A Guide to Finding the Right Person to Fill a Position
Whether you are a pastor or leader, the process of finding the right person for a position is one that causes stress across the board. Many of my clients worry that they won’t be able to find the best person for a position. Someone who not only has the skills that a position requires, but someone who will be highly engaged, and do things the right way. So how can you go about finding the right person for a position?
The majority of times when I ask leaders who they are considering for a particular role, I hear “we don’t have someone who would be a good fit for it right now.” While I cannot say if this is true for you or not, I can say that 9 times out of 10 this is actually untrue for those I work with. The truth is, most leaders believe the best person for a position is someone who seems to already be prepared for the position.
When we buy the lie that only someone who is already qualified for a position is the best candidate, then yes, they can be hard to find. Here’s the thing: regardless of if someone seems like the perfect fit or not, they need to be equipped for any new role in order to succeed. When you have a process for preparing anyone for a new position, then the pool of people to choose from becomes a lot bigger.
So, if you are having a hard time finding the right person for a position, here are the four essential steps for empowering others to succeed every time.
4 essentials for empowering others successfully
Equip them
Make them ready to succeed. This could be through formal training like having them take a class, course, or training. It could involve you modeling the way for them. It might involve more informal training like shadowing someone else. Ask yourself if they need to learn a new skill, system, process, etc. to succeed moving forward, and then make sure they are trained on it.
Resource them
Then ensure they have the resources to succeed. Occasionally this means more money. Usually, they need a specific tool. For example software for a computer, phone, office supplies, books, subscription to a periodical, membership to a network, etc. So, find out what specific supplies do they need to succeed and then make sure they have access to them.
Support them
Once they are equipped and resourced, then provide them with the ongoing support they need to succeed. This could be mentoring, coaching, regular feedback, or even other people to work with. You personally don’t have to provide this for them. Just make sure they have access to it.
Em-power them
Lastly, and most importantly, give them the power and authority they need to succeed without you being involved in every decision and everything they do. When I say give, I don’t mean loan. When we loan people something, we expect it back. If we loan people money or clothes or tools, we expect to get it back and because it’s still ours. When we loan people something, we can jump in and get it back whenever we want, or jump in if they are not “doing it right.” When we share things with others, they have some ownership of it; it’s not just our own. And when we give it away, that’s even better!
I get it, this can be risky. After all, sometimes this means the outcome won’t turn out the way we or they expect. We need to be okay with others learning from their mistakes though. When we rush in to “save them” we are loaning our power to them, not sharing it with them. And every time we rush in to save the day, we’re ultimately telling them we don’t trust them. To really share our power with others means that we are willing to let them make a mistake and learn and grow from it.
Most people I talk with are unable to be successful in their position, not because they aren’t the right person for it, but because they don’t have the power to do it well. When I ask why not, they say:
I need to learn this new skill and I don’t have access to this training
I don’t have the resources I need to do my job well, or
I can’t make any decisions on my own. I’m constantly waiting on my leader to make this decision, so I just sit around all the time doing nothing (and honestly, looking for a new position).
If we have equipped someone well and are confident that they have had the training they need to succeed, we have given them the resources they need to succeed, we are giving them the support they need to succeed, then we can be confident in trusting them enough to share, and even give, our power to them.
The people are there. Don’t settle for doing it all yourself because it seems daunting to empower others. By empowering others, we can give them challenging assignments, delegate new responsibilities to them, and help them grow and succeed to fulfill their God-given destiny. And you my friend will avoid burnout.
