5 Red Flags to Avoid When Choosing a Church Search Committee Chair (Part 2)

Does your church's search committee have what it takes to avoid disastrous pitfalls? Join me, Todd Rhoades, co-founder of Chemistry Staffing, as we wrap up our two-part series on selecting the ideal search committee chairperson. In this episode, we uncover the five critical red flags that can spell disaster for your church's staffing process. From personal agendas to poor communication skills, we'll help you identify and steer clear of these detrimental traits.

Yesterday, we highlighted the five essential traits of a successful search committee chair. Today, we flip the focus and address how the wrong leader can create long-term harm for your congregation. Discover why individuals with domineering personalities, lack of availability, and inherent biases are best avoided. Equip yourself with the knowledge to ensure a smoother, more effective search process, safeguarding the future of your church. Tune in and make your next church staffing decision a successful one!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Welcome back to the Health and Church Staff Podcast and if this is your first time listening, welcome. My name's Todd Rhodes. I'm the co-founder over at Chemistry Staffing and also your host for the Health and Church Staff Podcast. Also your host for the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Yesterday we started a two-series podcast on how to find the right search committee chairperson for your church and your church's search team. So yesterday was part one, so it was a two-part series. So we're going to end the series today with part two. So it's a two-part series, so we're going to end this series today with part two.

Speaker 1: 0:50

Like I said, yesterday we talked about the five essential traits of a successful church search committee chair, and today we're going to flip that upside down and we're going to be exploring five red flags that you should, oh my goodness, definitely avoid when choosing the leader of your search team. Now, as we all know, the wrong person in this critical role can derail the entire staffing process. It's going to cause headaches and heartache. It can even really do some long-term harm and damage to your church. If you've ever served on a search committee, you know that so much of how well that search goes depends on the person that's heading the search committee. So let's dive in. Let's discover five warning signs, five things that should make you think twice and three and five times before electing this person or handing this person the reins to your search committee. Okay, first red flag is anybody that has a personal agenda. Hear me here. Beware this is huge Beware of individuals with hidden agendas or a predetermined candidate in mind. They might be pushing for a friend or a family member yes, even a family member or someone who aligns with their own personal preferences rather than what's best for the church. These are the personal agenda people, and a good search committee chair puts the needs of the church above their own desires and puts aside their own personal agenda. So if somebody has personal agenda, do not put them as the head of your search committee. So that's number one personal agendas.

Speaker 1: 2:28

Number two dominating personalities. Strong leadership is important, okay, but a domineering or a controlling personality man that can stifle any kind of collaboration. It can create resentment within the committee. So avoid people with dominating personalities. Look for someone who's confident but collaborative, somebody that's going to listen to other people's opinions and somebody who is willing to compromise. So avoid personal agendas. Avoid dominating personalities.

Speaker 1: 3:03

Avoid somebody that has a lack of availability. A church staff search is a significant undertaking that requires a considerable amount of time commitment and if you know this person is just maybe just hyper busy professionally or they just don't have a lot of time, they don't have a lot of flexibility, this might not be the right person to head your search committee. Avoid choosing someone who's already stretched far too thin or who struggles with time management. A search committee chair who's constantly late or cancels meetings or fails to meet deadlines man, it's just going to frustrate and delay the process even more. So lack of availability.

Speaker 1: 3:43

Number four poor communication. We talked yesterday about the importance of having good communication, but the red flag today is avoid people like the plague that have poor communication skills. Clear, consistent, transparent communication's absolutely essential for your successful search process. So beware of individuals who are vague, who are evasive, who struggle to communicate effectively. A good share is someone that's going to keep everybody informed, that's going to address concerns promptly and fosters open dialogue. Okay, and then the last one avoid people that have bias or prejudice. This kind of goes along with the first one, with personal agendas, but, sadly, biases all of us have biases, but if you have somebody that kind of puts that out there and leads with that and pollutes the committee with their bias or prejudice, that can be huge. Beware of anybody who expresses any kind of discriminatory views or makes assumptions about candidates based on personal characteristics. A fair and an equitable search process requires a chair who values individuals, loves people and judges candidates candidly, based solely on their merits. Okay, so I don't want don't get me wrong, I don't want to paint a picture of doom and gloom here. There are plenty of qualified, capable, passionate individuals in your church that would make excellent search committee chairs, I'm sure. But it's important to be aware of these red flags so that you can avoid potential pitfalls. One pitfalls once your search committee is named and your chairman is named. It's really hard to change that. So here's the bottom line Choosing the head of your search committee. It's a critical decision. It's going to have a lasting impact on your church. And by avoiding these five red flags again here's what they are Avoid personal agendas, avoid dominating personalities, avoid lack of ability. Availability Avoid lack of ability too. Number four poor communication Avoid that. And number five avoid biases or prejudice. By avoiding these five red flags, you'll set your team up for success and pave the way for a fruitful staffing process At Chemistry Staffing.

Speaker 1: 6:06

This is what I do full-time. I help churches with their staffing needs. So if there's any way that I can help your church in your staffing hiring or firing or staff structure compensation, any of those kind of things those are my specialty I'd love to be able to help you. Reach out to me anytime podcast at chemistrystaffingcom and I'd be happy to help you out whenever I can. If you're listening to this on a Friday, I hope you have a great weekend and join us again here on Monday. We're here every Monday through Friday for five to seven minutes of hopefully inspirational and just a good time talking about church staff issues here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. See you later. Have a great weekend.