A growing church in need of structure and consistency
Although the staff at Menlo were not fully prepared to move online when the pandemic began, they have had a successful transition to the virtual space. The operations team found that Inner-team communication was better when calls were not only focused on work tasks. Quick games played at the start of meetings with small prize incentives helped to increase team morale and spirit. To encourage productivity and flexibility, Menlo defined a six-hour window every day when they expected all staff to be working. Outside of that window, staff members could be as flexible with their schedules as they desired.
Although the transition to virtual was going relatively well, Menlo found that their annual goals had not been accomplished at the end of the year. The leadership team realized that half of the staff was having regular one-on-ones, while the other half were never having them. Team leaders were not consistent in bringing agendas to meetings.
Manager feedback to the leadership team consisted of comments like “We need some help. We need more structure and consistency. We want to more consistently talk about development and feedback.”
Menlo needed a tool that would provide structure and consistency for their staff.
Goals were behind because they were being forgotten
The operations team recognized that they needed help streamlining communication and setting clear goals across the organization. As the pandemic progressed, they realized that their annual goal windows were too ambitious. The leadership team decided to shorten their goal windows to four-months.
Transitioning to this approach required assistance from a tool that could help every member of the Menlo staff keep on track with their short-term and long-term goals every day. This needed to be a system that could be easily adopted by the entire Menlo team. The shorter timelines demanded efficient brainstorming, development, and completion of projects.
Leadr provides a software tool that transforms the way Menlo approaches meetings
The Menlo leadership team chose Leadr to help solve their need for communication structure, consistency, and goal setting.
“Adopting the Leadr tool for our organization was an easy decision on my part. When I went through the Leadr demo with the Leadr team, I told them, ‘This is the first time I’ve gone through a demo and every single thing that I wanted in a software was present.’”
— Sue Kim-Ahn - Executive Pastor of Ministries, Menlo Church
The staff at Menlo could now see both their short and long term goals during one-on-one meetings, and they were reminded of their goals every single time they met with each other. Leadr allowed the team to keep goals top-of-mind, which ensured that they were more actively incorporated in the conversations being had throughout the year.
Effective and consistent meetings that changed staff culture
Leadr was first implemented with the Menlo executive team to familiarize the staff from the top down. The tool was so simple and intuitive that it was quickly introduced to the direct reports. Once Menlo’s leadership teams had recognized the value of the Leadr tool, they felt comfortable rolling it out to the entire staff.
“Adopting the tool was a really easy decision for us.”
— Sue Kim-Ahn - Executive Pastor of Ministries, Menlo Church
With only one email explaining the new tool, Menlo experienced incredibly fast adoption across their entire organization. Managers and team members across the staff reported that adopting the tool was an incredible relief as every meeting now had an agenda, and was pre-optimized for efficiency and success.
“Leadr allows goals to be way more visible.”
— Sue Kim-Ahn - Executive Pastor of Ministries, Menlo Church
Leadr pushed Menlo Church’s entire organization towards maximizing the effectiveness of all their meetings. Leadr has helped keep employees engaged so that team meetings are collaborative and efficient.
The Feedback feature of Leadr has been critical for allowing Menlo Church staff to not only keep in constant communication with each other, but to be constantly reflecting on how they can better work together.
Menlo plans on the Leadr tool being an essential part of their infrastructure moving forward.
A staff that can accomplish their big picture goals across teams
With Leadr, Menlo Church feels so much better prepared for the challenges ahead. The senior pastor search, the ongoing transition to becoming an effective hybrid church, and the management of six physical campuses alongside an online presence would be next to impossible to balance without a tool like Leadr to consistently remind the entire team of their short-term and long-term goals.
