The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
We're all about helping create a healthy, positive, and spiritually positive environment for church staff members and leadership teams.
The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
Why “Jacks-of-All-Trades” Might Be the Key to a Healthy Church Staff
The most valuable member of your church staff might be the person who doesn't fit neatly into traditional ministry roles. These multi-potentialites—staff who possess diverse skills and can work effectively across multiple areas—often serve as the connective tissue that holds ministry teams together.
• Multi-potentialites can handle various tasks from writing newsletters to redesigning spaces to building spreadsheets
• They're not flighty people but fluid team members who adapt to changing needs
• Church hiring processes often miss these valuable people by focusing on specialists
• Multi-potentialites serve as "glue people" who spot connections others miss
• They thrive during transitions and busy seasons by covering multiple bases
• Look beyond linear resumes when hiring and ask about projects outside job descriptions
• Ask candidates what role they would create for themselves if they could
• Multi-potentialites need mission and flexibility rather than micromanagement
• Give these team members projects instead of rigid job descriptions
• Celebrate their unique ability to create connections and bring innovation
• Allow them to move across departments when needed
Email me at podcast@chemistrystaffing.com if you have a multi-potentialite on your team or if you are one yourself. If you need help finding versatile staff members for your church, reach out and I'll be happy to assist.
Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com
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One of the most valuable player, most valuable member of your church staff, is the one who doesn't really even fit in the box. Okay, they're not a youth ministry expert or a worship savant or even an IT systems wizard, but they can jump in anywhere, they can fill in the gaps and connect the dots, and they're probably being overlooked on your team. Today we're going to talk about multi-potentialities, those gifted generalists who just might be your ministry's secret sauce. So stay to the end, because I'm going to show you how to not only identify these team unicorns, but also how to lead them. Well, hi there, my name is Todd Rhodes. I'm one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom and I'm your host here. Love being your host here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast.
Speaker 1:All right, so what is a multipotentialite? I don't even know. I made up that word and I can't even pronounce it. Multipotentialite, there we go. Multipotentialite, there we go. It was easier than I thought. Let me explain what I'm talking about. All right, a multipotentialite is someone who maybe has many interests, maybe has many talents, many potential career paths. They don't have to be working at your church. They could be doing any, really a lot of different things. In other words, they're not a specialist, okay, so let me put it in really churchy terms. Okay, they're the team member who can write your newsletter, who can design the and can also redesign the youth room right, they're the person on your team maybe you've got one who can design the and can also redesign the youth room all right, they're the person on your team maybe you've got one that can preach a solid sermon and they can also build a spreadsheet all right, they can adapt and flex and create like crazy. They're not flighty, okay, they're not flighty. They're fluid, all right. So why do churches miss the multi? What did I call it? I have to go multi-potentialite. I need to stop making up words. Why did churches miss them?
Speaker 1:Here's the thing Church hiring is often built around fitting a mold. Okay, we want a youth pastor to be all about youth, right, we want a worship pastor. Stay in your lane, worship guy, worship gal. We want a youth pastor to be all about youth, right, we want a worship pastor. Stay in your lane, worship guy, worship gal. We want you to live and breathe music. The XP needs to be all about systems and spreadsheets.
Speaker 1:But multi-potentialites don't always look perfect, like a perfect fit on paper. All right. They've had different roles. They may come from not a churchy background, maybe an unexpected background, and sometimes they don't even know what to apply for, because they could do five really different things. So we miss them or worse, we hire them and then we force them into a narrow path. We, we hire the person that can do all different kinds of things and say, no, you, no, not here, not here. We want you to do it, just just worship here.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that could be a problem, but here's why I'm talking about this today and here's why I think, for a lot of churches and a lot of staff, these multi potentialites there I said it, why they're? They can really be the secret sauce. Okay, because this is where it gets exciting. The multi-potentialites are your glue people. Okay, here's what they do for you. They spot the connections that others miss because they're looking at different things, not just one thing, and they're going to thrive during staff transitions or during any times of chaos or really busy times. They're going to be able to cover multiple bases when your team is small. They're going to be able to spark creativity because they pull ideas from everywhere. Think of it this way they're the Swiss army knives in a world, in a church world, where a lot of us are just hammers, okay, and on healthy teams. They fill the gray space between departments, often doing work that no one ever sees or even claims right.
Speaker 1:So how do you spot one of these multi-potentialites in the hiring process? You really have to look beyond just the resume, the linear resume, okay, and you can ask what's something outside your job description that you really enjoy doing. You could ask have you ever taken on a project just because nobody else would? You could ask during the job interview what role would you create for yourself if you could? Because you see multi-potentialites light up and you'll see this during the interview. I've seen it. I've seen the eyes light up when you ask these types of questions during job interviews. They absolutely light up when they're given freedom or creativity or problems to solve. Now, your specialists might not light up like that outside of their specific area. They're passionate about one area, but these multi-potentialites, they light up when they see that they're going to be given the opportunity to create and given freedom or even some problems to solve.
Speaker 1:So look for the curiosity, look for that adaptability and look for someone who doesn't just want to fit in but wants to really fill in. And then, after you find that person, man, these people are gold. If you can find them, you need to lead them. Well, you have to lead them, and this is where churches often drop the ball because they don't know what they've got. They don't know what you don't know what you've got in this person Multi-potentialites don't need micromanagement, they don't.
Speaker 1:They need mission and flexibility. Okay so, give them projects, not just job descriptions. Let them move across departments when needed. Help them be the utility person right. Celebrate their unique ability to create, to bring innovation and connection. And, yes, you absolutely the multi-potentialites they need for you to affirm their value. Because they probably heard you need to focus a hundred times in their life, but their gift is not in that narrowing down or that really tight focus. Yeah, a hundred times in their life, but their gift is not in that narrowing down or that really tight focus. Their value is in a much broader sense and they really thrive when their jack-of-all-trades nature is celebrated and not suppressed. Okay so, maybe the missing piece on your team as you're looking at this next staff hire that you've been thinking and mulling around in the back of your head for the last six months, maybe, just maybe your next staff person is not going to be a multi-potentialite, okay who can weave your team together, who can fill in some of those places and some of those spots in ways that you never ever imagined. So if this opened your eyes to someone that you're already leading or someone you need to hire, give this video.
Speaker 1:If you're on YouTube, subscribe to the podcast. But also, if you're on YouTube, drop a comment below Do you have a multi-potentialite on your team, or maybe you're the multi-potentialite? Leave a comment in the comment section. If you're listening on the podcast, drop me an email. Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. I read each and every email, respond to as many of them as I can, and if you want to continue thinking outside the staffing box, you can continue to watch here and listen here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. We're here every day, monday through Friday, and if there's ever any way that I can help you personally as a candidate, or if I can help your church hire a new staff, work out anything, even maybe some coaching or some consulting on finding a multi-potentialite for your team, reach out to me. Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. All right, thanks so much. That's it for today. We will be back here tomorrow, right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Have an absolutely great day.
