Real QA for Music Ministries By Erin McGaughan, with thanks to the music directors of the Pacific NW Region

How ya doin’? Direct topic fit went up from 67% to 73% of songs. Musical quality stayed exactly the same: avg 8.1 out of 10 Congregant platform appearances rose from 160 to 230, an average of to 4.44 per Sunday. CD sales rose from 7.78% to 8.55% of attendance Congregant skill-building opportunities rose from 238 to 308 Recording quality rose from 6.9 to 7.3 out of 10. Out of 159 congregant respondents, 95% said music “consistently high quality”, and 96% said it “supported the spiritual message in a relevant, valuable way” Avg rating of the music director by 9 respondent contractors was 9.1 out of 10. Minister and business manager loved it. Timing slipped from 8.5 to 7.1 out of 10. Expenses came in under budget by a slightly smaller margin than last year Overall budget increased by smaller percentage than previous year Houseband, local contractors and MD received standard cpi raise; touring artist fees were not raised.

How did I get this info? Why do I want this info?

We had a crisis, and along with prayer, we needed information.

Corporate QA Code Language C.Q.I. – continuous quality improvement. Organize the systems. Q.C. – quality control. Set measurable standard; meet it or miss it. P.D.C.A. - Plan. Do. Check. Act. Problem-solving system. (aka Shewhart or Deming cycle) S.W.O.T. - Strength, weakness, opportunity, threat. S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting - Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound. A.I. – Appreciative Inquiry – Find what works. Build from there.

Music ministries thrive when they make the time investment in Real QA. But, like any effective spiritual process, it requires:  introspection  risk  discipline  collaboration

But I’m Special For music ministries, effective QA processes integrate right and left brain - qualitative and quantitative measures.

Why do churches often skip real QA? It’s hard; takes time; seems clinical. What makes them actually start doing it? Crisis. If there’s no crisis, why do it? Stasis is not the opposite of crisis.

EXERCISE: LAST SUNDAY To your best memory, rank these 1-10 Musical quality of guest: Musical quality of band/bax: How easy was the soloist to work with: How did congregation receive the soloist: How much did congregants singalong: How was the service flow:

NON-QA “He lets me know if he doesn’t like something.” Whack-a-mole. “Congregants let us know what they want.” SQUIRRELL!! “We basically know what we’re doing.” Dressing without a mirror

QA is not a “family dynamic”. Thank God.

What does real QA look like? Integrated left/right brain. Qualitative and Quantitative measures Sustainable discipline. 15 mins/day or 2 mins/week, but consistent. Multidirectional. Multiple distinct assessors. Actionable. Results affect future goals, budgets, processes

SAMPLE ASSESSMENT WEEKLY SUNDAY MUSIC WRAP-UP Music director writes it; minutes. Minister and business manager review it; 5 mins each. In mid-week staff meeting, staff offer opinions. s kept in wraps folder, checked for rebooking. Brief narrative, easy to read.

SAMPLE ASSESSMENT QUANTITAVE LOGS Music director updates weekly; minutes. End of year analysis: ~ 6-8 hours. The same workbook holds hard data: songlists, sales and attendance stats, etc. Only some of what can be described in narrative can be tracked quantitatively. The trending is what’s most useful in setting the next year’s goals.

SAMPLE ASSESSMENT ANNUAL 360° REVIEWS Given to houseband and 6 musical guests with more than 3 visits each, who sent responses directly to the business mgr. Business mgr. collated results for MD’s annual review

SAMPLE ASSESSMENT TARGETED RESPONDENTS This one was sent to 6 long time choir members, as a one-time investigation tool to assess past choral directors Other example target pools: young people, newcomers, high donors, chaplains, people of color, etc.

SAMPLE ASSESSMENT FULL CONGREGATIONAL POLL Survey Monkey and similar sites provide interface and analysis tools 3 music questions out of 25 total, addressed presentation quality, relevance to the spiritual message, and congregational involvement. Positive statements; 5 point scale; room for comments.

SAMPLE ASSESSMENT ANNUAL SUPERVISORY REVIEWS MD submits original Goals document, with highlighted comments on progress; trending, summaries, ‘highlights’ reminder of time-line Supervisors review and write appraisal Feedback shapes Goals for new year

EXERCISE: AD HOC HEAVY? Ministers: How do you give feedback to your MD’s? face/behavior during service verbal comments between svcs verbal comments after svcs buying guest cd phone call or to MD comments about MD to others verbal check between svcs meeting after svcs weekly feedback annual goals meeting semi-annual reviews annual reviews AD HOCPLANNED

Start simple What do I want to see improve? How do we measure that? What discipline can I maintain?