Multi-Site EPODs: Promoting the Preferred
We continue a miniseries based on this long-ago post titled Multi-Site: You Need an EPOD. An EPOD is one of the tried-and-true tools in our multi-site toolbox, and keeps us on the literal same page. It establishes understanding, goals, and accountability between our central resourcing teams and the campus staffs who are on the front lines.
The second section of our EPOD is Preferred. We define that as practices that take an established ministry to another level of service, disciple making, leadership development, pastoral care, community engagement, and increase excellence in campus leadership.
The difference between Essential and Preferred
Preferred items don’t quite rise to the level of Essential items. The Essentials tend to make a ministry what that ministry is. They are the core building blocks of the ministry’s identity.
Preferred items can be thought of more in terms of best practices. They are not all-or-nothing, they are not make-or-break, but they tend to be – as I heard one leader unfortunately rhyme it several years ago – small tweaks that lead to huge peaks. The absence of a Preferred item won’t cause trouble for the campus Guest Services Director (GSD), but we’ll continue to nudge them towards implementing a Preferred wherever they can.
Examples of Preferred
We only have seven items in the Preferred section. You can see them in full via the link on this post, but I’ll highlight a couple of them here:
- Annual membership / spiritual health check-in/review of all team members. We put this “annual audit” under Preferred, because it’s a really good idea. We want campus GSDs to know the state of their team: who is in a small group? Who is not yet a covenant member? Out of all of our volunteers, how many would we say we know their spiritual story, and how many should we take to coffee to hear their spiritual story and/or nudge them to become a Christ follower?
- Ongoing training / vision casting provided in VHQ 1-2x per month (5-7 minutes). I’ve talked about our Volunteer Headquarters a lot on the blog. I believe it’s the place that makes the most sense for team building and vision casting, and we encourage our GSDs to use it for that purpose.
Knowing when to dial into a Preferred
Again, the Preferred section is simply a best practice. The absence of it doesn’t derail us, but the addition of it might move a good team to a great team. If a campus GSD or Service Lead (a volunteer role) is feeling overwhelmed with the people reporting to them, then we’d suggest Preferred #2: install Team Leads for all sub-teams (parking, seating, etc.). If volunteers seem like they’ve lost their spark and feel forgotten, then we’d ask a Director to lean into Preferred #7: start some volunteer appreciation initiatives.
Do you have questions about the Preferred section of our EPOD – or EPOD questions in general? Let me know below, or email me here. I’ll address as many as I can in future posts.
See all posts in this series:
- Multi-Site: You Need An EPOD
- Multi-Site EPODs: Establishing the Essentials
- Multi-Site EPODs: Promoting the Preferred
- Multi-Site EPODs: Opining the Optional
- More posts coming soon!
