Join Gavin and Anna Wood, the Operations Director for Cornerstone Liverpool, as they talk through the second part of our results for the Check-in survey, the Good Habits of a Church Administrator.

Thank you to everyone who took part in the survey and shared their good habits with us. The results were so encouraging and inspiring, you can find them below:

- If a job/task takes less than 3 minutes, do it straight away, don't add it to a list
- If a job/task takes longer than 3 hours, split it up into small jobs
- If you have a job/task that you have been putting off, then go at it 100% for 3 minutes, and after this it will seem easier

- Document, document, document

- Keep up-to-date - have a regular weekly slot or two for admin, don't let it hang around. Liaise with leadership. Prayer.

- Proven systems to ease/organise workflow
- Good diary management
- Taking notes, notes and more notes so you don't forget anything

- Email everything, you can't remember it all
- Do not have your mobile number used outside working hours
- Don't have access to your work emails on your mobile

- Schedule time in your diary for everything - even your breaks.
- Complete the task you least want to do first, then the rest of your day should be easier.
- Accepting that sometimes getting a task done, even when it isn't perfection in your eyes, is good enough.    

- Diarise priorities; don't prioritise 'diary'
- Spend time with other staff/ministry leaders to understand their needs and challenges to help you support them better
- Slowing down to sharpen the saw is always better than continuing to hack at the tree with a blunt one.

- Compliance to church constitution openess efficiency

- Respecting the difference in others.
- Team Work
- Inclusivity

- Being able to work unnoticed
- Listen to people
- Forgiveness

- Encourage your staff
- Keep communicating
- Lead by example

- Keep a diary, read notice boards .
- Set aside time each day to answer emails
- Be good at filing on computer and desk

- Spending quality, undivided time with the Lord
- Working as a team, giving, sharing and accepting delegation
- Being rigorous and focused on doing the right jobs rather than only doing the jobs right.

- Prayer
- Communication
- Time management

- Talk to people
- Be excited and passionate about what you are doing.
- Don't try and do it on your own! Take people with you

- Connect the practical work of ministry to the Gospel
- Make good notes
- Be an avid encourager

- Good listener
- Note taker
- Regular meetings

- Start the day on your knees so you don't end up on them. (pinched from Rachel Slough but it has stuck with me over this last year)
- Diarise! Paper diary or electronic diary but diarise your jobs.
- Prioritise. There are some things and some people that CAN wait

- Acknowledging  receipt of emails that you just don't have bandwidth to deal with right away - particularly ones that have taken others time & effort to write
- Always proof read one more time than you think necessary
- Just up the phone and chat things through more and encourage others to do the same. Talking not typing builds connection and consensus. We need to make an effort to get over pandemic habits , not all of which helped us.

- Email everything no asking
- Keep things separate
- Restrict your access to aid your work load

- Helpfulness, availability, sharing knowledge

- Pray - and call his strength and wisdom
 

- We are a people organisation always take time to listen- seekers members staff volunteers - the  admin / to do list will wait
 
- Focus and never overpromise and underdeliver

- Take time out to regularly step back and look at the big picture
 
- Acknowledge emails even if to say you will get back to them in a few days
 
- Use Microsoft to do to organise your to do list to include lists for particular people and meetings
 
- Delegate to volunteers
 
- Establish a rhythm of the week for tasks

- Connect with other church administrators, don't be afraid to say no, at the end of the day write a list of any outstanding jobs rather than trying to stay and complete them

- Communication  
- Prayer
- Welcome people interruptions as an opportunity to be Jesus

- Keep a day book and write it all down, so easy to forget things (or is that just me!)
 
- Find someone to be accountable to
 
- Attend conferences that feed your soul

- The power of incremental progress. Each week I aim to keep the wheels turning AND make just one thing 5% better than it was.

- Being open about how you are feeling
 
- Being willing to learn from others
 
- Being organised

- Organisation, consistency, communications

- Patience, determination, and the skin of a rhinocerous

- Prayer, lists and a good spreadsheet!

- Don't put it  off till tomorrow

- Get check lists for every eventuality so you can make sure things run smoothly

- Being honest
- Being organised
- Having good communication

- Pray! Have a good calendar and task list. Communicate with others clearly and effectively

- Seeking to  clarify vision (asking the why question) and seeking to see how activity  connects to it
- Relationships matter - habit of 'engaging with people' rather than 'completing tasks'
- Creating a framework for your week: where key things mostly stay the same (those things achieving the 'important, non-urgent tasks') with flexibility to adapt to other things as they arise

- Being reminded regularly of ultimately why I am doing church administrative work -  through prayer and scripture - via personal 'quiet time' or accountability  with someone else in the church. Trying to keep this as a the starting point  for all work being done.
- Organisation - daily, weekly, monthly and annual organisation and rhythms. Planning when things need to be done so that you aren't always reactive, so that there is time set aside for the proactive work that should add so much value to the work we do and therefore to the church we serve.
- Remaining humble - be willing to admit mistakes, take responsibility and step up to put things right rather than becoming defensive. Within this, be humble enough to admit if you are struggling, need help or are overcapacity -  don't retain the facade of being in control with others you work with/for if it risks creating problems down the line - be open (in an appropriate manner) with others so that the quality and accuracy of work completed ultimately increases.

- Maintain your relationship with Jesus
- Plan as much as you can in advance!
- Don't re-invent the wheel if others can give you a starting point.

- Sharing lunch daily with the team including pastors - as much as we can
- Spontaneously providing teas/coffees to each other during the day
- Always offering a listening ear to the pastors when they need a sounding board.

- Being organised
- Seeing the role as ministry and gospel work (not office work)
- Ask for help (don't repeat work someone else has already done)

- Regular review and evaluation
- Focussed of grace
- Personal time to pray

- Event planning support

- Make notes
- Ask more question
- Recognise you are needy, ask for help

- Pray
- Ask for help
- Review things regularly

- Be well organised
- Make the church office a place where people can feel comfortable and welcome.
- Have good boundaries between you work life and personal life.

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