10 staffing principles (leadership coaching thoughts)

(Read the 1st part of this HERE as a lead in for today.)

Here's my thoughts on Tony's 10 principles on staffing:

1      Create a culture that leads volunteers to do it before staff. i love this and i think we do a really good job of this at Ridge. We have so many high capacity volunteer leaders serving in staff positions (unpaid). i love being a part of that culture! [we get an "A" on this one i think.]

2      1:100 ratio = 1 Staff person (40hrs.) for every 100 peeps in attendance. This is Tony's recommendation for what is healthy. The average = 1:70. i think we're closer to the average. more like 1:66.6 & i know those 3 6s are bad!

3      Pay your staff well. a combo of these 1st 3 principles usually works out. i can see that happening. Tony said he has always wanted to have less staff and pay them a decent wage than stretch the staff and feel like no one is being paid well. He says to push peeps to the point where it’s almost unhealthy before hiring new staff. i can land on 2 sides with this one. i think people will do a lot for vision, not just $...

4      Hire from the inside! whenever possible. You know who they are and how they operate. You know they embrace the mission, vision, values of the church, etc… you've probably been the one to actually train and teach them! *hiring from outside is obviously way more risky! This is definitely the way of the future. i don't know how much longer resumes can survive in church world?

5      Don’t hire from a resume. Look at much stronger characteristics like = passions, personality, leadership capacity, overall capacity, integrity issues (all of this is much more important than education and experience and a freaking resume!) *You can take someone with the right mix of personality, gifts, etc… and make them great, but you can’t teach those things to someone with just education & experience! 

           -> also, if you sniff character stuff before hiring, just remember once peeps are in staff position, any integrity/character issues just get magnified.

6      Hire people like you… i.e. hire people you LIKE. Look at the crazy amount of hours we spend with peeps on our staff! You need to get along well. Chemistry is as important as competency & character. This makes it important to include other staff in the interview process to see if they all click.

7      Hire leaders, not Doers. There will NEVER be enough staff just to accomplish all the tasks! [IT'S ALL ABOUT LEADERSHIP, not tasks!]

8      Long Hellos and Quick Goodbyes. We usually do the opposite! We grab someone with availability, but they may not have the ability. Way easier to tell them they’re not a fit for a role BEFORE you hire them instead of after. We are too slow to have the tough conversation and let someone go. way too slow. [jim collins has a lot of great stuff to say about this in Good to Great.]

9      Staff ahead of growth. (how in the world can you do that? that's a tension.) a few options = staff with volunteers. Raising support is an option. Example – it’s hard to reach students (grow in student ministry) before there’s a leader to own it. [true]

10   Make sure you’re staffing for Attitude. a lot of time we forget peeps’ attitude. We hold peeps accountable for performance, character, spiritual disciplines, but we let them slide on attitude. But it has a BIG impact. Negative attitudes are going to repel people. Hold peeps accountable on this. **This is especially important for admin assistant! Peeps associate her attitude with ME! Peeps assume it’s an extension of my leadership!

   
WHAT IS YOUR REACTION? COMMENTS?