Good employers will give their employees riverbanks to operate within. A riverbank is a metaphor for boundaries. A river has a riverbank on each side keeping the water where it needs to be. Without riverbanks, the water would just go everwhere, which would be good for no one.
Giving employees riverbanks does two very beneficial things:
- It keeps them moving in the right direction, giving them focus.
- It allows them to use their unique personality and God-given talents to get the job done, because within the borders of the riverbanks there is wiggle room.
The goal with creating riverbanks is two-fold:
- You want them constrained enough that your employees don’t head off in a direction you never intended them to go.
- You want them broad enough that they don’t feel frustrated that everything has to be done your exact way.
Did you know that God sets riverbanks for us? Take marriage for example…God says that Christians are to marry other Christians (2 Corinthians 6:14) and that we can only marry someone of the opposite sex (Genesis 2:24). But within these riverbanks there’s lots of freedom. You can choose to marry someone with an outgoing personality or an introverted personality, someone with brown hair or someone with blonde hair, someone who is tall or someone who is short, someone who is skinny or someone who is not so skinny, someone who likes listening to the radio in the car or someone who doesn’t. As long as you stay within the riverbanks you and God are good.
If you manage people, you have to create riverbanks and then give people the freedom to operate within the riverbanks. Here’s a couple examples of some riverbanks I’ve created for our worship arts department at New Day (to help you wrap your head around the riverbank concept).
- the music on Sunday will not exceed 97 decibils
- the words of the songs chosen must be easy to understand, even for someone that isn’t a Christian
- the band will play no more than three songs a week
- the comments made between songs will either reference the message I’m preaching that day or relevant Scripture
- the musicians and singers must arrive at church having already learned the song – Sunday is a time to rehearse the songs, not learn them
Within these boundaries, there is lots of freedom. Even though the sound can’t exceed 97 decibils, it’s ok if it’s lowered a little. Even though the band can only pick songs that are easy to understand and can only do three a week, they still get to choose which songs they play. And even though the comments must relate to the message or relevant Scripture, there is still a great deal of freedom regarding what is to be said.
I’d love to hear about any riverbanks you’ve created for staff or volunteers so feel free to share in the comments section below!