Trait #1: Relational
As a comms director, your job is more relational than executional. If you fail in your relationships you fail in your leadership.
Leaders who have a good relationship with their team members are more effective at leading them. This is because they understand what their team members need and want and they know how to motivate them.
Leaders who build relationships with other leaders in the church can also be more effective. When you have a good relationship with other leaders in your church, they will be more likely to listen to your ideas and suggestions.
Trait #2: Organized
I'm not talking about having a tidy desk and a clean inbox. I mean that you need to be organized in the way you think and approach your work.
When you're working with people in church leadership, it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks at hand. But if you're not thinking long-term, then it's easy to lose sight of what's important.
Here are three ways to stay organized:
1) Set clear goals for yourself and your team
2) Create a system for tracking progress toward those goals (and make sure everyone knows about it!)
3) Make sure that everyone on your team has access to this same information
Trait #3: Visionary
Casting vision is one of the most important leadership skills you can have. It’s not just about setting goals and objectives, it’s about setting a direction for your team and then bringing them along with you.
If you want to be an effective leader, make sure you know what your vision is for yourself, your team and for the ministry. Here are some questions to help you do this:
1) What do I want my ministry to look like in five years?
2) What kind of impact will we be having in our community?
3) How will we be making disciples at our church?
Trait #4: Open to Change
A communication director needs to be flexible, willing to change and adapt with the needs of the church. Church leaders are often hesitant about change because we want things to stay the same. We want people to know exactly what to expect from us each week. But being open to change will allow you to be more effective and efficient as a leader.
One example of this is when I was at a new church, I was asked if I would consider changing our weekly newsletter format in order to align with another ministry team’s weekly email newsletter they sent out every Sunday morning. They wanted their readership numbers to increase so they could reach more people with their message each week. They asked me if we could try it for two months and see if there was an increase in readership numbers before making any decisions about whether or not it would continue after those two months were up (which there was). By being open-minded and willing to change our format, we were able to increase our readership numbers by over 60%! This allowed us greater opportunity for others in our church body who needed additional help from our ministry team during that time period
Trait #5: Proactive
As the communication director at your church, you have to be proactive. You can’t sit back and wait for things to happen, because if you do, they probably won’t. If there is an issue in the church or community that needs to be addressed, don’t wait for someone else to step up and fix it—take action yourself. This can lead to some great things happening for your church such as increased visibility and involvement from members and even donors!
Takeaway: If you have these traits, you're on your way to being a great leader for your church.
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