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I can hear snorts of derision from some readers at this title, and perhaps see an indulgent smile play about the lips of others. But stay a while – after all it is Saturday morning – for I might – just might – be onto something here.
Let me tell you a story – essentially true, but with perhaps a little embroidery around the edges.
Once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, I worked in a dusty corner of the civil service. As this department did nothing but produce policy papers, we made a policy that we needed no political oversight: we would be our own guardians. We were not worth the attention of any reformers, especially zealous ones. We occasionally conducted ‘surprise’ checks of ourselves and concluded that all was for the best in the best of all possible worlds. We sailed on in these untroubled seas for many years until there arose in the land an Iron Maiden. Not only was she made of stern stuff, but she was filled with reforming zeal. With one thunderbolt she brought into being her Praetorian Guard, the Management and Personnel Office of the Civil Service Department. The era of rule by diktat had begun. Order after order spewed out of this office to all departments of the public service. When these documents reached us, we had no difficulty in filing them in the most remote part of our repository, saying to ourselves ‘of course, it doesn’t apply to us’. This ploy was successful for many years but eventually the day of reckoning came. Not all, but a great many of these orders did have to be implemented. And because they all had to be implemented at once lest we be overtaken by an avalanche of retribution, the implementation was extremely painful.
Bearing this cautionary tale in mind, you might like to read the current advice from the equivalent of the MPO in local government:
Do you have the committed ‘fit for the future’ workforce you need to deliver your strategic ambitions?
Organisational development (OD) focuses on making sure an organisation has the right ‘fit for the future’ workforce to achieve its strategic ambitions. It includes:
- changing behavioural norms and cultural attitudes
- building workforce support for the new structures
- creating new ways of working to achieve the organisation’s objectives.
Does it still not strike you that there is a lesson here for the Church? Instead of repeating that our ‘organisation’ exists to serve God and therefore management ideas for organising and running human structures are irrelevant, it might behoove us to look at these suggestions with a fresh eye. As we are about to appoint a new CEO (the Archbishop of Canterbury), it seems an opportune moment to do so.
There is a second chapter of my story, quite brief. A new Mikado was appointed from industry to head our department. He sent for me. ‘I want you to be my ventilation officer’ , he said. I thought he had got the wrong Sykes – he must be looking for Bill in maintenance? But no, it seems he was speaking metaphorically. He went on: ‘the atmosphere in here is completely foetid- I feel I have strayed into Miss Havisham’s drawing room. I want you to throw open the windows to let in some air and daylight and I will help you’. I was so flattered to have been picked for this ‘organisational development’ role. I spent the next two years trying to ventilate but, as you can imagine, came up against a wall of opposition. As fast as I flung open the windows, someone would follow me closing them up again. I cannot claim any great victory, but I did manage to let in a few chinks of light. Others that followed made them larger. And so on.
Do you know the game ‘Essences’? If you try it with the Church of England, what do you get? If the Church of England were a room, what sort of room would it be? (I suggest the room illustrating this post). If the Church were a filing system, what sort of filing system would it be? I suggest:
If the Church were a fabric, what fabric would it be? I suggest antique brocade with denim patches. If the Church were a flower? Well, it has to be the Rambling Rector rose, rather a prickly one.
Please let us have any other suggestions in the comments. A car? Perhaps better say means of transport, in case you think it should be a bicycle. Footwear? Menu? Work of literature? Style of architecture?…
The Organisational problems of the CofE remind me of the Army of the 1960’s. We had a HQ in virtually ever county and a General to command them. Regional Headquaters with a higher General and a Command at UK level, than the Army Department of the MOD. Duplication, overlap and conflict within and from the chain of command was common.
Now, much more streamlined and efficient after about the 30th Structural Reorganisation, it’s now organised along functional lines. With a single UK command structure. So, could this be applied to the church?
First: UK Command could be at Lambeth Palace, with the ABC and a small command staff. Church House would be reduced to a focal point for liaison with politicians.
Dioceses should be merged perhaps on a province basis, aligned to the old Saxon Kingdoms. Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria etc. With One bishop in the lead for each region. They would be responsible for Mission and Evangelism and Ordinations, with a tiny support staff.
There would be a Support Organisation, UK wide, reporting to the ABC, which would carry out the functions of Ministry Division and current diocesan DDO’s etc. It would provide resources in terms of information, contracts with commercial suppliers, to maximise the benefits for the whole church of central resourcing utilities, stationery and like services.
The Unit or Building Block would be the Deanery, virtually self-contained and self-resourced. Area Deans would provide oversight within the deanery and support to Parishes and Benefices, and be the link with either the Support Command or the Regional Bishop.
Parishes would work within the framework of the Deanery, with the Area Dean representing them along with one, elected Lay Representative from across all of the Parishes.
Governance would be via a building block of Regional Synod and a General Synod consisting of the Arch Bishop, Regional Bishops, Area Deans and Lay Representatives. On the basis of one person, one vote. Not separate houses.
Commander in Chief would be HM The Queen. And Supreme Governor = God!
Simplistic, but less costly, more efficient and more in line with modern structures, where management is flat line, without the many tiers present in the Church.
Brilliant. I hereby appoint you Ventilation Officer for the Church of England!
I’m not so sure.
First, I doubt if the main problem of the C of E is its organizational structures. I have to be careful,about what I say, because I don’t live there (tho’ my parents do, and I visit often). But I,suspect that one of the most pressing problems of the C of E is that a vast number of its members don’t know how to give a clear articulation of what the Gospel is. And since the job that the Master gave us before his Ascension was,to spread the Gospel and make new disciples, that’s rather urgent.
Second, the problem with the structure UK Viewer suggests is that Bishops aren’t supposed to be part of a management structure. They’re meant to be part of an evangelising and shepherding structure. If we truly followed ancient catholic order, our regional/area deans would all be bishops. No palaces, no huge staffs, no endowments, no seats in the House of Lords. Just experienced senior clergy who were themselves pastors of local churches but also exercised oversight of the other churches around them (in a small enough grouping to make that possible) – that’s what a true catholic bishop is.
Thanks for commenting Tim. Whether or not organisational structures are the main problems, I am not sure, but they ought to be the easiest ones to tackle. If you are right that ‘a vast number of its members don’t know how to give a clear articulation of what the Gospel is’, then I would think that is going to be a lot harder to correct. By organisational structures, I am thinking at the moment of the failure so far to allow women to be raised to the episcopate (let us hope that the General Synod in July will put that right, but there were ominous sounds of backtracking at the last Synod despite overwhelming support in diocesan synods). And I am also (as you would expect) disappointed at the general failure to make more use of the laity in leading worship in places where the local priest is unable to cover all the churches in his benefice. The solution preferred by the clerical church managers (whoever you deem those to be) seems to be closing down church after church. I find this disappointing and unjustifiable, to put it no higher.
On your point about area deans exercising the management functions of bishops, with the existing bishops giving up their palaces, staff, endowments and seats in the House of Lords, I have some sympathy with the view, but think this would take even longer to bring about.
Hah! You may be right, Laura. Mind you, I can’t see UK Viewer’s suggested reforms being doable overnight either…!
Wow, a promotion. I expected to be appointed Church Cleaner?
Surely part of the challenge is that the bulk of mission is (or should be) carried out by the lsity in our communities or spheres of work, where bishops have no formal authority and often limited knowledge.
Thank-you for this Savi, and the gentle reminder that the purpose of the Church is mission and evangelism. What with the Covenant, Women bishops (and before that priests), equal treatment of LGBT, giving proper weight to the laity etc etc, I think it is true to say we have rather lost our focus on the essentials recently. I am afraid, judging from my experience in the public service, this is the result of sweeping inconvenient facts- including changing values in society- under the carpet so persistently and over such a long period that they have built up a head of steam (with apologies for the mixed metaphor) and can no longer be covered over by carpet. I think they need dealing with during the term of the next Archbishop of Canterbury and would hope that we can then get back to, as you highlight, the mission of the Church in our communities and spheres of work, areas where bishops indeed ‘have no formal authority and often limited knowledge’.