble. • Avoid Feedback –you must give and receive great feedback. Most people do not have someone in their life telling them what they are and are not good at. LEADERSHIP PITFALLS (pt. 2) EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

23. Luke starts, Alternate • Not Playing to Your Strengths –don’t try to be someone else; know what you are good at. If you don’t know, ask and assess until you find out. • Just Wing It –In many churches the bar is low and you can get away with that, but gifted people will see through you. You must work hard! • Have Unhealthy Boundaries –realize you are no one’s savior; don’t worry or stay awake at night; prioritize keeping your tank full for your family. • Get Isolated –ministry can feel like an island; you must invest in healthy authentic friendships where you can be fully known. PERSONAL PITFALLS (pt. 1) EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

24. Luke starts, Alternate • Ignore Your Fatal Flaws –you must know what can take you out, and have boundaries and barriers to keep them from doing so. • Compare Yourself and Ministry to Others –this will kill your joy in ministry. • Stop Learning –if you stop learning, you stop growing. • Have Too Much Autonomy –it’s easy to get lazy in ministry because often no one is checking up on you. Get accountability! PERSONAL PITFALLS (pt. 2) EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

25. Luke drive • How are you doing at leading yourself? Which areas are you doing well, and which do you need to grow in? • How are you doing at leading others? What are your strongest relationships? Where do you need to invest in building better relationships and growing trust with others? • Would you say your church staff is encouraged and inspired? What things might be helpful to improve relationships and morale? • Which tensions are easiest for you to balance? Hardest? Which do you most need to “come to the middle” on? • Which leadership / personal pitfalls are you most prone to fall into? How can you avoid falling into them? • Do you feel more like the police chief or the mayor? DISCUSSION QUESTIONS EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

26. QUESTIONS ON LEADERSHIP ESSENTIALS? EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

27. STRATEGY & EXECUTION Luke transitions EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

28. Luke drive Strategize where you are and where you want to go Identify obstacles to achieving your goals Innovate and problem-solve for creative solutions Prioritize the initiatives you will work on Assign roles to understand leadership and responsibility Execute well to get things done! Evaluate the effectiveness of your efforts HOW IT ALL FITS TOGETHER EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

29. Greg drive “The right people in the right places with the right values and the right strategy is GOLD.” ESSENTIALS OF STRATEGY EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

30. Greg drive • “Intentionally work ON the ministry, not just IN the ministry.” • Twice a year across all ministries, we ask and answer: • What is going well? • What are your biggest challenges? • What is holding you back? • What are your top 3-5 priorities right now? • What great opportunities are you not able to execute on now? • If you could wave a magic wand, what would you change / add / approve? • What staff, facility, and budget needs do you have? • What are we measuring? • What else should we know? STRATEGIC QUESTIONS EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

31. Luke drive “Challenge your own status quo!” WHERE TO INNOVATE & GET CREATIVE Don’t try to fix everything that’s broken or imperfect. Focus on fixing the things that will make the biggest difference. What frustrates you most? What’s most broken? To find areas that are ripe for innovation, ask yourself: What is it that drives me crazy? What are we doing that makes absolutely no sense? What processes and programs seem to take a lot of work, but there are no fruit? What traditions are we putting up with only because it’s always been done this way? What is the one problem that if we solved it, most other problems would go away? What's broken that seems to be unfixable? What problems are we living with because everyone says that's just the way it is? Adapted from Innovation’s Dirty Little Secret (Osborne) EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

32. Luke drive • “Don’t just admire problems – anyone can do that. Highlight solutions!” • P –what is the Problem that we are trying to solve? • A –what are the Alternatives that might help solve this problem? • R – what is your Recommendation for which alternative to pursue? • Even if you’re not sure that your alternatives and recommendation are correct at first, following these steps as you solve problems will help you get better at identifying reasonable alternatives and being solution-focused. SOLUTIONS > PROBLEMS EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

33. 9: Create deliverables 1: Define the problem 8: Target to your audience 2: Develop the issue tree Communicate Message Structure Problem Problem- Solving 7: Create a story 3: Develop hypotheses Conduct Analysis 6: Analyze data 4: Create a plan 5: Gather data Luke drive STRUCTURED PROBLEM-SOLVING EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

34. Greg drive PRIORITIZING AND EXECUTING IDEAS (pt. 1) Work on the rightthings at the right time. Many ideas sound good in isolation; they must be weighed against othersideas. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

35. Greg drive PRIORITIZING AND EXECUTING IDEAS (pt. 2) Don’t let the urgent tasks crowd out the important work you must do. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

36. Luke drive This is a small example from a RACI exercise our team went through. Free templates are online. WHO DOES WHAT? EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

37. Greg drive GETTING THINGS DONE “Ideas are easy. It’s the execution of ideas that separates the sheep from the goats.” • After you’ve prioritized… • Move your KEY PRIORITIESonto your CALENDAR • To maximize productivity, create CHUNKS OF FOCUSED TIME • Break down your larger initiatives into WHAT’S NEXT? • Be a fantastic COMMUNICATOR EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

38. Greg drive “How do you get to where you want to be? Start simply, and simply start.” WHEN STARTING SOMETHING NEW… • Leadership –Who is the leader? Who will stay awake at night thinking about this? (if that person doesn’t exist or isn’t identified, it will become…YOU!) • Timing –is this the right time to consider a new venture? What would make this the right or wrong time? • Understand the “soft issues” –Who is the target audience? What do they value? What are the felt needs? What are the real needs? What are the priorities to accomplish? • Strategy –How will we execute? What’s our approach and plan? • Resources –What time / people / money / etc. will we need to operate effectively? EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

39. Luke drive EXPERIMENTS VS. CHANGES Be ready for things not to work and ideas to fail. Try “experiments” instead of “changes”, and be ready to adjust as needed. Ask yourself: How will we communicate this internally and externally in a way that provides maximum flexibility for significant midcourse corrections? What will we do with everything goes more slowly than expected? What will cause us to keep going even though things are going more slowly than expected? What will cause us to pull the plug? How will we communicate if we need to shut down the whole thing? How will we communicate if we need to go back to the old way? How can we limit and absorb the financial burden if this doesn't work? What can we do right now to minimize the impact if this fails? Adapted from Innovation’s Dirty Little Secret (Osborne) EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

40. Luke drive EVALUATING EFFECTIVENESS “Success isn’t defined by size, but by faithfulness & stories of life-change!” “What gets measured, gets managed.” EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

41. Luke drive • Strategic Planning Questions • Where is your ministry now? How did you get there? (be brutally honest) • Where do you want your ministry to go? (Is this realistic?) • What steps can you identify to help you get there? (have you prioritized your ideas?) • Other Questions • What defines success for your ministry? Whatdefines failure? • What do you need to keep doing, stop doing, and start doing? • What additional knowledge, skills, or resources do you need? • Where are you stuck? • What problems do you need to solve, or obstacles you need to overcome? • Where might you need to innovate? • Where do you need help getting started? DISCUSSION QUESTIONS EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

42. QUESTIONS ON STRATEGY & EXECUTION? EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

43. Greg transition HR / STAFF CARE EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

44. Greg drive Both share our stories HIRING APPROACH “If you have the right people in the right positions, 90% of your headaches go away.” • Two main “levers” to increase the quality of your people: Selection & Training (choose selection wherever possible!) • Hire 9’s and 10’s for every role that you can, not 6’s and 7’s • “Always hiring” – from within & the marketplace, making bold requests, anticipating turnover and “making room on the bus.” • Avoid overstaffing – “hire slow, fire quick.” • Evaluate the 5C’s– Culture, Competency, Character, Calling, Chemistry • Developing a staff pipeline – the Residency and Fellowship programs EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

45. Greg drive HIRING & ONBOARDING • Hiring cycle– replacements as needed; annual requests & approvals for new positions in sync with budget season; rarely consider off-cycle requests. • Process –resume / reference, application, interviews, personal / professional references & vetting, staff input, community group input, decision. • Onboarding –new hire orientation, paperwork, IT / Finance orientation, 2-week overlap with replacement (if transition), meeting with campus pastor, assigned a staff mentor, personal introduction email. • Internal transitions –getting people on the “right seat on the bus.” Being entrepreneurial to move people around to find the best use for their gifts. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

46. Luke drive COMPENSATION & BENEFITS “We’re not trying to make our people rich, but we do want to take care of our people.” • Pay ranges: we aim for 75th percentile of the salary range for that position. • Bump superstars to 90%; use bonuses for top performers at the top of their range. • Compensation benchmarks from Church Compensation Services and others. • Balance between “paying for the person” and “paying for the role”. • Provide excellent healthcare coverage and benefits. • Matching 403(b) contributions up to 5%, increasing after 5 years. • Paid vacation, holidays, personal days. • Give smaller blessings where possible (e.g. kids camp, Waterwear, gift $, etc.) EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

47. Luke drive STAFF REVIEWS & FEEDBACK “Have the conversation as soon as you need to – don’t wait for a review.” “The hardest people to work with in ministry are those deceived about themselves.” • Tools –5-point scale, evaluating the “5C’s”: Culture, Competency, Character, Calling, Chemistry. Prioritize meaningful, differentiated feedback. • Process –180 day reviews, self reviews, annual reviews, informal check-ins. • Trust –maintaining relational, professional, and spiritual trust. • No surprises –developmental points should be addressed in real-time. • Hard truths –sharing these is one of the most loving things you can do. • Prov. 9:8-9; 12:1; 24:26; 27:6, etc. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

48. Luke drive DEVELOPING PEOPLE • More is caught than taught –lots of “on the job” training; mix observational and experiential learning; don’t go alone. • Four-way leadership –I do, you watch  we do together  you do, I watch  you do. • To make people better –Identify where they need to grow; find the resources and experiences that will help them; provide immediate feedback; follow up. • Create ”artificial storms” –case studies, ride-alongs, “stand & deliver”, etc. • Leaders –Directing / encouraging the top 20%; develop the middle 70%; deal with the bottom 10%. • External inputs –conferences, visiting other churches, etc. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

49. Greg drive FOR THOSE UNDER-PERFORMING • Knowledge issue –equip them with the training (4-way leadership; observe and give feedback, etc.). • Character issue –shepherd heart issues; pursue recovery • Style issue –shepherd communication, work quality, chemistry. • Gifting issue –move them or live with them under-performing. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP

50. Greg drive OFFBOARDING • No surprises, great clarity, multiple conversations. • Document it well. • For struggling staff, see if there are other spots where their gifts may fit(but don’t create roles for poor performers). • If there are no potential roles, you should consider letting them go, or you will have to live with them underperforming. (is that best for the ministry and for them?) • Have as long a runway as possible. EXECUTIVE PASTOR WORKSHOP