Practitioner vs. Leader

Posted on Aug 6, 2011

I really enjoy the conversations that are generated via several of the online “forums” for church business administrators, XPastors and facility managers.  There are so many gifted and skilled people in their trade and I benefit greatly from their input.

Recently there was a discussion about job descriptions for church Facility Managers on a forum of church administrators.  I found the discussion interesting and enlightening.  The group posted several job descriptions and gave direction on what should be included…which re-kindled what I have seen concerning the difference between Maintenance vs. Management. I wrote a blog on this some time back…and am finding that the understanding/interpretation of these 2 terms (thus…variations on job descriptions/roles) is far more widespread than I had thought.

Here is what I have found with the churches we serve…there are 2 distinct interpretations of a Facilities Manager:

1. Practitioner/Technician – This is a person that generally has some “trade” experience and is very skilled in some (or multiple) trades. They like to “fix” things and love to put their tool belt on. They may manage some other staff and may even have some purchasing authority, but their primary function is geared toward the physical maintenance and  upkeep of the facility. In many cases, they also are a lead custodian, landscaper and light bulb changer.  All are necessary functions, but they clearly are a “practitioner” in nature.

2.  Leader/Manager – This person is responsible for the operational costs of the facility and as such is developing  capital reserve accounts, developing means/methods, develops SOP’s and policy, hires and oversees all in-sourced and outsourced services, develops preventive maintenance procedures, is looking for cost implications for short term and long term, comparing cost bench marking and staying current with trends and new technologies.

I am not saying that one is more important than the other..in fact, I believe you need both, but I can give you first hand examples of churches that thought they had a “manager” and actually had a practitioner and their long term planning and projections were woefully inadequate to the point of actually costing them more in the long run than they thought they were saving in the short term.

So, determine what role you need…then hire/staff/source accordingly.