Effective staff communication helps create a more unified, cohesive environment in which our ministry workers can thrive.

The implementation of virtual conferences and online training modules in El Salvador has allowed our staff to move one step forward in how they communicate with one another.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Everyone wants to be trusted for their character and their competence. We all know it. But in our relationships with each other, we often say or do things that can easily undermine trust.

Sometimes mistrust is due to miscommunication or misunderstanding. Sometimes it is due to our past experiences. Other times it is due to lack of consideration toward the other person.

And sometimes the very way we conduct our work may affect the culture of trust that we want to promote.

I remember how, as the Haiti Country Director, I used to get so many questions from pastors and church staff regarding our audit and reporting processes. They would often imply that the reason we audited them was because we did not trust them.

I struggled a lot with these remarks, and was never sure how to respond. Have you ever received similar comments? I would love to hear how you answered them.

I’m also aware that, in the developing world, some people question the necessity for performance reviews in the work environment. They wonder whether the reviews are conducted because we do not trust them to accomplish what they say they will do.

So let me ask you these questions:

• Is there room for audits and performance reviews in an environment of trust?
• Is it possible to use these processes to reinforce trust? If so, how?

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

A crisis is anything from a natural disaster like a hurricane or an earthquake, to a man-made one like civil unrest or war. It might be a bus accident, or a building collapsing, or a shooting, or a volcanic eruption … any event that affects a group of children in our programs. Because of the volatile nature of the developing countries where we work, crises occur frequently.

Unless you are Super-sponsor and check out the crisis update page daily, you probably are unaware of the wide variety of dangers our children face. I know I was. Even as an employee, it’s hard for me to keep up with all the events occurring around the world. It just seems like an unending list of prayer requests.

And it’s been easy for me to be more or less ignorant.

Except now the crisis reports are coming to my inbox. I’m the first one to find out if dengue fever is killing the kids in our program. I get the news if one of our projects has been looted and destroyed. I’m the person who first hears of children dying in a flood or a mudslide. When a crisis occurs, it’s my job to get accurate information to you as quickly as possible.

It’s a huge responsibility. Even as I write this, I’m overwhelmed by the responsibility God has placed on me and the trust that you place in me (and all of us who work for Compassion.) I take this responsibility seriously.

For the sake of the children we serve, I hope my job is extremely unexciting … boring even. The way the world has been lately, though, I have a feeling things will just get worse.

While this new position is emotionally heavy, I have hope because I am confident that none of this is outside of God’s control. He is not surprised by the crises. Only saddened, at times, by our response. We as Compassion employees, and you as sponsors, have been specifically appointed to be miracle-workers for children in poverty all over the world.

What a calling, huh?

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Read all the posts in the series.

• I noticed you hold a doctorate. I haven’t heard much about that — what did you get it in, and why? Does it help you at Compassion? (Chuck)

My doctorate is from Michigan State University and it is in non-formal education. That is how the poor learn … not in the classroom, not getting credentials, but through practical, functional, hands-on learning. I determined after my time in Haiti that I was not going to work among the poor until I formally studied how the poor learn: How do they take in new information? How do they adapt innovations? How do they change behavior?

My advice is: Don’t get a doctorate just for the credentials. If you’re going to get a doctorate, or even a master’s degree, you ought to ask yourself What is it that am I really passionate about learning in order to use it to change the world? A degree is just icing on the cake. Do not do it for the building up of credentials, as many, many people do.

I am Dr. Stafford, but everybody at Compassion calls me “Wess.” All across Asia I’m “Papa Wess,” which I love. (I think that’s better even than Dr. Wess.) The reason I rarely use my title is, first of all, I didn’t get it for that kind of credentialing reason. But also, I’ve discovered that being introduced as “Doctor so-and-so” builds walls, not bridges.

I use my credentials (being “Dr. Stafford”) if I am dealing with a developing nation and need to get into their department of education or to the president of the country. Wherever I need the title to advance the cause of Compassion, I use it. But I don’t use it around here. I don’t use it among our staff, because my experience is that it doesn’t add anything.

Use the information that that degree gives you, but don’t carry the degree around as some badge.

• What type of master’s program would you recommend for those who want to impact poverty and children in poverty? (Ian Durias)

Whatever your bachelor’s degree was in, if that has gripped your heart, pursue that. Working among the poor now requires all skill sets.

My master’s degree turned out to serve me quite well because it was in communications — it was in broadcasting. Almost anything you do among the poor is either speaking to the poor, which requires a lot of cross-cultural sensitivity, or speaking on behalf of the poor, which requires a lot of communication skills. You can’t miss in education, and I don’t think you can miss in communication.

But if God gifted you in math, study math. Get really, really good at it because as the world gets more and more complex, and the ability to travel gets easier and easier, every skill set, I think, is needed out there to help the poor. Don’t feel like you have to get a degree in social science or early childhood development to be relevant to the poor — you don’t.

Go for the learning and take the degree as icing on the cake. And then don’t use it as a club, use it as a bridge.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates