A few lessons I’ve learned on hiring church staff members…
1. Your vision MUST be the main attraction and the greatest part of the compensation package.
2. Hire raving fans only! (See Ken Blanchard’s book by the same title.)
3. Hire slowly, no slower, no really – SLOW DOWN!
4. No emotional hires – there is usually a correlation between the emotional high that drove the hire and the disappointment and emotional low of their performance.
5. Hire “outliers” with 10,000 hours in the needed area of expertise. Obviously, I will admit that there is at times a need to do “on the job training” however most people arrive on the scene with 10,000 hours of something – what is it and does it add or take away from your objectives? (see Malcom Gladwell’s book
Outliers.)
6. Pay well. No one (that I’ve met) is truly prepared to work for you simply on the spirit of sacrifice. That is usually the case in start-ups, at least for a season, but it can’t last forever. Apply the “golden rule” and do unto others as you would have done unto you.
7. Hire energy givers. You ministry lives and dies by the energy of the staff. You will not make progress when your staff is draining the energy of the church – they are on the staff to move things forward. Energy takers need ministry just not a ministry job.