5 Reasons I Would Hire You

Tag Archive - staffing

5 Reasons I Would Hire You

Sunday, April 13, 2014

One of the most enjoyable things I get to do is to recruit and on-board new team members. Hire the right person and the whole team benefits. When you invite the right person to join your team not only is there an infusion of new talent, but also new ideas, fresh eyes, and a new well of experiences to go to. One new hire can literally improve the performance of the entire team. Below are five characteristics that I’m looking for when I’m hiring someone or helping churches make the next right hire. I’m not sure if these are what most high-powered companies, or even what most churches are looking for in their next hires. But if they’re not, they’re making a big mistake.

1. Attitude

Attitude is more valuable than aptitude every day of the week. Skills can be learned and talent can be developed, but attitude is one of those things you either have or you don’t. You can give someone all of the necessary tools to do their job, an incredible work environment and a strong organizational culture to work within. But if they don’t have the right attitude they’ll fail every time, and worse they’ll take the whole team down with them.

2. Track Record

Don’t try and impress me and sell me on what you’re going to do. Don’t start talking with me about theory and all the ideas that you learned about in the classroom. Show me what you’ve done. And while it doesn’t necessarily need to be “big,” it does needs to have been done well. Over and over and over again…all throughout the Bible when people have been faithful with a little they’re given an opportunity to be faithful with more. Real leadership is never appointed, it’s always recognized. Show me.

3. Creative Problem Solving

In church-world you’re not going to have a lot of financial, facility, or staffing resources to throw at problems. Which means you’re going to have to get creative. You’re going to have to be flexible, nimble and live on the solution side of problems. It doesn’t take a lot of talent to point out what’s wrong, just about anyone can do that. But it takes a resourceful leader to come up with creative solutions and move things forward.

4. High E.Q.

At the end of the day if you don’t like and don’t want to be around people, you’re going to have a pretty tough time in local church ministry. Relationships are both the glue and the grease that make work happen in the workplace. You’ve got to demonstrate a high level of emotional intelligence if you’re going to be very successful in ministry over the long haul. Follow this link if you’re interested in learning more about developing your E.Q.

5. I Actually Like You

This may sound like the shallowest one on the list, but it may just be the most important factor in any hire. The reason why is culture. Your church has a culture and if you’ve been there for a while then chances are you are leading through the filter of you church’s culture. If you can’t see yourself getting along with the potential hire, wanting to hang out with them, if they don’t have a similar DNA to the team their joining then chances are, they don’t belong on the team.

Posted in Staffing

Overcoming the Fear of a Personality Driven Ministry

Sunday, February 10, 2013

In church-world I frequently hear conversations surrounding the idea of “personality driven churches.” That is to say churches that are built around a dynamic communicator and leader. At best I’ll usually hear a criticism of its ineffectiveness and at worst statements about how shallow, wrong, and harmful it is to the church and the advancement of the Gospel.

But how do we get past the fact that Jesus was a huge personality…and a celebrity at that. Everywhere the Man went crowds of people followed Him and clamored for Him to heal them. Talk about a guy who had a hard time getting personal space and time. It could be easily argued that Jesus’s ministry was completely personality driven. In fact it wasn’t until he was killed that the rest of the guys stepped up into the void and really started leading (more personalities).

The New Testament teaches us that not everyone in the body has the same gifting or even the same level or measure of gifting. Instead it teaches us that we are a body and we all have a unique part to play.

4 Questions to ask about Personality Driven Ministry:

1. Could it be that the problem isn’t the dynamic personality isn’t playing their part in the body, but instead the rest of the people around them aren’t playing theirs?

2. If you’ve got the big personality in your local body, what if you just let them be who they are gifted to be?

3. What if you leveraged their gift while you’ve got it available in order to maximize the spread of the Gospel?

4. Could it be that you’ve neglected to put the correct structures and systems in place around the big personality to support and sustain the ministry impact of that person’s gifting?

Posted in Leadership

Catalyst One Day Session 2: Staffing by Andy Stanley

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

I’m posting my notes this week from Catalyst One Day and here is session #2 from Andy Stanley where he talked through how the culture you’re building on your staff drives the organizational culture you’re creating!

If you make your church an extraordinary place to work then you’ll have a team full of extraordinary people because they will want to be there.

Great leaders don’t pretend everything is perfect and great; they take the time to investigate and understand what’s happening in their organization…they work on their work

Follow “we” never works. It sounds good…but “we” doesn’t get much done.

The Principle of Mutual Submission:

Healthy and productive staff cultures are characterized by mutual submission

The Message of Mutual Submission: I’m here to facilitate you’re success regardless of where either of us show up on an organizational chart.

The Assumption of Mutual Submission: While our responsibilities differ we are both essential to the success of the organization.

The Question of Mutual Submission: What can I do to help?

The biggest problem for this in the church world is the entitlement of Sr. Pastors who think they are special and anointed of God.

If you’re the boss it makes you responsible, not important. It means you have more available to you in order to leverage to help others in your organization be successful.

Titles create distance. If you have to have a title to have leadership you’ve already abdicated leadership.

6 Principles of Mutual Submission:

1. Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone

2. Systematize top down service

3. Create and maintain a sustainable organization pace

Show me an overworked staff and I’ll show you turf wars and politics…when we are too busy we withdrawal to our own little world and we don’t have time for others.

4. Celebrate and reward mutual submission when you see it

What’s rewarded is repeated

5. Confront your ego

What’s most important, creating a great organization or creating a name for yourself?

6. Drop the term loyalty from your vocabulary

If you have to ask people to sign something to be loyal, you are the one with the loyalty problem. Earn it.

Want to grab more Catalyst Resources for yourself and your team? I’m giving away a brand new copy of “The Power of Momentum” a 4-part video teaching series from Andy and Craig. Just sign up here and I’ll let everyone know who the winner is next week!

Posted in Leadership

You Just Made a Great Hire…Now What?

Monday, November 26, 2012

So you’ve just made what you believe is a great hire. The new Staff Member is talented, experienced, and they fit the culture of your church. They’re really going to help you get where you believe God wants you to go. They’re hired! What’s next?

Churches are notorious for racing to the finish line of a hiring process, getting the newly hired candidate in the room and breathing a collective sigh of relief. The typical church basically says, “Congratulations, you’re hired! Here are your keys. Now go figure it out.” Once the new hire is made you’re not done. If you don’t intentionally think through the first days of their employment it can leave a sour taste for the remainder of their employment relationship with you. While they may love working at your church in 5 years, they’ll always remember their first impression as being negative. Below are 5 steps you can take to set your new hire up for success!

1. The First Day in the Office

The dating is over. Now you’re married. But just like marriages fall apart due to a lack of dating, employment relationships go south when employers stop pursuing their employees. Intentionally think through what you want their first experience and day in the office to be like. There is definitely standard first day orientation stuff like keys, security codes, computer, introductions, etc. A welcome basket, lunch with the team, Starbucks, and a personal card are all simple things that anyone can do. What can you do to make it positive and memorable? If you don’t plan for it to go well, then it won’t. You want them going home saying, “This is going to be a great place to work. I’m so glad I took this job!”

2. Public Communication Plan

How are you going to communicate the hire, when are you going to communicate it, and whom are you going to communicate it to? Does your church announce each new hire from the stage? Is it a simple verbal announcement, a printed piece, does it go on the website or social media, do you do a video? If you’re trying to figure out how to communicate the hire, a general rule of thumb to go by is, “The more public the role, the more public the communication.”

3. Manage Expectations

There are always expectations associated with a new hire; in a Church setting some of those expectations are realistic, many are not. Unfortunately most are unspoken, and usually have to do with growth and an extraordinary move of God. Having a clear conversation about realistic expectations over the first 90 days and the first year is critical for long-term success. By the way getting their family settled and acculturated to the church and the community should be at the top of the list if you want them on the team for the long run.

4. Opportunities for Wins

Identifying opportunities for wins is essential during the first 12 months of employment. Although your new staff member is incredible (that’s why you hired them), they don’t know what you know about your people and your context. So while they have “fresh eyes” that you need to leverage you also have knowledge that you need to use to set them up for success. To have your new team member experiencing wins in their first 12 months puts credit in their pocket and makes you look like you made a great hire. Which you did!

5. Build Leadership and Relational Equity

For the typical new church staff member there are 3 circles of influence that they need to build leadership and relational equity with. The church staff, their volunteer team, and the audience their particular ministry affects. Your job is to help them by putting them in the right situation with the right people to set them up for long-term success.

I’d love to hear about some other things you’ve done or have seen employers do to set new hires up for success over the first 90 days and first 12 months! Leave a comment!

Posted in Staffing

recruiting & hiring teams that make vision real part-1 why hires go wrong

Monday, March 26, 2012

Spiritual Leaders know where God wants them to go, and they have the ability to persuade other people to go with them. If God has given you a picture of where He wants you to lead, then chances are it’s bigger than what you can handle alone. It’s going to involve other people, it’s going to involve building teams. At some point it’s going to involve recruiting and hiring Staff Members. When a hire goes right it fosters synergy, movement, and momentum. But when a hire goes wrong there are setbacks, losses, and ultimately the mission suffers. Below are the 2 most common mistakes made by churches, which lead them to making the wrong hires.

Posted in Leadership, Staffing