7 Unique Tips for Hiring a Great Team - Ron Edmondson
I don’t have many specialities, but if I have any hiring great team members is one of them. This is one of the leading issues church leaders talk to me about during my coaching and consulting. I have discovered some things that help me do this better.
7 unique tips for hiring a great team:
Hire based on culture. The staff needed in an established church is different from at church plants where I led. Of course, there are some who can work in both environments, but some simply can’t. Make sure you ask good questions to discern.
If married, interview the spouse also. I think this may be one of my most important steps. This one may appear unfair. Certainly, there may be positions where this is not necessary, but if you consider someone a key member of your team you are hiring the spouse as much as the person. It’s made or solidified the decision of yes and no for me several times.
Use your gut. Call it your heart, intuition, God’s Spirit guiding you, but that feeling inside telling you good fit or not – use it. If you’re married, rely in your spouse’s gut too. That’s double the gut power. I’ve almost always made a mistake when I went against this one.
Put character before content. You can teach content, but the lack of character will disrupt a team every time.
Passion over skills. Here I’m talking about motivation. If your choice is between a seasoned professional who has lost their zeal and a lesser qualified person with passion to learn and grow I choose the lesser qualified almost every time.
Team players before sole survivors. Except in rare cases today, work is done in teams. That means we must learn to work together. Look for people who work well with others, want to be a team member, is willing to assist beyond what’s written on their job description.
Check references not listed. The references people give on a resume will all be good. Do your homework beyond this. It’s been said all of us are just a few connections away from each other. I look for a few of those connections.
Those are some of my tips.
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