Last night I was lounging in my recliner, reading other people's blogs, and enjoying life when all the sudden Robin said, "Did you really put "hire slow, fire fast" in today's blog. I immediately responded, "I did! And it is a good rule of leadership!" After a few more minutes though I realized she was right and it could of come off a little harsh, so let's unpackage it a little bit.
In today's culture there are 3 types of organizations: Off the charts, rock your world, above average - average - and "we just want to survive" below average. Again, a harsh reality! My desire of Journey is that we are an off the charts, rock your world, above average organization! Why? To give honor to God! But the truth is not everyone enjoys a highly driven organization. Matter of fact, some critics would argue that being driven towards benchmarks is "worldly and shallow." Guess what? They are WRONG!
One of the greatest problems today with the American church is that we have put our ineffectivness off on being the "will of God." Statements are made like this, "We shouldn't care about numbers. God will bring who He wants to bring." - "We all go through different seasons, this must be a season of pruning" - my favorite, "If it is the Lord's will we will reach more people!"
How in the world could we say, think, or represent any of those statements! Reaching people is the purpose of the church! Jesus is at the right hand of the Father doing His part, shouldn't we do ours? He gave us the responibility of carrying forward the ministry He started. Am I pretty sure He never had an ineffective day! I'm pretty sure He was driven towards the cause of changing people's story forever!
Then it get's a little more challenging - God says we are supposed to become more like Christ, to have His attitude. So in turn everyday we should become more driven about God changing the stories through us, His church, His tool for carrying forward the ministry of Christ!
Let me try to tie all my ranting together now. God uses different styles, different venues, and different people to accomplish His purposes. If my style does not fit a certain organization, I will probably be frustrated serving there. If I continue to serve and my frustrations show through to others it will deminish the effectivness of the organization. That is not honoring to God!
In being good stewards of what God has given us we need to create systems that will ensure we build our teams with like - hearted people. People who are driven towards the same vision for that specific organization. We need to lay out the expectations and benchmarks clearly so that it protects everyone from getting hurt. (I have not done a good job of that in the past -we just changed everything and it is incredible now!)
You as a leader have to know what type of person will do best in your organization. (There are all sorts of test available that will help you) When you don't you set yourself and others up for hurt, which doesn't honor God!
At Journey we want to build our team with people who are crazy enough to think that God might allow us to be part of seeing a city transformed! That is going to take driven team. A team that lives for the vision of seeing a city transformed, one life at a time! To run after a vision that God sized it takes a team that is unified, energized, happy, and FULL OF GOD! I not only want God to use us to reach a few people (which is amazing) I want us to be available for Him to use us to reach thousands! There are 71,000 unchurched people in Norman alone, it is our responsibility to carry forward the ministry of Christ to as many as possible!
Bottomline: If your a leader of an organization you will stand before God for your stewardship of what He has given you. If you plan on having a off the charts, rock your world, above average organization - you better define what kind of person will flourish on your team. It is not fair to hurt others (like I have) by not putting systems in place that will ensure the success and chemistry of your team.
Bottomline #2: If you have unhappy people on your team you need to settle things fast. Listen to their concerns, lay out a plan to deal with them, and review things weekly. If the person remains unhappy, after things have been set in place to deal with their concerns, remove them. You can do so in a life giving way! But nothing will zap you effectivness and energy faster than unhappy people!
I'm done with my ranting now.
Disagreements with “unhappy” subordinates must be resolved or the relationship must be terminated for the good of the organization. An example of this is found in the New Testament:
One of the first “ministry teams” in the Christian church was the team of Paul and Barnabas.
On their first missionary journey together, John Mark, the cousin of
Barnabas (Col. 4:10), accompanied them. Along the way, however, John Mark decided to return to his home in Jerusalem (Acts 13:13).
Later on, when a second campaign was planned, Barnabas proposed taking Mark as a helper, but Paul resisted the idea. The New Testament record indicates that a “sharp contention” developed between them (Acts 15:36-41). They could not reach an agreement, and so they split up. As far as the sacred record indicates, these two remarkable men never saw one another again.
There are some vital principles that one may learn from the dispute that developed between Paul and his subordinate.
This dissension between Paul and Barnabas was not over a doctrinal issue. The rupture involved a personal dispute based upon a judgment call. To their credit, neither Paul nor Barnabas let the conflict distract them from their respective efforts of spreading the gospel.
Making application to Christians today, there will always be times when
good people will disagree and one will become unhappy. The important thing is to keep focused on doing the will of Christ. That is what Paul and Barnabas both did. As a result, perhaps even more work was accomplished for the Lord because of the manner in which their disagreement was handled.
There are a couple of points that are worthy of consideration.
1. The segmentation of their work did not disrupt permanently the love and respect that Paul and Barnabas entertained for one another. Paul would later affectionately mention Barnabas as being worthy of monetary support in his work of proclaiming the gospel (1 Cor. 9:6).
2. The fact that this personal conflict is openly displayed on the pages of the New Testament is evidence that the Holy Spirit guided the writer, Luke, in producing this narrative. Natural inclination would have led Paul’s friend to omit this potentially embarrassing incident!
3. There are many wonderful truths to be learned from the various experiences of the personalities portrayed in the Sacred Volume. No account, however irrelevant such may superficially appear to be, is without importance. There are lessons to be mastered.
4. They agreed to disagree and moved on as God led and blessed. Paul and Barnabas argued because Paul did not want to include Mark, Barnabas' cousin who had deserted them on a previous missionary journey, on their next venture. Scripture does not record the results of Barnabas' missionary activity, but we know Paul continued the ministry that propelled the gospel across Europe and into history. Even though they were not of one mind, they remained true to one purpose-- spreading the saving message of Jesus, and God honored their efforts. So, rather than stay together and fight, they each could focus positively on God's work without distraction. They acknowledged their division, but they chose their paths and got back to work.
Clark, you are the “senior” pastor - you must make the hard decisions and your motto, “hire slow fire fast” is exactly what Paul did. You are in good company my friend!
Posted by: Doug Williams | September 13, 2007 at 10:53 AM