The Bishop of Ramsbury on why good HR matters in the Church of England
If your idea of ecumenical life comes from The Vicar of Dibley, the CIPD L&D Show might be a good place to wise up. The Rt Revd Edward Condry, Bishop of Ramsbury – who is responsible for recruitment, training and deployment within Salisbury Diocese – will be explaining the realities of HR and learning in the Church of England. People Management asked him for a sneak preview.
What does a bishop do?
Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, once said to me that the main task of a bishop is to encourage people. I think that is a good description of a leader. On a Sunday I will go to two or sometimes three churches – it’s a fundamental part of how leadership works in the church. You are judged on your competence. If you take the service, people have very direct access to how good or bad you are at it.
What’s an appraisal like for a vicar?
Traditionally, clergy have regarded themselves as very independent so the appraisal schemes that have been put in place in the last decade or so have generally been very soft-focused. There is a heavy emphasis on trusting people to be honest and good at self-analysis. In one way that’s good because they say “we trust you to be competent and engaged” but, at worst, they are too unfocused and too uncritical.
How do you measure performance?
I would say the prayer and worship life of the community, the liveliness of the church, the welcome to new members and particularly engagement with the community. But there are no firm criteria – we don’t have a bottom line.
What’s the most difficult people issue?
Clergy stress and burnout – it’s not significantly higher than other occupations but it is a real problem. People work enormously hard and are very committed. We don’t have set hours and there is no clear boundary between your private life and public life. Vicars can get quite isolated. A major part of the way we overcome that is social events. We invite people to our home – on a Sunday night we might have 24 churchwardens coming for drinks. We’ll talk about the church, but it won’t be a training session.
✶ The Rt Revd Edward Condry will be speaking on leadership at the CIPD Learning and Development Show 2014 on 30 April-1 May at Olympia