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7 Types of Questions to Ask During an Interview

By Stephen Blandino on February 15, 2012 in Church, Leadership, Organizations with 0 Comments

Every church comes to that important moment in their growth where they begin hiring staff. When a church is small, a bad hire can severely handicap your ministry. But regardless of your church’s size, you never want to make a bad hire, which, honestly, is nearly impossible to completely avoid. No matter how many layers there are in your hiring process, and no matter how many assessments you do, there’s always a gamble when hiring new staff.

In a previous post I shared 8 Ideas for Creating an Effective Hiring Process. Today, I’d like to share seven types of questions to ask when conducting an interview.

1. History Questions - These questions address education, work history and responsibilities, why they are leaving their current place of employment, what they found most fulfilling and demotivating in their work history, and general information about the candidate. It’s like a “get to know you” aspect of interviewing.

2. Spiritual Journey & Personal Growth Questions - These questions explore the candidates spiritual journey, when and how they came to Christ, significant highlights in their spiritual journey, understanding how their beliefs resonate with your church (and denomination), whether or not they’ve ever been involved in a church split, and gauging their commitment to personal and professional growth.

3. Character Questions - Character is obviously a non-negotiable when hiring staff. Character questions address integrity, greatest character strengths and weaknesses, how the candidate has handled past moral or ethical dilemmas, and whether or not the candidate has ever been involved in adultery, theft, child abuse, pornography, etc.

4. Chemistry, Values, and Philosophy Questions - This is one of the most difficult aspects to evaluate in a candidate. Honestly, the more time you can spend interacting with them  the better you’ll be able to assess their fit. Do a personality assessment and an emotional intelligence assessment. Furthermore, there should be opportunity to see them interact with your team face to face. Ask them questions about their core values as well as if there’s a particular model of ministry that they resonate with most (purpose-driven, emergent, seeker-sensitive, multi-site, cell church, traditional, missional, etc.). If your church operates by one model but they are passionate about a different model, they may find themselves frustrated in your system. Furthermore, two good question to ask are:

  • What are two ways I would find challenging in leading you?
  • What would other people who have worked with you say about you (boos, peers, direct reports)?

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7 Ways to Keep Bureaucracy Out of Your Organization

By Stephen Blandino on February 8, 2012 in Church, Leadership, Organizations with 2 Comments

One of the challenges non-profits deal with is the preservation of the institution over the pursuit of their mission. Every program begins as a solution to a problem or an answer to a need. But over time, it’s very easy to focus on preservation and lose sight of the reason for which the program or organization was started in the first place. When this happens, bureaucracy is standing tall and has hijacked the keys to organizational progress and employee engagement.

Peter Drucker made a poignant observation about this deadly temptation, noting that non-profits can easily succumb to bureaucratic red tape and lose its passion for the mission. He writes:

“Non-profits are prone to become inward-looking. People are so convinced that they are doing the right thing, and are so committed to their cause, that they see the institution as an end in itself. But that’s a bureaucracy. Soon people in the organization no longer ask: Does it service our mission? They ask: Does it fit our rules? And that not only inhibits performance, it destroys vision and dedication.”

Every policy, decision, and action needs to be preceded by one question: Does this drive us closer to the fulfillment of our mission? Drucker observes, “It should start with the end results, should focus outside-in rather than inside-out.”

It’s so easy to slip into a mindset of preservation and bureaucracy. After all, they create safety, security, and protect the status quo. But non-profits that truly deliver the greatest impact are those who are willing to change, adjust, reinvent, and freshly innovate in order to see their mission achieved. Don’t organize for yesterday. Don’t think inside-out. Stay true to your mission by innovating solutions that put your mission in reach today. And before you think your new idea is the final solution, remember  this: Your new idea today is tomorrow’s bureaucratic barrier. Everything has a shelf life. Only the mission endures.

So how do you keep bureaucracy and self-preservation from derailing your organization? What does it take to stay true to your mission? Here are seven suggestions to keep bureaucracy from sapping the life (and the future) out of your church or non-profit.

1. Expect, Foster, and Reward a Learning Culture - Learning should not be something delegated to one department in the church or organization. Everyone should be a lifelong learner, and learning should be shared cross departmentally. Without an aggressive organizational learning posture, things will quickly descend into turf wars, silos, and preservation of programs and ideas that have already run their course. So how do you know if you have a learning culture?

  • Everybody at every level is on a self-directed personal growth plan
  • Innovation is rewarded
  • Programming and performance is measured
  • Personnel, programs, and organizational purpose are regularly evaluated
  • Trust is fostered
  • Conflict is not avoided

2.  Keep the Rule Book Slim and Let Trust Win the Day - Some people love policies and rule books. Personally, I hate them. Too often policies are created because one or two people did something they shouldn’t have done and now the rest of us get to pay for their stupidity. Rather than dealing with the person who messed up, we put handcuffs on everybody. This is demoralizing.

I’m not suggesting that we “go light” on integrity or ethics. There must be a high standard for integrity or else the organization will destroy itself. There must be appropriate policies in place to ensure safety and that the law is not being violated. But keep the rule book slim. Don’t create a policy for everything. When you do, you train your team members to look for the loopholes…and every policy has its loophole.

A good principle to remember is that every rule created is one more reason for me to believe that you don’t trust me. That’s a discouraging premise to work under. Keep the rule book slim and let trust win the day. Deal quickly with people who misuse their power, influence, and authority. But don’t operate from a basis of rules…operate from a basis of trust.

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What is the Bottom Line When There is No “Bottom Line”?

By Stephen Blandino on February 7, 2012 in Church, Leadership, Organizations with 0 Comments

It’s really easy in non-profit work to believe that everybody should be as excited about your cause as you are. Whether it’s a church, cause-driven organization, or international missions effort, leaders of these organizations are usually convinced they’re doing good work and they’re doing God’s work.

So if the work is so noble, why doesn’t the money to support these efforts flow freely? 

While there isn’t a single answer to this question, I do believe legendary management expert Peter Drucker offers some valuable insights for non-profits. He asks the question, “What is the bottom line when there is no ‘bottom line’?”

Non-profits cannot be reckless…making their cause “everything.” Furthermore, non-profits must avoid the temptation to go after easy results and seek easy donations for popular causes that ultimately drive them outside of their mission. Drucker argues that non-profits must “define the performance that makes the mission of their institution operational…Performance means concentrating available resources where the results are. It does not mean making promises you can’t live up to.”

Performance metrics in business are obviously different than those in the non-profit world. Drucker observed, “In a business, performance is what the customer is willing to pay for. The non-profit does not get paid for performance. But it does not get money for good intentions, either.”

Non-profits need to determine what their bottom line is and focus their energy and resources in that direction. Just because they’re doing good work does not mean money will walk itself in the door to fund the cause. Good intentions are not enough. Clearly define the bottom line and focus your performance accordingly.

Question: What’s the bottom line of your non-profit? How do you measure performance?

 

Bill George’s 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis

By Stephen Blandino on February 6, 2012 in Leadership, Organizations with 1 Comment

Bill George, professor of management practice at the Harvard Business School and former chairman and CEO of Medtronic, has identified 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis. Leading in a crisis is often the greatest test of leadership. George observes:

“In Chinese, the character for the word crisis is made up of two symbols, danger and opportunity. That’s exactly what it represents for you as a leader. Although there is always the danger of failing, guiding people through a major problem is your best opportunity to develop your leadership. That’s why I recommend that young leaders get down on the playing field early in their careers rather than commenting from the press box.” (p. 4)

Although none of us want a crisis, the truth is most of us will one day find ourselves leading through one. George’s seven lessons provide a valuable roadmap when that day comes.

1. Face Reality, Starting with Yourself - George acknowledges that this is the most important lesson. A crisis cannot be solved without acknowledging that it exists and being honest about your role in creating it. Furthermore, leaders are responsible for getting the rest of the team to acknowledge the crisis so that appropriate action can be taken to resolve it. At Medtronic, George would tell his team, “You’ll never get fired for having a problem, but you will get fired for covering one up. Integrity is not the absence of lying. Rather, it is telling the whole truth, so that we can gather together the best people in the company to solve the problem” (p. 23-24).

2. Don’t be Atlas; Get the World Off Your Shoulders - Leaders cannot face or navigate a crisis alone. They must have a rock solid team in place so they can resolve the crisis with the greatest level of precision, expertise, and effectiveness. George wisely observes, “By the time you are facing a crisis, it is too late to form your support team. The time to do so is when things are going smoothly” (p. 38). To further avoid the “Atlas” mentality, leaders must build resilience into their lives by keeping their body in shape, their mind sharp, their spirit high, and not taking themselves too seriously.

3. Dig Deep for the Root Cause - A problem is not always what it appears to be on the surface. Because leaders have a bias toward action, it’s easy to solve surface level problems rather than digging for the root cause. George observes, “If you surround yourself only with positive people, your team may reinforce your natural instincts to solve the problem before it is fully understood” (p. 47-48). To get to the root cause, leaders must ask “probing questions” so they don’t create “superficial solutions.” Time is of the essence when crisis hits, so it’s easy to stop digging for root causes. Leaders must keep wide open communication channels as their teams work together to get to the cause. Failure to do so will only lead to bigger problems with unintended consequences. The leader’s role is to “bring people together to confront their worst fears and address the risks” (p. 59).

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Productive Paranoia: Lesson #3 From Jim Collins’ Great By Choice

By Stephen Blandino on January 3, 2012 in Leadership, Organizations with 0 Comments

Jim Collins and Morten Hansen have written a book titled, Great By Choice in which they explore three behaviors that allow companies and organizations to thrive in chaotic and uncertain environments. I wrote about the first behavior, FANATIC DISCIPLINE, and the second behavior, EMPIRICAL CREATIVITY. In this post I’ll tackle the third core behavior employed by what they call “10x companies”: PRODUCTIVE PARANOIA.

Collins and Hansen make it clear: “The only mistakes you can learn from are the ones you survive” (p. 91). The idea of Productive Paranoia is not for leaders to walk around scared, afraid to make decisions and suspiciously paranoid about their employees. Rather, the authors note that leaders in the 10x companies constantly ask “What If.” They state, “The 10x winners in our research always assumed that conditions can–and often do–unexpectedly change, violently and fast. They were hypersensitive to changing conditions, continually asking, ‘What if?’” (p. 91)

Collins and Hansen examine three dimensions of productive paranoia employed by 10x organizations:

1. Build Cash Reserves and Buffers - Companies rarely hoard cash but rather deploy it, working hard to take advantage of new opportunities. However, the 10x companies were careful to build cash reserves and create a buffer against unpredictable environments. They were careful to prepare for the worst before it happened. This was a pattern since the early days of the 10x companies. Collins and Hansen observe:

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Empirical Creativity: Lesson #2 from Jim Collins’ Great By Choice

By Stephen Blandino on January 2, 2012 in Leadership, Organizations with 0 Comments

In my last post, I shared lesson #1, FANATIC DISCIPLINE, from Jim Collins and Morten Hanson’s book, Great By Choice. It’s the first of three core behaviors that mark the 10x companies shared in Collins and Hanson’s latest research. The second behavior that allowed 10x companies to thrive during chaotic and uncertain environments is EMPIRICAL CREATIVITY.

There is a common perception in leadership that innovation is the key to success. Or, put more plainly, the more innovative you are, the more successful you’ll be. However, Collins and Hansen discovered a different reality:

“The evidence from our research does not support the premise that 10x companies will necessarily be more innovative than their less successful comparisons. And in some cases, such as Southwest Airlines versus PSA and Amgen versus Genentech, the 10x companies were less innovative than the comparison….we’re not saying that innovation is unimportant…We concluded that each environment has a level of ‘threshold innovation’ that you need to meet to be a contender in the game; some industries such as airlines, have a low threshold, whereas other industries, such as biotechnology, command a high threshold. Companies that fail even to meet the innovation threshold cannot win. But–and this surprised us–once you’re above the threshold, especially in a highly turbulent environment, being more innovative doesn’t seem to matter very much.” (p. 65, 67)

What’s essential is that creativity and discipline exist together. “Intel’s founders believed that innovation without discipline leads to disaster” (p. 69). In fact, Intel’s #1 core value isn’t innovation or creativity, it’s discipline. Collins and Hansen observe, “The great task, rarely achieved, is to blend creativity intensity with relentless discipline so as to amplify the creativity rather than destroy it” (p. 70).

But the key is not just creativity…it’s EMPIRICAL CREATIVITY. In other words, 10x companies don’t innovate blindly, throwing huge amounts of resources at new ideas. They employ what Collins and Hansen call, “Bullets, Then Cannonballs.”

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Fanatic Discipline: Lesson #1 From Jim Collins’ Great By Choice

By Stephen Blandino on December 30, 2011 in Leadership, Organizations with 2 Comments

Jim Collins and Morten Hansen’s latest book, Great By Choice, is the result of a nine-year research project aimed at answering one question: “Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not?” Our world is unstable, uncertain, and filled with unanswered what ifs. And while we cannot predict the future, as the authors observe, we can create it. And a handful of companies have done so exceptionally well.

Collins and Hansen identified what they call “10x Companies.” They write: “We set out to find companies that started from a position of vulnerability, rose to become great companies with spectacular performance, and did so in unstable environments characterized by big forces, out of their control, fast moving, uncertain, and potentially harmful” (p. 7).

Starting with 20,400 companies, their rigorous research identified seven 10x companies including Amgen, Biomet, Intel, Microsoft, Progressive Insurance, Southwest Airlines, and Stryker. These 10x companies beat their industry index by at least 10 times. And they did it during chaotic environments.

For example, in the chaotic airline environment from 1972 to 2002 filled with fuel shocks, deregulation, labor strife, air-traffic-control strikes, interest-rate spikes, hijackings (including 9-11), recessions, and multiple bankruptcies, Southwest Airlines had a stock return 63 times better than the general stock market. Had you invested $10,000 in Southwest Airlines on December 31, 1972, it would have been worth $12 million by the end of 2002.

How did the 10x companies achieve such astounding results in such uncertain environments? Collins and Hansen’s extensive research reveals three core behaviors that set the 10x companies apart from their comparison companies. Over the next three posts, I’ll explore each of these behaviors.

The first behavior is FANATIC DISCIPLINE. Discipline is “consistency of action” (p. 23). It’s not the same as regimentation, measurement, hierarchical obedience, or adherence to bureaucratic rules. “For a 10xer, the only legitimate form of discipline is self-discipline, having the inner will to do whatever it takes to create a great outcome, no matter how difficult” (p. 23).

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Dave Ramsey’s Momentum Theorem

By Stephen Blandino on October 15, 2011 in Church, Leadership, Organizations, Personal Growth with 0 Comments

Dave Ramsey has helped millions of people navigate their finances, break out of debt, and take a path toward financial freedom. He has also worked hard to lead his organization with excellence and create a healthy organizational culture. In another post I shared some of the insights of Dave Ramsey’s Organizational Culture.

Many of his leadership thoughts are captured in his new book, EntreLeadership. The book is full of practical wisdom from the trenches. One insight Ramsey shares is “The Momentum Theorem.” I first learned about the Momentum Theorem during a training event at Dave Ramsey’s office in 2009.

The Momentum Theorem was originally something Ramsey presented to his staff during a season when the organization was receiving significant attention from some high level media sources. Several team members in the organization were excited about the new opportunities the company was enjoying and Ramsey’s concern was that they would misinterpret what was truly happening. The company was not an overnight success. It was a success that was 15 years in the making.

That’s when Ramsey taught his team the Momentum Theorem: FOCUSED INTENSITY over TIME multiplied by GOD equals UNSTOPPABLE MOMENTUM.

This simple but powerful theorem is applicable to every area of your life. You begin by focusing with intensity on a specific area of your life (ministry, business, family, relationship with God, health, school, etc.). Your focus can’t be a short, one-time shot or a brief “New Year’s Resolution” window. That focused intensity must happen over time…day after day, week after week, month after month.

When you focus intentionally over an extended period of time, you’re doing everything you can do to see progress and growth. But coupled with your focused intensity over time must be an unwavering reliance on God to do what only He can do. That combination ultimately leads to unstoppable momentum.

Question: How can you apply the Momentum Theorem to your life? What part of the theorem is missing in your life and leadership?

How to be the Most Creative & Innovative

By Stephen Blandino on August 30, 2011 in Organizations, Personal Growth with 0 Comments

When are you most creative and innovative? Your first gut reaction to that question might be to give a time of day (such as mornings when your mind is fresh). Or, you might answer the question by linking it to a place or location (like outdoors or in a highly creative environment). Or, you might even connect it to a group of friends or employees who carry a certain innovative DNA. All of these are well and good, but I believe creativity and innovation is found first and foremost in a particular sweet spot known as your “strengths.”

In his book, Go Put Your Strengths to Work, Marcus Buckingham observes, “…each of us is at our most creative, our most innovative, and shows our best judgment precisely in our areas of greatest strength” (p. 9). So if you want to be the most creative and innovative, consider three keys:

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Keeping Applause from Killing Your Growth

By Stephen Blandino on August 23, 2011 in Church, Leadership, Organizations, Personal Growth with 0 Comments

Applause usually follows a great performance. Concerts, touchdowns, Broadway musicals, and the winning shot all win the applause of fans and admirers. As wonderful as applause seems, it’s also like a drug that creates a temporary high. And as leaders, it’s easy to get addicted.

While applause is a sincere way to affirm performance, it is crucial that leaders keep it in the right perspective. In their book, The Laws of Lifetime Growth, authors Dan Sullivan and Catherine Nomura observe:

As a means of facilitating growth, applause can be wonderfully useful. It opens doors to all kinds of opportunities, resources, and capabilities that can support performance at an even higher level. But as an end in itself, applause becomes a growth stopper. It stifles the imagination and undermines motivation. By always focusing on improving your performance and treating applause as a by-product that you accept with gratitude, you can ensure continued growth.

That’s the best way to view applause…as a by-product rather than an end in itself. If all you do is seek applause, your addiction will undermine your leadership and bring your personal growth to an end. So how do you keep applause from killing your growth? Here are three keys to help. Continue Reading…

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