How to steal a staff member

Let's say Seacoast has a staff member you want; someone who is really talented, who would really fill a hole in your staff, someone who could make the turnstile spin if they would just jump ship. What do you do? Do you call our pastor and say, "Hey, I'd like to talk to Superstar about joining my team, what do you think?" Do you call Superstar and say, "Have you ever thought about changing teams? We could really use a superstar like you." Do you find a "Christian" head hunter company and get them to do the deed. Do you stay away from Superstar entirely because they're "taken"?

What are the ethics of recruiting staff from other churches? We've had a giga-church make overtures to several of our staff members, all without saying anything to our pastor or leadership. In most cases the staff member in question has talked this over with someone up the Seacoast beach from them, but not always. Should they? What's the ethical thing for the staff member? Is it ethical for the giga-church to fish in our pond without asking our permission. Is there biblical precedent for this kind of recruiting?

"Christian" head hunting is another practice that seems pretty fuzzy. One of our senior staff members said they got a call out of the blue the other day from a guy who just left his name and number with no other explanation. When he returned the call the guy on the other end of the line just started asking questions about his job at Seacoast, how it was going, was he happy in what he was doing. At that the Seacoaster stopped him and asked what he was after. The other guy said he was with a Christian recruiting company and he had several churches who might be interested in talking with him about a job. Basically he was fishing for discontent and then going in for the big catch. All of this without any mention of spiritual authority or responsibility to leadership.

To me there are a couple of principles at work here. One is the permission principle. If my son wanted to marry your daughter I would consider it common courtesy that he would ask your permission. To march into your house and announce he's taking her wouldn't be right. Even worse would be for your daughter to tell you that she's marrying my son in 30 days and you have no say in it. This is not say that this doesn't go on all the time, it just doesn't seem right. I think if you want to hire a Seacoaster the least you could do is to drop someone an email announcing  your intentions. Even better would be a phone call asking permission to talk to one of our staff members.

On the other side of the coin I think its my obligation to talk over a move with my leader before getting too far along in the process. I've had a couple of opportunities to take other positions since I've been at Seacoast and in each case I've sat down with Greg and talked through the decision. His attitude has always been, "We want you to stay, but if its God for you to leave we're going to support your decision 100%" Each time it has been obvious that staying is the right course.

In the business world the big eat the small and the best man wins. It seems in the church world we are called to a higher standard. But then again, maybe not.

Comments

[stephen shields]

geoff, for what it's worth, sometimes business gets it right here. a few years ago, I began monthly meetings in NY with our biggest business partner for the circ channel I help to manage. after working with their vps for a while they decided they wanted to hire me. and so - before they said anything to me - their vp called my boss and asked for permission to talk to me about it!

[David Lyons]

Geoff,

I love hearing different perspectives on such an important issue.

Maybe we could put our heads together and come up with a way to support the issue of effective staffing and retention.

One question would be how to handle the hundreds of emails and calls Recruiting Firms get from staff who aren't being developed or listened to and feel their leadership keeps "moving the target."

Another are those who have seen their peers speak to their senior pastor honestly about considering making a move only to be fired?

While it is a tremendous blessing to see a church and new staff member come together and have an incredible ministry, unfortunately, we also hear all of the "bad" stories that come along with serving in a pastoral staff position.

Continued blessings to you and your ministry.

David Lyons
President and CEO – MinisterSearch

[Curt]

I agree with you, Geoff. Our practices should be Kingdom oriented, not just "building my church" oriented. Thx for bringing this up!

[Dave Davis]

Geoff --- Thank you for being bold on this topic.

Dave

[John Jackson]

Geoff,

Right on...this is an important topic, especially as churches get larger and larger. I know I blew it once on this issue (a staff member from another church contacted me directly and begged me not to talk to his Senior and I didn't--BIG mistake--took me a while to repair that relationship!)and have had the same kind of thing as you describe happen to me several times...thanks for making this issue part of our radar screen...