Hire Right: Part Two

No matter how talented someone might be, there is no guarantee that their talents will translate into top performance. The science of human potential generally illustrates that an individual's overarching competence can only be fully understood if we also account for their emotional makeup, preferences, and dispositions. No matter how intelligent, knowledgeable, or experienced candidates are, there is generally a difference between what they can do and what they usually do.

This is one of the reasons why search teams often need help identifying the right candidate. They focus too much on a candidate's potential (the best they could do if motivated to do their best), forgetting that the critical prediction is what people are likely to do once they are on the job (their typical performance). Just like you shouldn't assume that what you see in someone when you meet them on a first date is what you will keep seeing when you are married to them five years later, there will probably be a difference between what you see in candidates when they are applying for a job and what you see from them when they have been in the position five years.

The truth is that most people are not bothered to try their best after they have been on the job for more than six months, a time frame known as the honeymoon period. Although there are many reasons for this, here are four common causes of under-performance and how to address them:

• Poor fit: Organizational psychologists describe "a good fit" as mainly personality in the right place, which explains why most people will do better in some jobs, cultures, and contexts than in others. Fit is measured by quantifying the degree of alignment between a person's attitudes, values, abilities, and dispositions on the one hand and the characteristics of the job, role, and organization on the other. The problem is that even when search teams evaluate a candidate correctly, they often fail to assess the church's job and culture accurately. This is why so many organizations see themselves as more inclusive, diverse, innovative, and friendlier than they are. There is a lot of wishful thinking rather than accurate self-assessment. This impacts a candidate's perceptions of the role and organization, where it may take them a while to truly experience the culture and understand what the position entails and demands from them. What can you do about this? The only alternative is to do your homework carefully. Search teams need to know the church organization they represent, and candidates learn about the church culture they consider joining. Candidates should ask detailed questions of the search team, speak to employees, and figure out whether they have much in common with high-performing incumbents in the same or similar roles. It is safe to assume you will adjust and perform well when you see similarities between your gifts and the gifts of high-performing employees (in fact, this is how science-driven assessment tools are calibrated to increase predictive accuracy, namely by benchmarking against high-performing incumbents). Use tools like the Clifton StrengthFinders, Myers Briggs, Enneagram, TEIque (Emotional Intelligence), Kolbe Assessment, or the Bergman Leadership Gap Assessment.

• Disengagement: A common side-effect of poor fit is disengagement, though there are other reasons for lack of enthusiasm and motivation. One of the most common drivers of disengagement is poor leadership. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, author of Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? states "that management malfunction, particularly of the male variety, explains not just why so many people underperform at work, but also why talented and star employees quit their jobs, and even traditional employment altogether." The solution to this is complex. Churches can't just suddenly decide to replace a Senior Pastor with a better one — someone who inspires and mentors staff, provides objective and constructive feedback on performance and gets people excited about ministry. Even if your pastor can do all these things, they may not be engaged themselves, perhaps because they work for an unengaged church organization. Even if you cannot quit your boss, some proven strategies will improve your engagement and, in turn, your performance. For example, find time to be curious. Go to workshops to learn new skills. This will make your job more meaningful. Connecting with your colleagues to nurture the interpersonal aspect of work can bring meaning and engagement. Finally, telling your supervisor or personnel committee that you are not engaged may also help. They may be unaware and willing to do something to help you, especially if they value your gifts.

• Organizational politics: Churches are not usually sophisticated workplaces driven by data in their talent management practices. Still, progress can be made. Coaching focuses on improving people's soft and political skills, and a person's political savvy promotes vocational success even when their skill set needs improvement. Generally, the more toxic and corrosive an organization's culture, the more dysfunctional individuals gain power, much like bacteria thrive in contaminated environments. You can deal with this by being aware of the politics and engaging them while being careful to do so without selling your soul. In any event, it is naïve to think that you can let your talents speak for themselves. The more talented you are, the more dysfunction in the system will try to undermine your performance. And if the church culture is too hard to transform, your best bet may be to change organizations.

• Personal circumstances: The final reason is almost too obvious to mention, but in today's ever-more-absorbing and 24/7 world of work, it's easy to forget that people also have a personal and private life and that no matter how engaged and talented they are, personal drawbacks and setbacks will often interfere with their performance. This is why there is so much discussion of work-life balance (even today, when the boundaries between work and "life" have been eroded). Good leaders and organizations support employees. They understand when personal circumstances may impede your work. They will have a vested interest in helping employees deal with these so they can deliver their best work.

In short, you can always assume that your talents are necessary but insufficient to excel at work. Optimizing your job fit with your interests, beliefs, and broader life activities, and being alert to the invisible social forces that govern the dynamics of the particular church, will help you perform to the best of your capabilities.