Burnout in Churches and Christian Faith-Based Organisations

• Failing to recognise the tension between consistency pursued in the name of efficiency,
and local flexibility that allows individuals to tailor what they do and how they do it, to
local circumstances. A failure to think this through can lead to a culture that is so loose
the organisation becomes chaotic or so bureaucratic that nothing gets done, with constant
game playing, arguments and disputes that create rifts between individuals and groups. It is
very easy for a situation to arise where one group of people views another group as people
‘who want to micro-manage and don’t understand the front line or Parish Church’ while this
later group sees the former as ‘the loose cannons who cut corners and take risks’. Such rifts
can emerge between hierarchical levels, head office and local offices, between specialists
such as marketeers and front line services. Where rifts occur, expect to hear myths and
stories of battles and heroes who beat the system. In turn, such stories encourage game
playing and other dysfunctional behaviour that is likely to fly in the face of espoused values.
• Systems, controls, and routines that do not keep pace with organisation change. A small
charity set up in the front room of the founder with one service offered to a handful of
clients in a local community may only require simple systems. If the charity expands by
adding an additional service, offering an existing service to two different groups of clients,
moves into a small rented office or diversifies funding to include grants, it is highly likely
that existing systems and controls will be inadequate. Growth places a strain on existing
systems which is a source of stress for those running them and equally those who rely
on their outputs. Often attempts to cope with growth centre on adapting simple manual
or spreadsheet systems which either fail or become so complex that only their creator
understands how they work. These largely undocumented systems can lead to unnecessarily
high levels of expert power, a felt vulnerability by senior managers who do not really
understand what is going on and a concern about what will happen if the person operating
it leaves or at least, threatens to do so.
• The absence of a central information system resulting in duplication, private data storage,
data security risks, etc. In a Church context many people create documents, lists, and
schedules, and keep records of events and decisions, many of which do not need approval
by the governing body. Some information may be held in a physical filing system, some on
laptops, tablets, mobile phones and memory sticks and the rest in human memory. This
fragmented approach is made worse where staff and volunteers serve short fixed terms of
office resulting in significant churn, loss of information and time spent trying to work out
what has happened and been agreed in the past.
• The lack of an internal communications policy that reflects the recent explosion in the
way information is communicated within an organisation. Life was complicated enough
when based on face-to-face meetings, letter, telephone, fax, text, and memo. While fax and
memo may no longer feature, these have been replaced by e-mail, WhatsApp, Messenger,
Facebook, and the like. Uncontrolled use of a range of communication channels can result in
stress through leaders.
— Needing to be able to use several channels efficiently.
— Missing a message that they were intended to receive.
— Missing information launched generally into the organisation.
— Being included in a group and feeling they have to become involved in a
conversation that could have taken place without them.
— Getting caught up in a felt need to read and respond immediately irrespective
of when the message was sent.
— Being copied indiscriminately into messages and often all the responses that follow.
Further information on the potential impact of social media is included in a section starting on
page 56.
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