Worship Musician Magazine May 2021 | Page 41

“ Oh yeah , that was totally my fault . The team gave me a lot of grief for not telling you .”
And then I had no idea how to use the in-ears and personal mixers . And so you stopped rehearsal for another ten minutes to help me figure that out . You were super gracious about it , but I was still embarrassed . I even caught an eye roll from one of the other singers .
“ Which one ?” I asked , but I already knew the answer .
Becky .
“ Becky just comes off grouchy . She ’ s a sweet person once you get to know her .”
But that ’ s the thing , I ’ ve only been scheduled with her once since then . She seemed just as annoyed with me the second time .
She continued . And sure , I know it takes time to get to know people , and maybe everyone ’ s used to her . But I don ’ t think it ’ s OK that the team should put up with her grumpiness and sarcastic remarks .
“ You ’ re not wrong , Andi . I don ’ t know what to say …”
FAILING ANDI
As the litany of grievances kept pouring out , I realized how much I had failed Andi in the first few months she served . I wasn ’ t sure if I could talk her out quitting . But I sure didn ’ t blame her if she did . I ’ d want to quit , too .
So now you might be wondering : Did Andi quit the team , or did she stick it out ? That ’ s a good question , but it ’ s not the best question . ( Stick around to the end , I ’ ll let you know the answer .) The better question is why and how did all this happen ?
It happened because I didn ’ t have an intentionally planned new team member onboarding process .
We worship leaders get so focused on the audition process and everything surrounding that . And yes , attracting , qualifying , and inviting the right team member is mission critical . If you mess that up , you could get stuck with the wrong kind of person in your team . But inviting the right team member but not onboarding her well — that might be worse .
Let me share with you the techniques I used to disappoint and demoralize Andi ( and several other new team members ). Then , for each blunder , I ’ ll share how I changed my approach to be more intentional about nurturing new team members into the team .
7 SUREFIRE TACTICS TO DEMORALIZE NEW TEAM MEMBERS
1 . Don ’ t schedule them often enough to get acclimated to serving on the team . If you typically only schedule your team members about once a month , it can take a long time for a new team member to feel comfortable . That was one of Andi ’ s frustrations , she didn ’ t serve often enough to get comfortable . To remedy this , I began intentionally scheduling new team members more often in their first three to four months .
Note : If you do this , communicate clearly to the new team member that this higher frequency is a temporary strategy to help them acclimate to the team quicker .
2 . Don ’ t invite them to attend rehearsals to get to know the team , the protocols , or the culture . The first time someone rehearses with your team should not be the rehearsal for their first ‘ official ’ weekend . Your rehearsals , soundchecks , and warm-ups are complex events with multiple ‘ unspoken rules ’ and expectations .
I began to require new team members to attend rehearsals for several weeks to ‘ learn the ropes ’
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