Who should join the team?
Lately, I've been asking people what goes through their mind when they hire people. Do people hire the most talented individual or do they hire someone who has decent talent and who they can get along with. After chatting with some people, I have some thoughts on who I would hire if I ever got the chance. Here are the qualifications I would look for...
1. Integrity. I want someone who is honest and not living some secret life.
2. Common vision. They don't have to agree on every detail of the vision, but there must be a unity in what we are trying to accomplish. I'm tired of arguing over vision in meetings. When someone joins the team I want to make sure that we are on the same page.
3. Hangout factor. I want to work with people that I can hang out with and have a good time. To put it simply, I want people I can share life with, not just work with!
4. Fun factor. People I want on my team must know how to have fun. Life is too short not to have fun. I'm looking for people who will work really hard, but also have a ton of fun and play halo once in a while.
5. Risk. I want to be around people who are willing to take risks. I don't want to be afraid to try new things. With this, I'm fine with failing at things too. If you don't fail, how do you learn? I want to be around risk takers.
6. More talented than me. I want to surround myself with people who are more talented than me - especially younger leaders. There are a ton of talented people out there, and a ton of talented young people. These individuals have fresh ideas and the tools to pull them off.
7. A love for Jesus. Not a love for religion, but a passion to follow Jesus every day of their life.
So, right now, that's what's going through my mind when it comes to who I would bring on my team if I was hiring people. Personally, I don't think finding the most talented person available is the way to go, because if the individual doesn't fit your team, then you have big problems - even if they are super duper talented.
If you have any thoughts I would love to hear them. What type of person do you look for when you are hiring?
5 comments:
We've used these three around here...in this order...
integrity - chemistry - ability
If I were writing a list of attributes to look for in a hire, I think it would closely mirror the list you posted. My former [church] employer used the "Three-Cs" - character, competency, and chemistry. I'm not usually one for nifty names or acronyms, but the Three-Cs covers a lot of bases in my book.
Risk is a huge one - I too want to surround myself with people who aren't afraid to fail. People often ridicule others for "failures," big ventures that don't pan out, etc...sometimes it's deserved, but a lot of the time I find myself wanting to applaud the failure - at least they stepped out, and hopefully did all they could to make a dent in the world.
I feel like some Boomer types look down upon the Fun & Hangout factors. In traditional eyes, people laughing, chatting, etc during the work day = loss of productivity. Sometimes that's true, but sometimes it's not. I want to be around people who I can have a riot with. When a team jives, when they're wanting to hang out on the weekends, grab lunch, see a movie, dish on 24, hang out with each other's families, etc, etc, etc...trust increases, we understand how/why we react the way we do, we grab each other's vision, passion, dreams and discontents and "productivity" increases. The team becomes willing to go the extra mile for each other, personally and professionally. The team as a whole needs to be involved in the hiring process forsho.
And then there's the Vision thing - sometimes it seems like the GenX/Y/Millenials/whatever can be so arrogant, top-heavy and independent that they find it hard to submit to a broader vision that may have been in place for some time (at least this is how I used to function!). It's also the responsibility of the employer to effectively communicate the vision in the hiring process, and it's the responsibility of the hire to sort out whether or not the vision complements, enhances and moves forward the God-given vision and discontent in their own lives.
- J
Here's an interesting article about GenX/Y in the workplace:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-11-06-gen-y_x.htm
Jason;
Thanks for the thoughts. It's good to hear from you.
For me, I think the "free to fail" one is a big one. I want to be around people who are willing to try new things, and do things differently. I'm tired of the line... we do things this way because we have always done them this way. I want to be with people who are willing to get wild and crazy and think up new ways to get things done and impact a city.
Thanks again of the thoughts.
Dave
"Hire people you'd go on vacation with."
Since you posted your thoughts I've been thinking of a post on "hiring" by Mark Batterson, but it's taken me a while to find it. He's got a lot of great thoughts. I don't know how to pull up his specific posts, so I'm pasting it. Sorry.
Seven Expectations
Just finished our team meeting. I thought I'd blog seven expectations that I shared with our staff. And by the way, lead pastors need to set the example across the board.
1) I expect loyalty. I've got your back and you've got my back.
2) I expect you to be growing spiritually. This is my primary concern. It is so easy for those of us in full-time ministry to seek God for others instead of seeking God for ourselves. We've got to do ministry out of the overflow of what God is doing in our lives!
3) I expect a positive attitude. Attitude really is everything. And I've learned that how much you enjoy ministry depends on who you're doing ministry with. Let me just say it like it is: negativity sucks. Literally. It sucks the life out of a staff.
4) I expect staff to verbalize rather than internalize. I want a staff culture where people can have tough conversations about tough topics. Life is too short to hold a grudge. My philosophy of conflict is John 1:14. Jesus was full of grace and full of truth. Truth means I'm going to be honest no matter what. Grace means I'm going to love you no matter what.
5) I expect staff to have fun. We all have bad days. We all have long days. But if ministry isn't enjoyable you need to get out of the game! The top quality I look for in prospective staff, besides a thriving relationship with Christ, is a sense of humor!
6) I expect you to make mistakes. We have a core value: everything is an experiment. Part of experimenting is failing and learning. I have no problem with mistakes. I just don't want staff to make the same mistake over and over again!
7) I expect excellence! I think a dose of divine discontent is healthy! We need to keep getting better and better at what we do. It is that commitment to excellence that allow staff to morph in greater responsibilities at NCC.
Staff Evaluations
It's staff evaluation week @ NCC.
I'm spending most of my week doing year-end reviews with our team. I'm reminded on a day like today that I'm so blessed to be working with such an amazing team. Our chemistry is unbelievable. It's almost scary how well we all get along. We love doing life and doing ministry together. I honestly think that who you're doing ministry with ultimately determines how much you enjoy it.
I thought I'd share ten tips on how to hire the right people:
#1 Make sure they have a sense of humor. This is at the top of my list. Laughter is the closest distance between two people. If they can't laugh they can't work at NCC :) I can't imagine too many church staffs that laugh more than the NCC staff. We take two things seriously: God & fun :)
#2 There is an old adage: hire for attitude and train for skill. It's true. Attitude is everything. We look for "extra mile" people who have a servant's heart. Sometimes I'm amazed at how few "issues" we have a team. I don't take that for granted. Everybody has an amazing attitude!
#3 Hire Internally. We always look internally before we look externally. I love hiring NCCers because they have a track record. You can "observe" them in their natural habitat.
#4 Hire Incrementally. I like hiring people part-time or as interns to see how they perform in those capacities. It's a low risk scenario. If they perform well you try to bring them on full-time.
#5 Spirituality. How much do they love Jesus? I love working with people who have a spiritual intensity about them. This one is non-negotiable.
#6 Personality. We do a Myers-Briggs assessment with staff because it helps us understand the way each of us is wired. I think most relational problems are personality conflicts. It's important to understand and appreciate different personality types. A church staff needs a healthy mix of personalities!
#7 Get the right people on the bus. We're always changing portfolios and titles. I think that's healthy. I'm more concerned about getting great people on the bus. Then you worry about where they sit. Don't fill a position if you think you can find someone better to fill it in six months. Wait six months.
#8 Don't ignore red flags. I've learned that little things are big things. I pay attention to details when I'm interviewing someone.
#9 Hire Visionaries. We have a simple modus operandi: let people get a vision from God and go for it. We're a very decentralized church. We try to find self-motivated people who go after God-ordained dreams. Nothing is more frustrating than working with someone with no initiative. They don't do anything without being asked. I want to hire people who have some get-up-and-go. One thing I love about our team is that I don't have to push them. I have to encourage them to take time off :)
#10 Hire people you'd vacation with :) I know every staff chemistry is different but I don't want to do ministry with people I don't want to do life with. I'm a big believer in hiring people you really like! I don't care whether it's family or friends. I want to work with people I want to hang out with outside of work.
One last thought.
Who you are is more important than what you do. I remind our team of this all the time. Hire good people and they'll do a good job. I'm so grateful for what our staff does. But I'm more grateful for who they are.
Post a Comment