Services

Personalized Policy Development

A healthy and productive work and ministry environment begins with policies that clearly convey expectations to employees and volunteers. For church and ministry organizations, generic “one size fits all” policies, designed for corporate and government settings, often fail to reflect the unique structure, values and mission of your organization, and, as a result, may also fail to impact behavior.

I can assist your organization in creating and implementing personalized, sustainable policies, which both conform to best practices and make sense for your organization and the people who serve there. I specialize in harassment, discrimination, abuse of power, misconduct, complaint reporting/response, workplace behavior, reasonable accommodation and employee dating policies.

Engaging Training

There are few things less engaging, and less effective, than a generic training program, designed to suit “all workplaces.” If you have been required to complete an online anti-harassment training course, featuring break room discussions and unlikely scenarios, you know what I mean.

My training approach begins with your church or ministry organization’s values and mission, considers the demographics and organizational roles of the trainees, and gives careful attention to past and present areas of concern. Every training event, whether in-person or online, includes engaging small group discussion scenarios, closely tailored to the organization and designed to address realistic potential problems and “gray areas” of behavior. These discussion scenarios not only bring life to dry and sometimes confusing legal and policy concepts, but give participants the opportunity to exchange ideas, share concerns, and see each other as part of the solution to workplace issues, rather than part of the problem.

In response to the prevalence of workplace sexual harassment exposed by the #MeToo movement, states and cities have increasingly established laws requiring employers, including churches and ministries, to implement sexual harassment policies and training programs for their employees. These mandates often include specific content and procedural requirements.

Implementing a compliant policy and training program is critical to defending the organization in the event a complaint is made to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, state/local authorities or in court. Even if your state does not yet have specific requirements, a robust sexual harassment policy and training program is the first step in communicating expectations to your staff and protecting your organization.

Whether you are new to making personnel decisions for your organization, or have been serving successfully in that role for years, taking the opportunity to discuss new concerns and ongoing problems with a neutral subject matter expert provides fresh perspective on alternatives and leads to confidence in decision-making.

My areas of expertise include harassment, spiritual abuse, discrimination, accommodation of disability and religion, employee discipline, performance management, employee dating policies, and complaint reporting and response processes.

Complaint Response

At some point, almost every organization will need to respond to a complaint from an employee, volunteer or program participant. Whether that complaint involves a potential miscommunication, or an allegation of egregious misconduct, it is imperative that the organization make every effort to care for those involved, determine what occurred and implement an appropriate resolution. I can help your organization consider and follow the best response path.