Getting Started With a New Interim Job: My 30 / 60 / 90 day plan

Jim Latimer
Welcome to coaching for Interims. We are about empowerment for interim ministers: best practices and quick help from interims for interims – wisdom from the field. My name is Reverend Jim Latimer. And today I have the joy of welcoming and speaking with my friend, Reverend Philomena Hare. Philomena, I know you wanted to say a few words about how you get started with a new interim position. We’d love to hear you speak a little bit about how you do that.

Philomena
I like to think that I’ve been in ministry all my life, but I came to ordination as a second career. In my first line of work, it wasn’t uncommon to have a 30, 60, 90 day plan as a way of entering into a new position. So I carry that with me. And I like to start a new ministry setting thinking about, “Okay, what are my goals for these first 30 days?” And it can be as simple as walking around the neighborhood and asking, “Who are our neighbors? Who are our branch managers? Where does the congregation do their banking?” – introducing yourself, you know. So it’s that sort of a thing. And also getting to know the congregation. And, I kind of put getting to know the congregation second, because it’s ongoing. So those first 30 days, it’s at a surface level – name, rank and serial number.

But throughout the entire term of your ministry you’re still getting to know people, because as Jesus followers, I like to say, Jesus is in the transformation business. And so the person that I knew in my first month, by mid-term, 90 days or 180 days, they’re different now. So you you’re always going to be in that frame of mind of getting to know your congregation. You want to know your people. Some of the other things that I would want to familiarize myself with are the facilities and the ministries. And during that time period – part of the getting to know – people also want to know you. So they’ll be eager to share their stories with you and they want to hear your stories. And, “What are your dreams for us?” They may just ask you that question, just as you are asking them. You want to be available. You want to be open without being abused or misused.

You want to set boundaries very quickly during that time period. Because if you don’t, and now three or six months have gone by and all of a sudden you’re establishing boundaries, then people think something went awry in the relationship and perhaps you’re punishing them. Whereas, if boundaries setting was established early on – you respect their boundaries and they respect yours – then it doesn’t come at them out of the blue. And again, I like writing monthly reports. So I would present to them, “Okay, my first 30 days…” basically, it would be: “I walked around. I talked to some of you. And let me share what I saw as the stranger in your mist.” What did I see? I would visit the website. I would visit the Facebook page, and all the other social media that they’re using. And again, as an outsider, so that the insight that I gleaned wouldn’t only be for me. I think they would want to hear how outside people see them. And so I would share that very early on, while we’re still getting used to each other. And be clear with them that there’s no malice in this. It’s not a criticism. It’s just saying, “I’m new to your community. And this is how you appear to me.” And then if I’m wrong, they can correct that. And then we can move on to establish a deeper relationship with one another.

Jim Latimer
That’s nice. I like much of what you said, but the 30, 60, and 90 day plans, and each one begins with relationships in the community, observing in the community, and then in the congregation. And those relationships deepen as you go along. And of course, boundary setting. I particularly like what you said around writing monthly reports. I hear you saying that you give feedback to them verbally, as you do things. And then you also give feedback to them, sharing your observations as an objective outsider who’s very much for them – you’re in their camp – but you’re not really one of them in the way that a settled pastor is. And so for those people that are more writing oriented, rather than aural or hearing oriented, they can read it and see it, and then you have a record of it. That can really help reinforce these observations that you’re making, and can anchor meaningful conversations about where we are, how you see us. And based on that, where do we go from here? How does the Holy Spirit move or want to take us? Things like that. So I like how you use that.

Philomena
Right, and it’s early enough so that if there was some misalignment in the “What do you want me to do?” – now that you’re writing reports – it’s easy to look back and say, “Oh, the pastor is doing da, da, da. That’s not what we had in mind…” and I think it would trigger if they see it on paper, and then an adjustment can be made.

Jim Latimer
Right. So having it written on paper like that really facilitates this expectations conversation, “Am I doing what you think I’m going be doing?” You come in and begin with that conversation, and then it constantly needs to be reinforced, in my experience, as you go on, because they have a tendency to separate. You need to constantly reinforce and realign expectations on an ongoing basis.

Philomena
Especially the deeper you get into the interim work.

Jim Latimer
Nice, Philomena. Thank you so much. I really appreciated how as a second career ordained minister, and now as an interim minister, that you brought something from the secular world, the 30, 60, 90 day plan, for coming into a new job, and that you’re able to use that well, and that it helps you think in a systematic way. And also helps you in a time based way, a progressive way, as time passes. Relationships change. As you said, the relationship with someone that you meet at the beginning, they’re not the same person three months later. Well, they are, but they show up differently because you’re different. I don’t want to put too many words in your mouth, but that’s what I heard.

Philomena
You’re very eloquent. Yes.

Jim Latimer
Thank you so much, Philomena, for sharing with us about how you get started.

Philomena
You’re welcome, Jim.

More Bits Of Wisdom from Rev. Philomena Hare
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