The 5 Obstacles Of Collaborative Hiring

As I wrote in my previous blog post about the benefits of collaborative hiring, I’m a big advocate of team-based hiring. For many reasons, I think it can be really smart to involve several people and viewpoints in any church staffing decision.

But while there are many benefits to collaborative hiring, there are also some obstacles that must be identified and addressed to effectively hire as a team.

1. Asking for team member input & then ignoring it can have repercussions.

If a team member who was asked to be involved in the process feels their thoughts or judgments are not listened to, there may be problems. Those problems may include a loss of trust or morale, refusal to participate in future hires, or simply not taking the hiring process seriously. If you're going to ask certain team members to be involved in the church staffing process, make sure you are taking into account their input, making them feel heard, and communicating that their contribution is important.

2. It may be difficult to maintain the confidentiality of the process & the candidates.

Candidates who are currently employed will intentionally limit the number of people who know they are job searching, and they probably don’t want their pastor or other staff members where they currently serve to know. When you involve multiple team members in your hiring process, extra caution must be practiced to protect the confidentiality of the candidates.

3. The time it takes to work through a collaborative process may cause you to lose the best candidates.

One of the most significant obstacles in giving a team the responsibility of the hiring process is the amount of time it will take. Because each member will want exposure to the candidate or the opportunity to interview, there is the possibility of losing high caliber, in demand candidates who have multiple opportunities under consideration. These delays can be avoided with the use of video conferencing technology allowing everyone to participate or simply stacking live interviews on the same day.

4. Not all members of the team are trained in hiring best practices.

It’s unlikely that all of the team members participating in the hiring process are trained and know how to properly interview or accurately assess a candidate’s ability to perform the role. Interactions with team members will give insight into the candidate’s “fit” in the culture of the church or get a feel for chemistry, but will seldom will they fully determine if the candidate is able to meet the requirements of the position. That portion of the hiring deliberations is best made by the team leader or the position's direct report.

5. Members of the team may feel inadequate or threatened and thus under-hire.

Insecure staff members may want to bring on weaker hires so that they maintain some sense of job security. All leaders are susceptible to this fear or insecurity while interviewng very high-capacity candidates, and it is definitely something to consider and guard against. 

Collaboration permeates all aspects of church life and the hiring process for staff members should follow that trend. More and more candidates are expecting collaboration in the process. Team-based hiring has obstacles to watch out for or overcome, but if you are aware of the potential barriers and develop effective methods for minimizing the problems, you will find that the benefits of collaborative hiring far outweigh the challenges.

If you liked this, you'll also enjoy 5 Questions To Inspire Creative Team Collaboration.