Churches: You Are Who You Hire

As a kid, I can remember being coerced into eating my broccoli with phrases like, “You are what you eat.” Well … that and a lot of melted cheese. And while that’s true when it comes to eating healthy, the principle also holds true when it comes to who you hire. If you lead long enough and well enough, then eventually you are going to have to hire and fire people on your team. Hiring a new team member is a powerful and often overlooked moment in many churches and organizations. It’s an opportunity for an infusion of new talent, new ideas; if done well, it challenges the status quo, and you inherit a brand new library of experiences to learn from. A hire that’s done well raises the water line for the entire team. The reason that a new hire is so powerful and pivotal is because people lead out of who they are, and the organization or church always takes on the personality of the leader. In other words, you are who you hire. No matter what their skill set, abilities, experiences or personality, people always lead through the filter of their unique identity. That’s why these next two statements are so important. 1. Hire from the inside when you like what you already have. If you like the culture of what you already have in your church or organization, if you like the direction things are going and you want to keep going that way, then hire from within. Because people who are on the inside already get your culture, the way you do things and the direction you’re going. 2. Hire from the outside when you want to change what you have. If you are ready for a change in culture, direction or way of doing things, or an upgrade in talent or a new skill set is needed in your church or organization, then it’s time to hire from the outside. Because if the people inside were going to lead it, they would already be doing it. People lead out of who they are, and if they’re not who you are, or who you want to be, then don’t hire them. Because you are who you hire.