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6 Vital Conversations Before Making a Ministry Hire

April 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Few dynamics have a greater impact on the success of your ministry than building a great team.

That’s why it is so critical that you get your next hire right. And it all begins by having 6 vital conversations.

1.   The conversation with God
No decision should drive you to your knees in prayer quite like a ministry staffing decision. The entire process must begin and end bathed in prayer.

2.   The conversation with EVERY reference
It’s shocking to me how few leaders pay attention to this hiring essential.

Step 1 is to personally connect by phone with every reference listed.

Step 2 is to understand that because these references are, by definition, biased toward the candidate, you must ask probing questions. Don’t simply say, “Tell me about Joe.” Try something like, “Tell me about a time you saw Joe under great pressure.”

3.   The conversation with the “references of the references”
Conclude every conversation with a reference by asking, “Who else do you know that could give me some more background?”

For example, if you’re hiring a youth pastor you need to somehow drill below the references provided. You need to talk to his previous youth leaders, parents of the kids, etc.

That’s where you’ll find the gold nuggets of truth you’ll need.

4.   The conversation with the previous employer
Assuming the candidate is no longer working at his previous church, you MUST talk to his former senior pastor or supervisor, regardless of whether or not he is listed as a reference.

5.   The conversation with the spouse
Is the candidate married? Guess what; you’re hiring the spouse too.

By that I mean it’s almost impossible to have a successful run in ministry with someone whose marriage is in trouble, or who is not 100% supported by their spouse.

6.   The conversation with the applicant
Now you’re ready to interview the applicant. But you must go well beyond “So, why do you want to work here?” talk. Learn the craft of probing for character traits.

Take them out for lunch and watch how they interact with service staff. Get them to talk about a former employer and listen for signs of respect, or disrespect.

Whatever you do, never short-circuit this process because few dynamics have a greater impact on the success of your ministry than building a great team.

What conversations do you consider to be essential in the hiring process?

Filed Under: Featured, Ministry, Staffing Tagged With: , , , ,

3 Steps to Much Better Team Decisions

April 13, 2012 By 2 Comments

How do you help your team make better decisions?

It starts by understanding that there is no such thing as a team decision.

Every decision made in your church or organization must have someone’s name written next to it. Someone must own the outcome. Someone must pace around their office thinking through every ramification and potential hurdle.

In his Harvard Business Review blog post, If You Think Your Team Makes Decisions, Think Again, Bob Frisch wrote, “Executive teams may discuss issues, debate courses of action, and even give their stamps of approval, but they actually don’t decide anything of moment as a group… It is the leader, not the group, who ultimately allows that particular decision to go through.”

For this understanding to gain traction there are 3 important steps you must take;

1.   Clarify roles and responsibilities at the outset.
Instead of saying, “Team, we have a decision to make today,” it should be, “Team, I have a decision to make today, (or “Susan has a decision to make today”) and your help is required.”

2.   Set the decision-maker up for success.
If you have given Susan the responsibility for a decision, you must also confer on her the authority to make that decision. Let the team know that it’s her call. And it’s her responsibility to ensure its success.

3.   Coach the team in how to support the decision.
Individual members of the team may, or may not, agree with the decision reached by you or Susan. Your job becomes coaching the team on how to support that decision even when they disagree.

One of the key members of our team will regularly consult with me when I’ve made a tough decision. If he doesn’t agree with me he will always say, “Scott, I see this differently. But I will support you 100%.”

That’s where you need to get your team.

Always make sure that every decision has a name written next to it.
Always make sure it is clear who has the responsibility and authority to make a call.
Always strive to coach your team toward honest feedback and support of decisions made.

The result will be tremendous traction for the entire organization.

How do you leverage your team in the decision making process?

Filed Under: Featured, Leadership, Team Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

How to Turn “Silos” into a Culture of Conversation

January 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Is your church truly unified in mission, vision and strategy? Or are you, as Bill Hybels once said of Willow Creek Community Church, “a loose federation of ministries orbiting around the central church?”

Culture of ConversationIf you suspect that this “siloing” effect has taken root in your church here are three small but important steps you can take today to replace silos with a “culture of conversation”.

1. End the practice of inter-office email
In the large church where I served as executive pastor we implemented this 3-step plan, starting with “no more inter-office email” without first walking over to their department.

2. Replace “All Staff” emails with staff meeting conversations
I was shocked in my first weeks at that church how many emails circulated daily to all staff. (“Email to all staff: Has anyone seen the 3-hole punch?”)

In place of these manifestos I insisted that such “news” be shared face to face in our staff weekly meetings.

3.   Model the discipline of face-to-face dialogue
Throughout my day as questions arose I kept an ongoing “log” with each staff person’s name. Next to each name I would jot down a list of questions as they popped up. These would include items of a personal nature, such as remembering to inquire about the status of a sick loved one, etc.

Then twice a day, usually 9:00 am and 3:00 pm, I would “make my rounds”. I would visit every corner of the campus and find myself in conversation with staff from every department and every level, from department heads to grounds-keepers.

Invariably I wouldn’t bump into everyone I wanted to see, and in those cases alone I would follow up with an email. But I would start such notes by saying, “Sorry I missed you…Please call or drop by, I’d like to discuss…”

My goal in all this was to replace what I termed “the emptiness of email” with “a culture of conversation”.

And it worked.

If you suspect that over-reliance on email has contributed to silos in your organization, give these steps a shot.

Perhaps a “culture of conversation” is just what your team needs.

How have you tackled silos in your organization?

Filed Under: Culture, Leadership Tagged With: , , ,

Re-post When It’s Okay to Punt a Core Value

November 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Take out a copy of your team’s core values. You know the one I mean. It’s either filed away in a folder called “Documents”, or perhaps it’s in that binder labeled “2007 Off-site Retreat”. It’s possible that it’s framed and posted on the wall in your staff coffee room.

I’ll give you a minute while you go get it.

Read each value statement carefully. You probably have between 8 and 12 of them. They likely are peppered with phrases like “relentlessly focused on” and “wholly committed to”. Powerful stuff, eh?

The one I want you to zero in on is that one that jumps off the page, because quite frankly it just doesn’t fit. If the last time you did a review of your core values was more than two years ago, then in all probability there is at least one that simply doesn’t resonate with your present team.

You have three options:

1. You can re-cast vision around that value, “blow-torching it” until it once again is being lived out among your team, or

2. You can take out the white-out and simply eliminate the value, or

3. You can ignore the discrepancy and re-file the core values document back where you found it.

 

deleteI’m going to build a case for option #2; that sometimes the best option is have the courage to hit “delete”. This sounds like leadership heresy, but hear me out.

Teams change. And sometimes along with those changes new values emerge and old ones become out-dated.

Recently our team did a review of our core values and discovered one that was clearly a reflection of a different time in the history of the organization. After trying desperately to make this value “fit”, we finally had to look at each other and admit, “This value simply no longer reflects who we are.”

Don’t take the idea of deleting a core value lightly. This is a big deal. But be open to the possibility that a value once held in high regard by a previous team may simply no longer be true for this present team.

And have the courage to hit “delete”.

How do you keep your core values alive and relevant?

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , ,

A 15 Minute Solution to Your Complex Problem

August 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Do you have a complex problem that needs to be solved quickly? Consider using “Reason Meetings.”

I first learned about Reason Meetings in my years as an executive pastor in a large church, and I quickly became a fan of their effectiveness.

Just as the name suggests, a Reason Meeting is held because there is a particular reason; there’s a certain problem that needs to be addressed and needs to be addressed quickly.

It’s comprised of people from different parts of your organization, from different levels within departments. A Reason Meeting can feature a combination of department heads, middle managers, clerical staff and custodians.

They come together, usually on short notice, to brainstorm about a particular issue or problem. It’s a quick, energetic, results-oriented dialogue with a group of people who might never gather again in the same way.

This week a serious challenge landed on my desk, and I realized that we had about 24 hours to come up with a solution. After 30 minutes racking my brain without success, I tried a different approach. I took out a sheet of paper and wrote down the names of the people in our organization who were the most affected by the issue, or who would likely have the greatest interest in seeing it resolved.

I walked through our building, stopped at each of their offices, and said, “Hey something’s come up that I could really use your help with. Can you give me 15 minutes right now?”

We quickly assembled, I laid out the issue, and then watched them perform. The energy was high, the conversation solution-focused, and the pace was brisk. Within 10 minutes there were half a dozen tremendous options on the table.

To maximize their effectiveness bear in mind that Reason Meetings:

  • Work best in “short bursts”; 15 minutes is optimal.
  • Should be used sparingly.
  • Should be used only for brainstorming; not assigning blame or follow-up tasks.

If you’re facing a complex challenge give a Reason Meeting a try. You may find the solution to your challenge is just 15 minutes away.

Do you have other ways of tackling complex issues on a tight timeline?

Filed Under: Action, Leadership, Ministry, Results, Wisdom Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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