When Should I Consider Employee Discipline on the Ministry Team?
Only in a ministry setting can someone be your employee, your prayer partner, and your brother-in-law. (Or maybe your employee, your Zumba buddy, and your child’s youth leader.) The complex interactions and web of relationships in a ministry setting, along with (a) a genuine desire by most ministry leaders to show patience and care for their staff and (b), in some settings, a lack of experience with employee discipline or other “HR issues,” can make it difficult to know how to respond when behavior is not as it should be.
Even so, a failure to take prompt action rarely results in the situation resolving itself. More often than not, a lack of appropriate response by leadership results in an escalation of the concerning behavior, frustration/stress for other staff, and a significant distraction from your mission priorities.
Situations involving possible employee discipline are invariably painful for everyone involved. That said, asking the right questions at the outset can make a difficult situation a bit less so, and help you proceed with relative confidence.
Is the behavior hurting other people, impairing our mission, or damaging the reputation of the organization?
If your employee is engaged in behavior that negatively impacts others, whether by sexual harassment, bullying, inappropriate humor or any other behavior that is harmful or threatening to others, your organization has an obligation to protect its staff and ministry participants by ensuring the behavior stops. Similarly, you have a responsibility to safeguard your organization’s reputation and its ability to achieve its mission, even if doing so means the reprimand or termination of someone you care about and who has, in other ways, contributed significantly to the organization’s success.
Does the employee know what behavior is expected?
Ideally, your organization issues written policies which put employees on clear notice of behavior that is expected, and warns employees that they can be disciplined or lose their job for failure to meet the organization’s expectations. These policies include, at minimum, a code of conduct, a disciplinary action policy explaining the organization’s disciplinary process, and an anti-harassment policy (important for everyone and required in some states). Even if your organization does not yet have these policies in place, or your policies are not as thorough as they should be, you can make sure employees are aware of what is expected by holding regular meetings addressing behavioral issues, and memorializing those meetings in an email to staff, reiterating what is expected.
Of course, in some instances, the situation involves a type of behavior that is indisputably wrong (for example, violence in the workplace). With or without a written policy, employees know the behavior is unacceptable and can result in disciplinary action, including termination. Even in these situations, having a written communication already in place, which identifies prohibited behavior and warns employees of disciplinary action, can help leadership respond more quickly, and with fewer objections raised by staff.
If the situation doesn’t yet warrant employee discipline (but is heading in that direction), have I warned the employee and given him/her a genuine chance to improve?
Some employee behavior is “borderline:” borderline unprofessional, borderline inappropriate or “iffy” behavior that has been tolerated in the past but should have been addressed. In these instances, the employee deserves to be put on notice that the behavior is a problem, and given the information and resources necessary to improve his/her behavior. For example, if the team “comedian” tends to walk the line between good-natured and hurtful humor, or your employee has gone from asking questions about work instructions to increasingly pushing back on them, it is time to step in and discuss your concerns and clearly explain what is expected. Memorialize the discussion and your expectations in a memo or an email to the employee. Keep that communication in the employee’s file, so you can easily refer back to it if things don’t go well. As appropriate to the situation, offer resources to assist the employee, such as coaching, counseling, a regular progress meeting, or a more detailed position description.
If disciplinary action seems appropriate, who should be involved with determining and implementing next steps? Do we need help with this process?
Generally speaking, no one (not even the head of an organization) should make a disciplinary decision without consulting others. If your organization has someone in an HR role, always start there. Assemble a small team including HR and two or more senior managers/leaders who can make determinations together regarding whether disciplinary action may be appropriate and, if so, what steps should be taken in the interim (such as placing an employee on administrative leave and/or initiating an investigation). Depending on the situation, seeking feedback and support from a subject matter expert, such as a consultant and/or an employment attorney, can help you take the right actions in the right way, for the benefit of the organization and those closely involved. While this outside support can be beneficial in any circumstance, it is especially important if your organization lacks experience and training in employee discipline, or has had a history of disciplinary situations that were not handled well, in retrospect.