Exit Interviews

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Redbaron

Redbaron

Pirate fan since the dark ages
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I'm reading through the Congregational Oversight thread here, with its various opinions and scenarios, and a different (yet sort of) related question came to mind. That question is about exit interviews. How effective do you think they might be? Now that a ministry personnel, leaving a position with nothing left to lose, so to speak, can speak more freely. Should there also be such an interview for maybe the M+P committee (separately)? Any thoughts on this?
 
Could be useful to a degree. OTOH serious concerns could be perceived as the departing minister having an axe to grind.

So I am not sure. That's my final answer. :LOL:
 
Redbaron said:
I'm reading through the Congregational Oversight thread here, with its various opinions and scenarios, and a different (yet sort of) related question came to mind. That question is about exit interviews. How effective do you think they might be? Now that a ministry personnel, leaving a position with nothing left to lose, so to speak, can speak more freely. Should there also be such an interview for maybe the M+P committee (separately)? Any thoughts on this?
Click to expand...

Exit interviews would be excellent for some purposes as long as not critical as such things are considered negative ... thus classed as crisis to be avoided and denied at least! Least; a small detail ... these being overlooked by inflated concerns of administration ... thus an odd topic for crabbing ... there is no room for such serial destruction ... logic of such stories and myth go on and on as logic is unaccepted as it can be freely eliminated ... thus denied! Nex' tus ... 2 cheeks ...
 
I believe the congregation's personnel committee and Regional Council should do exit interviews of the minister and it might be helpful for Regional Council to do an exit interview of the personnel committee as part of the needs assessment process with an eye to Regional council's role in the change in pastoral relations, along with any concerns the committee may have.

For the personnel committee one objective would be improving their functioning.
 
It's pretty standard practice in the corporate world to do them. An outbound employee often feels freer to share concerns, issues, ideas and might have useful suggestions that will help in retaining their successor(s). HR has to assess the value of the intel, of course. If the employee is obviously disgruntled or nursing a grudge, then you can discount some of that. But, of course, that assumes an HR professional doing it. Not sure if a volunteer committee could do a good job of it.
 
Exit interviews for ministry personnel....Hmmm.......

As a high school teacher, I've done lots of exit interviews during the pandemic years in lieu of exams.
Questions like:
-Choose a piece we've read and describe the setting in terms of time, place, and situation. What does the setting reveal about the characters?
-Describe 5 things you've learned about indigenous peoples from any 5 things we've studied in this class.
-Describe 2 strengths of your writing, and describe 2 areas where you need to improve.

I think exit interviews are a fine substitute for high school written exams when you can't do written exams.

I can definitely see that an exit interview could be a great learning experience for the Regional Council, the M and P committee, and the minister.
The minister should definitely get the questions ahead of time in order to prepare (as I do with my students - they get the questions ahead of time to prepare, and they can bring written notes to the interview.)
Questions like:
-What do you think are your 2 best experiences with this community of faith, and what's one thing you wish could have gone better?
-What do you think are this community of faith's top three strengths?
-What's one thing that the Region doesn't know about this community of faith that they should know?

I can definitely see that if the focus is on reflecting and debriefing and learning, (and not on creating a laundry list of grievances with specific names,) then an exit interview is a great learning tool.
 
I'm curious. Why do you think only of the minister when discussing exit interviews?

How about when a different staff person leaves, or when a member leaves.
I concur that they have limited value if the person doing the interview doesn't have the skills.
 
A major failing of most congregations is not asking exiting members for an exit interview. Sometimes they are friends with people who are staying but not sure for how long they are prepared to stay. Having an exit interview with them can help initiate action on problems worth fixing.

All staff members who leave should be invited to an exit interview with the Personnel Committee. If they hold a position involving the region, the Region should also request an exit interview.
 
JayneWonders,

When Jim Kenney started this thread, he said specifically "ministry personnel," so that's the context we started with.

I agree that an exit interview could work with pretty much any employee, like a church office administrator or custodian (or any employee in any kind of job, for that matter.)
 
Actually Red Baron Started this thread and he named ministry personnel as an example. I appreciated Jayne's question. I believe it would be helpful to congregations to also do exit interviews for people leaving positions within the church, whether they are roles like teachers in Sunday programming or council members or any other role. This also falls under the responsibilities of the M&P committee. Personnel includes paid and volunteer. It needs to be done by people who are not inclined to get defensive and are prepared to just listen with no responses beyond a question like, "is there something we can do for you now?" or thanking them for their service to the congregation.
 
Is this not just an extension of all inclusiveness? I can think of some comments that would come out of departing members because they couldn't have everything their way or control the whole shebang ... so that's how they went! It is often how powerful organized establishmentarianism goes.

I watch the goings on from the alien edge ...
 
JayneWonders said:
I'm curious. Why do you think only of the minister when discussing exit interviews?

How about when a different staff person leaves, or when a member leaves.
I concur that they have limited value if the person doing the interview doesn't have the skills.
Click to expand...
How about when members leave the congregation?
 
jimkenney12 said:
Actually Red Baron Started this thread and he named ministry personnel as an example. I appreciated Jayne's question. I believe it would be helpful to congregations to also do exit interviews for people leaving positions within the church, whether they are roles like teachers in Sunday programming or council members or any other role. This also falls under the responsibilities of the M&P committee. Personnel includes paid and volunteer. It needs to be done by people who are not inclined to get defensive and are prepared to just listen with no responses beyond a question like, "is there something we can do for you now?" or thanking them for their service to the congregation.
Click to expand...
How many congregations really want to know?
 
Ok, full disclosure

I have very recently submitted letter of resignation from council and a letter requesting removal of membership

None of the above were the reasons; however, they were given to the appreciate parties in writing
 
Most congregations do not ask because if they learned about a specific problem, they might feel pressured to do something about it and that would probably include a confrontation.
 
jimkenney12 said:
Most congregations do not ask because if they learned about a specific problem, they might feel pressured to do something about it and that would probably include a confrontation.
Click to expand...

Thus great voids and words like abstract to indicate things that are incomplete due to deficiencies ... outlining here and there about what mortals do not know!

Humans have mist a lot due to heads in the clouds ... I find trying to understand this race leaves me completely in the dark about their claim on Christianity as light humour on the topic of controlling violence. Just look at the latest and most modern trends towards peace ... in a negative vector! Definitely something missing ...
 
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