At Vanderbloemen, we believe that teamwork truly does make the dream work! We think involving team members in decision-making allows us to best steward our time, resources, and collective pool of knowledge. Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” (ESV) The bible encourages teamwork and counsel from others, and a great way to do this is by having help from a search committee when looking for your new executive leaders.
Having a search committee allows for a convergence of skills, perspectives, and experiences. The individuals who form your committee should be mature, discerning believers committed to their church and the ultimate will of God in their pastoral leadership. The ultimate goal of the search committee is to assist in discovering whom God has chosen to shepherd the local church body.
Here are 3 reasons why we strongly believe hiring should be a team decision and why you can benefit from using a search team!
1. Checks and Balances
One way having a search team is helpful is by fostering a checks and balances system. It allows for different decision-makers with different points of view to have a say in the process. One member may be able to spot a problem that other members may be blind to, another member could have the solution, and the others can ask questions that allow for further movement in the search. Every member can bring something different to the table whether it be experience, knowledge, or understanding of the church body. Each member of the church brings different gifts to build up the body, we think the same applies to a search committee.
Hiring and interviewing candidates can be a difficult process to take on alone. You want to get as much information about the candidate as you can, but it can be hard to do so during an interview process. This is why it can be extremely beneficial to have more people involved in the process, there is a good chance that other team members will pick up on things that you did not. It allows for a broader range of perspectives and deeper insights which will be beneficial when discussing the next steps for the candidate process.
In need of some solid interview questions? Check out our Comprehensive List of Interview Questions for Church Staff.
2. Collaboration Improves Efficiency & Accuracy
Collaboration allows everyone to build on each other’s ideas and create better decisions together. It also allows for sharing of the workload and time to prevent anyone from getting overworked or burnt out. It can be easy to get overwhelmed and experience burn out with the amount of work a search requires. By letting team members from your church be involved in the process, you allow more people to feel involved and have a voice to speak into the vision for the church body. This shows that you value and respect feedback from the church body. It also keeps the church body part of the process.
It is a great idea to have an array of people on your team that can represent different ministries and demographics of your church. Even amidst differences, if the people on your team have the same mission and keep the best interest of the church in mind as a whole, then they should be able to accurately represent the church in this important decision. Having a fresh perspective is always beneficial to team decisions.
Another important group to approach is the church staff members. They are valuable resources to search committees and provide a wealth of information if you listen to their viewpoints. Church staff members are on the frontlines of your ministry daily and interact closely with the outgoing pastor, therefore, they should be working closely with the team for your new pastoral hire.
3. More Buy-In Means More Staff Investment
When you invite your team into the decision-making process, you’re showing them that you value and trust their insight enough to drive decisions as critical as hiring. When people feel trusted, they are more invested in their work, knowing that they are in charge of driving change and have the power and freedom to do so.
Chances are, most of the people involved in the selection process will face the impacts of this new hire whether they work together directly or not. Allowing different perspectives and positions to collaborate on hiring decisions encourages them to reflect on the aspects of your team culture that they enjoy and want to maintain with each new hire. Having your team think critically about their roles and your church or organization draws them back to your vision and refocuses them on the basics of your mission whether they realize it or not.
Inviting other people into decision making also ensures that you’re preparing your team to function down the road no matter who's leading. If you as the leader single-handedly manage all high-level matters, how will your team function when you’re no longer in charge. After all, every leader is an interim leader.
Teamwork Makes The Dream Work
Here at Vanderbloemen, we believe that teamwork makes the dream work. When we all work together, we can do more work to advance the kingdom of Christ. We try our best to foster a collaborative environment where we encourage shared ideas and candidate networks. We create space for team problem-solving and collaboration is at the heart of what we do. Our entire staff spends time sharing strategies and brainstorming candidate matches.
We think this kind of environment is beneficial for a pastoral search committee as well. On a search committee, having multiple people sourcing for information allows for us to look for different things in different places.
Having a group of people dedicated to this process and prayerfully pursuing the right candidate is of great spiritual value. A search team should commit to praying together collectively and independently through this process. We hope that you would consider a team environment when making your next hiring decisions.
Vanderbloemen serves teams with a greater purpose by aligning their people solutions for growth: hiring, compensation, succession, and culture. Through its retained executive search and consulting services, Vanderbloemen serves churches, schools, nonprofits, family offices, and Christian businesses in all parts of the United States and internationally. Connect with us to learn more about our hiring process and how we can serve you in your next search.