- Three round table discussions, one each on hiring, firing, and leveraging an effective board
- Three drama sketches depicting the challenges of hiring, firing, and board meeting dynamics
- A downloadable, reproducible handout with discussion questions for individual or team processing
When it comes to leading a local church, having the right team and being able to work together is essential. On this DVD, five leaders speak to the challenges of how to skillfully hire the right people, release those who are no longer a fit, and work with a board in such a way that ministry can move forward.
This 3-hour product includes:
- Three round table discussion, one each on hiring, firing, and leveraging an effective board
- Three drama sketches depicting t… More >>
Skill Builder Leadership Development: Hiring, Firing, and Board Meltdowns
Tags: Board, board meeting, Builder, challenges, Development, drama sketches, Firing, Hiring, Leadership, leadership development, local church, Meltdowns, Skill, skill builder, table discussions
#1 by John W. Pearson on April 22, 2010 - 9:53 pm
In my Management Buckets workshops, I pose this question: “If you, or a colleague, or a family member have ever been fired and you thought that termination went really, really well–and was done with compassion, clarity, generosity and professionalism–please raise your hand.” You’re right–not one person has every raised a hand.
What’s wrong with this picture? It starts with hiring–finding the right person. But when that person doesn’t work out, you’ll need to find an exit plan–sooner versus later. This week’s resource can help.
“Hiring, Firing, and Board Meltdowns” is a very helpful DVD from Willow Creek Association’s Skill Builder Leadership Development series. The roundtable discussion, hosted by Bill Hybels, includes Carly Fiorina, Henry Cloud, Patrick Lencioni and David Ireland.
“Hire slower, fire faster,” recommends Fiorina, the former chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard. “Speed kills,” she adds. “First impressions are frequently wrong. People are not what they seem to be.” All of the panelists agreed that rushing the hiring process is risky business. Lencioni says in a perfect world, you should spend eight hours together on a plane–you’ll really get to know your candidate. He runs a small firm and admits, “One bad hire can kill us,” so they focus laser-like on ensuring the person fits the company’s culture. Yet, “every once in a while, you’re going to hire the wrong person. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake.”
Henry Cloud urges leaders to watch for the “cringe factor.” If your gut is speaking up–listen. And “do not hire anyone you cannot fire” (like family members and good friends). David Ireland, a mega-church pastor, admits that “pastors tend to spiritualize things that shouldn’t be spiritualized.” Hybels cautions, “don’t allow pain [caused by an unfilled critical position] to cause you to rush into a new hire. The pain will be greater!” He also admitted often being overly optimistic about a candidate. “I would `vision cast’ people into jobs when they weren’t ready.”
The hiring segment is over an hour. The firing section is 45 minutes and the board “meltdown” discussion is also over an hour. Use this DVD at your next managers meeting (hiring and firing) and view the board segment at a board retreat (Lencioni is a big fan of retreats).
Hybels said that “board member exhaustion” is one reason you might move to board member term limits, if you don’t currently have them. Another take-away: at the end of each board meeting, Hybels asks for a 10-minute board evaluation time. Here’s a good question to ask at the end of a board meeting, “Is there any elephant in the room that we didn’t talk about?”
Hearing just one of these high level pros talk on these three critical subjects would be adequate–but hearing all five interact together–and disagree–is priceless. I mistakenly thought I could multi-task on another project with the DVD discussion running in the background. Not! The learning is arresting and required note-taking. When you purchase the DVD, you’ll receive a password for an excellent nine-page listening guide.
Oh…did I mention the real life dramas that introduce the three hot topics? Just viewing the dramas will bless you. You’ll be so thankful that you’re not in similar Stress City situations. We hope.
Rating: 5 / 5