Tag Archive - recruit

0

Stop Hiring People you Like

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

A wrong hire can set a ministry back for years and unfortunately churches aren’t known for making great hires. Pastors have a tendency to hire people that they like, and value relational chemistry over production. I get it. Pastors are taught Greek, Theology and the Bible. Seminaries aren’t known for providing great courses on recruiting, hiring and team development.

So, most pastors are left to rely on their “gut” and hope for the best. They typically look for natural connections that they can build on to get “comfortable” with and “believe” in a potential hire.

Is the potential hire from the same denomination of churches? Did they go to the same seminary or school as the pastor? Do they know the same people and run in the same circles (tribe)? Did a friend recommend them? Have they read the same books or listen to the same podcasts? Do they go to the same conferences for inspiration and new ideas? Do they already know someone on staff? Do they share similar interests or grow up in the same area or region of the country?

All of these simple connections can lead pastors to emotionally and relationally zero in on a potential hire and pull the trigger to bring them on the team for all the wrong reasons.

Don’t be Afraid of Results

Culture and chemistry really matter, they should factor into your recruiting and hiring. Potential hires need to fit with your team and your church. But you’re not just hiring them for their fit, you’re hiring them to get something done. You’re hiring them to produce results. If they don’t have a proven track record of producing the kind of results you’re looking for, then pass on them, no matter how great a “fit” they may be.

Challenge the Team

A new hire is a great opportunity to infuse a whole new set of experiences, ideas, perspectives, training and competencies into the staff team at your church. When you invite a new person to your staff team they should lift the water level of the entire team up. Their approach, experience and expertise should challenge the team and motivate them to take some new ground. If there is too great a value on chemistry and relationally connecting with a potential hire then relationship will trump growth.

You’re not Hiring them to be your Friend

Listen, I completely understand wanting to “like” the people you work with and yes, I’ve read about how everybody needs a “best friend” at work. I’m fortunate enough to work at a church and on a team that I actually really, really like. But at the end of the day when you’re hiring someone you’re not hiring them to be your friend. You’re hiring them to join with you and play their part to make a big vision become real. I mean could you imagine saying to Jesus, “Hey I know we didn’t take your mission to reach everyone on the planet with the Gospel very seriously and we didn’t do a great job with that, but we really liked each other.”

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

0

Leadership Summit 2017: Laszlo Bock

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

 Laszlo Bock served as Google’s Senior Vice President of People Operations, growing the company from 6,000 to more than 75,000 employees. Google has been recognized more than 150 times as an exceptional employer, including the #1 “Best Company to Work for in the United States” every year since 2012. Bock’s New York Times best-selling book, WORK RULES!, has been published in more than 20 languages and has garnered numerous honors.

  • Every place I worked there was a gap between the values leaders talked about and what they actually lived out and how they acted and led
  • Find the best people, grow them as fast as we can, and then keep them at the company as long as we can
  • We spend more time working than doing anything else in the world
  • The experience of work should be meaningful
  • If I don’t work at Google how can we do these things? How can these things be universal?
  • But this stuff works everywhere because humans are the same everywhere
  • Treat your people right and they will do great things for you
  • The most important thing = Give you work meaning
  • Have a mission that matters
  • 1/3 of people feel meaning in their work 1/3 do it because they need $ 1/3 do it as a game (get promoted)

#1 Figure out why you are doing why you are doing the work you are doing and remind youself of it daily

#2 You don’t need to inspire everyone, find out why people are doing what they’re doing and have them tell their stories

#3 Have people come I who are the beneficiaries of the work you do

#4 Do it again and again and again

  • Trust, Transparency and Voice
  • Do you believe human beings are fundamentally good or evil
  • The only thing that really improves and drives performance is goals
  • Bureaucracy busters: ask people and let them solve it…trust people
  • People who are doing the work know more about the work because they’re actually doing the work
  • Giving people more autonomy and more freedom increases performance…
  • If you are a leader give people more freedom than you are comfortable with
  • Give people more freedom and they will be happier, stay longer and do more for you organization
  • Recruiting and hiring is how you transform organizations
  • In recruiting we make snap judgements and then the rest of the interview we subconsciously trying to affirm those snap judgements

2 Simple Hiring Rules:

  • #1 Don’t let the people interviewing make the hiring decision and instead have them write it all down and give it to someone else
  • #2 Have a rule to only hire someone who is better than you in some way
  • Let your people know that you trust them and you’re on their side
Posted in Leadership

0

When to Invest in a Young Leader and When to Ignore Them

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Like it or not, millennials are making their way into leadership roles in churches across America. As they take their newfound place in church leadership many of them are looking for someone to invest in them and help develop them as young emerging leaders.

Experienced leaders are always going to have more opportunities available to say yes to than capacity to meet them. This is true in leadership and this is true in developing young talent. You have to make a choice. So, choose wisely. How do you know who to invest in and who to ignore?

Young, naïve, and inexperienced talent doesn’t bother me. But young talent that is void of the following four intangibles scares me to death.

Talent

Skills can be trained but talent is developed. Talent is something you have or you don’t have. It’s something you’re born with or is gifted to you by the Holy Spirit. You get the gifts you’re given. For instance, if someone has been given the spiritual gift of leadership, it can be developed and that art can be perfected over time through study and practice. Others without the spiritual gift of leadership may learn leadership skills but they’ll never have the talent to lead at the same level as someone with a leadership gift. I’m looking for young leaders who are very talented.

Capacity

In a world where everyone gets a participation trophy and kids are taught that they can do anything and be anything they want to be in life; what I’m about to say isn’t going to be very popular. But it will be true. While different people may have similar talents, they may have different capacities. The Bible is clear that while many people may get similar or even the same gifts, that they are given in different measure. So, no you can’t be anything you want to be, but you can be the best you that you’re designed to be. That being said, I’m looking for young leaders who have a high capacity.

Teachable

In the book of James, he Bible teaches us that “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  You can’t give something to someone who doesn’t want to or isn’t ready to receive it. (both matter by the way). You can’t teach someone who isn’t teachable. I’m looking for young leaders who demonstrate a teachable spirit.

Effort

It’s okay for a young leader not to have an answer, but it’s not okay for that same young leader to not go find the answer. It’s okay for a young leader to fail and not get everything right the first time. It’s not okay for a young leader to not try as hard as they possibly can to succeed. I’m looking for young leaders who demonstrate tremendous effort.

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

0

How to Staff your Church to Fulfill your Vision

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

 

The Unstuck Group is partnering up with Vanderbloemen Search Group to offer a webinar on How To Staff Your Church To Fulfill Your Vision.

You need more than a clear vision for where your church is headed. You need a team of people that can lead your church to accomplish it. Join Tony Morgan, Founder and Lead Strategist at the Unstuck Group and William Vanderbloemen, Founder and CEO of the Vanderbloemen Search Group to learn 3 Key Secrets to Building a great Church Staff Team:

#1 How to get the right people in the right position on your staff

#2 How to encourage your leadership team to own the vision

#3 How to evaluate whether your team needs an internal or external hire

Thursday, June 29 at 12:00pm EST
Space is limited to the first 500 registrations
Click here to register!

Posted in Leadership, Staffing

1

Why your Church is Thinking about Volunteers the Wrong Way

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

I’ve never met a church leader who said that they had enough volunteers. In fact, the opposite is typically true. Having too few volunteers is one of the most frequent complaints and pressure points I hear from church leaders. Most of the time it’s not due to a lack of effort or trying. It’s usually due to thinking the wrong way about volunteerism in the church.

  • Most churches think they need more volunteers to accomplish the ministry…they don’t.
  • Most churches think they need more talented and experienced volunteers to accomplish the ministry…they don’t.
  • Most churches think they need volunteers to do the tasks of the ministry so the church staff can lead the ministry…they don’t.

“Volunteering is the Ministry”

Jesus said, “I did not come to be served but to serve.” Serving others is both the pathway to and pinnacle of spiritual maturity. Volunteering is not a means to an end (getting the ministry accomplished) …it is the end, because volunteers are not roles to be filled but people to be developed. When ministry staff members say things like, “We need more volunteers to make ministry happen” they begin using people instead of ministering to people. Volunteering is discipleship!

“I See Something in You”

Twenty-five years ago, the pastor of a small conservative Baptist church said he saw something in me. Something that I didn’t see in myself. And he invited me to start teaching a Jr. High Sunday School class. I’m not sure what he was thinking. I was scared to death. But I said yes. I wasn’t really all that much older than those Jr. High Students, and I really didn’t know all that more about the Bible or knowing Jesus than them. But I studied those lessons and did the best that I could. That’s where leading church ministry really began for me. All because someone saw something in me. Church leaders need to start seeing “something” in the people around them. Start seeing them for what they could be in and through Jesus, not just as they are. Start speaking those life-giving words into them and inviting them to take a risk and use their gifting for the sake of the Gospel and the Kingdom. And by the way. When I began volunteering, I began growing in my friendship with Jesus in way that I had never done before.

“Join a Team”

The way you talk about something reflects the value you ascribe to it. Words create worlds and so the way you talk about volunteers and volunteerism at your church will either build or erode the volunteer culture you’re trying to create. Unless you tell them differently people are going to think they’re just helpers…just a volunteer. You’ve got to help them see that they’re not just a volunteer but when they volunteer they are actually no longer coming to church they are being the Church. Stop asking people to volunteer and perform a function, get tasks done, or fill a role. Invite them to join a team and make a difference with their life. Help them see volunteering in the church as what it really is…joining a movement to help people meet, know, and follow Jesus.

A big shout out to Brian LaMew who serves as the Pastor of Campus Development and leads the Campus Pastor Team at Sun Valley Community Church who shared these principles in a Sun Valley all staff gathering recently. Keep up the great work Brian!

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation, Volunteers
Page 2 of 5«12345»