Hey everyone, hope you had a great week. I am in Europe this week for the Acts 29 Europe Conference being held in Riga, Latvia. Riga, Latvia has never made my top 10 list of places to visit but I’m really looking forward to it. Before I leave the land that I love, I wanted to keep our little mini-series about the ideal staff member rolling forward.
To recap, there is nothing more important to the success of your church, non-profit, or school than the staff you hire around you. There is literally no better predictor of success than team competence. So, whether you are currently looking to hire or not, you should always be thinking about your team and whether or not you have the people around you that you need.
I heard a college Athletic Director once say that if your coach takes another job and you don’t already know who your first call would be to replace him, you aren’t doing your job. I think this is a universal truth. As the senior leader, you need to always be thinking about who you might replace your current staff with if they left or were underperforming in their role. Even if you don’t have names, you should have a clear idea of the type of person you’d be looking for.
And that’s what this series is all about.
The last two weeks we talked about the need to have theological alignment and a clear idea of the kind of experience you want your next hire to have. Head to the blog at contextstaffing.com if you missed those.
This week we are talking about the kind of demographic alignment you should be looking for. This one can be a little touchy these days, but it shouldn’t be. You need to have an idea of the type of person who would be a good fit, not just for the role but for your team.
Every time we work with a church, we take them through a series of questions to hone in on the kind of lead that would be ideal for their role. This includes demographic questions. We ask about age, race, gender, background, family size, education, and a half a dozen other things. These questions are just as necessary as theological or experience questions, let me tell you why.
When we ask these questions, the teams we are working with are hesitant to answer. Whether it's because of the perceived biases or an inability to really hone in on the ideal, they usually say something like, “Well the youth pastor could be 65 if he was really young at heart and connected with the students” or “Sure the Lead Pastor could be in his 20’s, as long as he is an old soul.” These are well-meaning but ultimately unhelpful answers for a couple of reasons.
First, if we actually brought those churches a 65-year-old for their youth role, there is no way they would actually hire them, so it wastes our time.
Second, not answering clearly for fear of being insensitive or biased is not good leadership. If you know what you are looking for, just be plain about it and don’t waste anyone’s time.
Third, it could mean that you don’t actually have any idea what your ideal candidate is, in which case, you really need our help!
If you let us walk you through the process of building a (realistic) ideal candidate, you will help yourself and us find you the right candidate on a much faster timeline.
