Cultural Incompatibility
I'm always saying that creating culture is the most important and most difficult job for pastors.
I just met with an NCCer who shared a fascinating insight from Fast Company. He said that 95% of firings are not due to incompetence. They are due to the fact that the person fired didn't fit the culture. That really resonates with me.
Here are a few "intangibles" I look for in staff to make sure there is a cultural fit.
1) You've got to be able to laugh at yourself!
2) You've got to be passionate about what you do!
3) You've got to be self-motivated.
4) You've got to be willing to go the extra mile.
5) You've got to be committed to excellence.
6) You've got to be teachable.
7) You've got to be a little crazy.
8) You've got to be sold out to God.
9) You've got to be fired up about the vision of NCC.
10) You've got to laugh at my jokes :)
I'm so proud of our staff. They are gifted and passionate. And I realized something the other day. Only one staff member had previous experience working for a church before we hired them. We've hired rookies with tremendous potential. I'm more concerned about attitude than experience. Experience can be an asset or a liability.
I'm a big believer in getting the right people on the fifteen-passenger van and then figuring out where they sit.
I just met with an NCCer who shared a fascinating insight from Fast Company. He said that 95% of firings are not due to incompetence. They are due to the fact that the person fired didn't fit the culture. That really resonates with me.
Here are a few "intangibles" I look for in staff to make sure there is a cultural fit.
1) You've got to be able to laugh at yourself!
2) You've got to be passionate about what you do!
3) You've got to be self-motivated.
4) You've got to be willing to go the extra mile.
5) You've got to be committed to excellence.
6) You've got to be teachable.
7) You've got to be a little crazy.
8) You've got to be sold out to God.
9) You've got to be fired up about the vision of NCC.
10) You've got to laugh at my jokes :)
I'm so proud of our staff. They are gifted and passionate. And I realized something the other day. Only one staff member had previous experience working for a church before we hired them. We've hired rookies with tremendous potential. I'm more concerned about attitude than experience. Experience can be an asset or a liability.
I'm a big believer in getting the right people on the fifteen-passenger van and then figuring out where they sit.
6 Comments:
He means BIG BLUE when he is talking about "15 passenger van"!!!
Go BIG BLUE!!
Mark,
I applaud your creativity and energy. Your sermon series are very insightful however as you make a push for creativity and I read some of the blogs you have linked to your sight I am realizing that instead of a lot of creativity I see duplication. There are several guys who have done "I hate ..." series and now with grainger doing "My lame sex life" I expect to see more of those. Are we really being more creative?
Chuck,
Great observation.
I think there is some duplication, but I think that is alright as long as it's not wholesale, mindless copying. I've certainly been inspired by lots of marketing and sermons from other churches. But we take those ideas and adapt them to our context.
Imitation is the greatest form of flattery :)
I honestly think a Granger series like mylamesexlife.com can inspire some other churches to talk about an important topic like sex.
But there is always the danger of cloning!
Mark
Good answer. Keep championing fresh new ideas.
I do understand where Chuck is coming from - when you only view messaging/sermons from the pastoral level (i.e. your blogs - where are all the lay blogs!) it can be easy to label a similar series duplication. But when we step back and realize that the audience of listeners at Granger in IN are markedly different from those that walk into the theaters at Union Station and Ballston Mall, the thought of duplication loosens.
Should every church across the globe be teaching a different message just to be "creative" - or does true, God placed creativity come in when we are evaluating how to reach our respective listeners/friends.
Keep it in the word. Keep it real. And Keep it Creative!
If you think culture is difficult, you need to read this article on General Electric that once again was named the most admired company in America. It is not a way to run a church but you get the idea about culture.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/21/magazines/fortune/mostadmired_fortune_ge/index.htm
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