18 Search Results for hiring

Hiring Family| Avoiding Nepotism On Church Staffs

It was my choice to recommend the student minister hire to our church’s personnel team. But the decision also had to be validated by the church membership. And the decision to hire the Pastor’s daughter as student minister came with some turmoil.

I wanted the best student minister available to the church. And she was that.

Yes, she was a female being considered for what has typically been a male role. And yes, she was the eldest daughter of my boss, the Pastor.

Our church’s personnel team had their own decisions to make before taking the recommendation to the church, but I also had to think through how her hire would impact my role personally. If hired, she’d be a direct to report to me, and I’d still be a direct report to her dad. Conflict of my interest?

I had to weigh out the consequences if things went wrong—consequences for the candidate, the Pastor, the Church, and me.

Are you in a similar situation? Could you be?

In the church I serve now, multiple employees have family serving on our staff. I don’t believe being an immediate family member of an existing employee should exclude a person from being considered for a position. But if you’re going to consider a hire like this, you need to have clear policies in place to protect those involved and to protect against nepotism.

Beyond a well thought out policy (click here to read my church’s policy), here are other things to consider:

Is there an appropriate amount of reporting lines in between the two persons? I’d suggest at least two, and ideally more. Family supervising family opens everyone up to trouble.
Family members who are employees may be held to a higher standard (warranted or not) by church members and by other church staff. If nothing else, more eyes are going to be on the family members. Questioning vacation time? Confidentially? Others can transpose expectations of one person or position to both persons or positions, even if not merited. Is the candidate aware of this?
Can you manage perceptions—specifically the perception of nepotism? At least quarterly, there needs to be a conversation between you and the staff member who reports to you, addressing any issues (or even hints of issues) related to nepotism.
Have established air cover. You need to have a direct line to whichever group oversees your paid-staff (elders, personnel team, etc.). I believe in following reporting guidelines, but if your family issue revolves around your supervisor, you need air cover. Establish these in advance with your supervisor’s knowledge.
Be aware of their exit impact. If one employee leaves the church for good or bad reasons, you’ll potentially lose both of them. Your church’s work productivity can be quickly jeopardized by losing two staff members. This is the trade-off, so it just needs to be considered.

Because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, if you have a committed and productive staffer and they have a family member also inclined to serve the church, then there’s a good chance they’ll also perform at high standards. So in many cases, it’s worth the risks. But know that there are, in fact, risks.

P.S. In regard to the Pastor’s daughter the church hired, it worked out. She still serves on staff, has had a meaningful ministry, and has successfully avoided nepotism.

Discovery to Drill Down: 5 Phase Two Interview Questions

My most recent blog post relayed my six go-to initial interview questions. The post included discovery questions we utilize early on in our selection process for church staff. But even those questions follow the “cultural” interview which I described in a previous post titled, “Key Interview Component: the Cultural Call.”

Below are five of the regular interview questions used when moving from discovery phase to the drill down phase. These five questions will allow a deep dive, and are solid questions we use to begin that process. They can be used for any kind of staff role in our church, but most often are used with ministerial positions, and/or supervisor positions.

I hope these can help you in your hiring process – and next week on the blog I’ll share my go-to spiritual-depth interview questions.

Describe the most persistent/entrenched problem in your current ministry/position. What are the key factors contributing to the continuation of this problem? What ideas do you have for alleviating the problem?

Describe yourself in terms of emotional control. What sorts of things irritate you the most, or get you down in your ministry/position? How do you handle yourself under stress and pressure?

What are the biggest risks you have taken in recent years? Include one risk that worked out well… and one risk that did not work out so well.

To what extent do you solicit ideas and input from others? Give an example of a time where ideas from others helped you. How do you adapt your communication style to fit the needs or personalities of others?

What deadlines do you typically face in your current position? How do you go about prioritizing your work? What situations or problems do you have the greatest sense of urgency about?

P.S. on credit — I’m grateful to a church and its staff and volunteer leadership teams who have worked hard to create a comprehensive Selection Toolkit, which most of this material comes from.

Happy hiring.

The Minister Who Can’t Manage (or is reluctant to)

A seminary degree is not an MBA.

There are no accounting classes in seminary. Most ministers don’t dream about the process of hiring people or look forward to the annual performance reviews. Policies and procedures elicit a gag reflex, and the budgeting process is loathsome. In fact, many ministers on church staffs view all these management duties as interferences to what they really want to do…make disciples through the local church.

Yet, in many churches, ministers end up becoming managers. They don’t view or describe themselves this way, and often won’t even admit to being one (if anything they prefer “leaders” but I’m talking about a different role than leader). But in churches with multiple ministers on staff, usually their managers are also card-carrying Ministers of the Gospel.

So how does a church effectively manage itself when the majority of its managers aren’t trained for or are even averse to managing?

Let’s deal with that issue from two perspectives:

How do you help reluctant minister-managers embrace their management roles?
How do reluctant minister-managers push through the management work so they can effectively do the ministry work?

To the church counting on ministers indisposed to management:

Remember: in many cases, these ministers never expected or desired a managerial role. It’s not what they went to school for, it’s not what fuels them, and they’re not using their spare time to think how they can be better managers. God doesn’t always lay out a career path when He calls people, so we need to cut them some slack. Church leadership should find ways to ease their transition into management by…

Incrementalizing their work. Don’t expect them to fully embrace all the managerial duties at once. Determine what their most important management tasks are, and work on those first.

Care about their development in both management and ministry. Don’t make all your development opportunities about improving their management skills. Make sure you’re improving them in their ministerial roles too. Yes, teach them about policies and procedures, but also teach them how to effectively minister to people in crisis.

Lead with their passion and then connect the dots. Talk to them in their love language. Ministering is their first priority, and management trails behind that. Talk first about what fuels them. They’re savvy, they know management is part of the gig, but make sure they know you understand their priorities. It’s up to you to find compelling ways to connect management work to ministry work.

To the management-averse minister:

Understand management is a means to end. Even more than that, understand the means are pretty important. If you manage people and resources well, you provide yourself and your church greater ministry influence. Solid management will allow you to effectively minister through others.

Missteps in management can cripple the church’s ministry. I understand – managing HR processes and protocols can be mind-numbing. But without them, you can undo years of meaningful ministry. You could have stewarded the church’s funds well for years, but one fiscal misstep could cripple current and future church ministry.

Be grateful they’re using your ministry experience, training, and expertise to also influence the management arm of the church. Even in management activity, you can heavily influence your church’s ministry mindset. What can you do as a minister to make sure your church sees management through the lens of biblical ministry? As a minister-manager, you can impact those decisions.

Have management boundaries. Make sure you keep enough ministry in your work that you don’t shrink under the demands of management. If you have a week full of administrative duties, schedule time that fuels your ministry mindedness. Schedule a lunch conversation that will allow you to operate as a minister. I’ve written previously about managing the admin and ministry tension.

Just as not everyone has all the spiritual gifts, not everyone will be equally capable in both ministry and management. But in many cases, ministers will be expected to do both. So, if you’re the one in charge of these individuals, give their underdeveloped strengths some grace and time to develop. And if you’re one of these reluctant minister-managers, understand that serving your church well might require you to develop your weaker areas. Effective ministry often requires effective management. It’s all part of the same important calling.

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