MondayMorningInsight - Leadership & Encouragement for Church Leaders

You Should Only Hire Two Types of People…

Posted by: Todd
Posted on: Mon, October 12, 2009
Viewed 97
(9) comments so far

You Should Only Hire Two Types of People…

In his new book Zero to Sixty, Bob Franquiz writes that he thinks you should hire only two types of people: products and projects.

According to Franquiz, products are the people “who are already highly developed. We could liken ‘products’ to a baseball team that signs a high profile, highly productive free agent. The team knows what they are getting because they have already seen the player produce.” These ‘products’ because they have already proven themselves elsewhere, will come on to your team and help you hit it out of the park.

Projects are the people you see in your organization that have an enormous amount of underdeveloped potential. Bob says, “You see the value they could add to your organization with the right time, training, and coaching.”

So… if you’re in the process of hiring a new staff person, which are you looking for? A ‘product’ or a ‘project’? Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Projects don’t cost as much financially. Think interns, recent college grads, or business leaders.

2. Products don’t require near as much training or leadership.

3. Projects many times have a much larger learning curve than Products. If you’re hiring someone to alleviate the load, the Project will probably not be able to do that initially.

4. Products are ‘plug and play’ and can make a more significant contribution from day one.

There you have it! Projects and Products. Two totally different kinds of hires. Knowing which one you need BEFORE you hire can save you a lot of time and headaches.

I really recommend Bob’s new book. You can grab a copy over at Amazon.com.

Todd

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Which have you had better luck hiring? Products or Projects? Why?

Comments

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LGB on Mon, October 12, 2009

He makes some good points, but here is something else to consider:
a) Projects can be trained to do things “your way”.
b) Products tend to think they already know everything and can have a difficult time adapting to a new culture and way of doing things.
Phil Thompson on Mon, October 12, 2009

Todd,

While the understanding of the difference between “Products” and “Projects” is helpful, I think it’s far too simplistic. Until recently, I had the privilege of serving with an International Search firm that works with churches and ministries around the world. At the onset of the search, we would spend days onsite doing 360 degree interviews around the position trying to discern carefully the ministry requirements for the position. Once we distilled all of the input down to 8-10 statements that described the ideal candidate in action, we had our “true north” and the search could begin.

This is where most churches fail. They don’t take enough time on the front end to get really clear about the position requirements. I would even argue that it’s impossible for an organization to objectively assess itself. No matter how much the Elders or HR people promise anonymity, parishioners will be reticent to share for fear of offending someone or experiencing some kind of punitive response.

One of the best tools I’ve come across is Russ Crabtree’s organization “Holy Cow Consulting”. He has a Church Assessment Tool that is very economical to administer and can give a search team / leader the objective data they need as they look at a hire.

Just a few random thoughts - hope they are helpful. Thanks for what you do Todd!

Phil
Vito on Mon, October 12, 2009

LGB, If the organization doesn’t have a clear and focused vision, your post rings true. Hiring a ‘project’ would frustrate the team they’re in charge of because they have expectations of becoming better. It’s also risky to hire a project to ‘lead’ an established team. Hiring a ‘product’ frustrates upper management because the product cannot be ‘manipulated’ as easily, but usually has the credibility and respect of the team at the outset. Clear and focused vision, and hiring accordingly, in most cases remedies these problems.

The author articulates some good points.
Oliver on Mon, October 12, 2009

I just don’t get it, can anyone please tell me if Jesus would look at people like this? If Jesus didn’t then should we ever…even if it is just for “business”??? Please…this is the stuff I just don’t understand why do we need this business stuff???
Todd on Mon, October 12, 2009

Yes, Oliver, he would.
LGB on Mon, October 12, 2009

Yes, Vito, I agree with you. Thank you for fleshing out my points.
Fred on Mon, October 12, 2009

When the church started “hiring” people it went down the wrong path.
Oliver on Mon, October 12, 2009

honestly, can anyone really prove to me that Jesus would only hire from the two categories above? Doesn’t the bible say God chose the foolish and weak of this world? The twelve didn’t neatly fit some category, I could easily make the argument that Peter fit both and neither. This is an illusion, its the same trickery and gimmicks used by the business world to fool everyone else who is too blind to see the smoke and mirrors trick. I went to a leadership conference once, and I just sat there spellbound as people sucked a bunch of utter non sense. I mean I couldn’t tell what the guy was saying, not one sentence that made any sense. It was stuff like the one on this post. Jesus went out of his way to choose people that showed no potential, that everyone else would have passed by completely. We are way to suckered into the american business model and its causing us to lose our christianity completely. Just remember its not the “wise” of this world, but the foolish God chooses.
Medical Concerns on Sat, October 24, 2009

I am 20 and have constant headaches, advil or anacin do not seem to work anymore. Is this normal? It kind of feels like i’m carrying a brick in my head, sometimes its in the back, sometimes in front and left and right side of the head. Anyone else with this same problem? What can do I do to get rid of these headaches with a last resort going to c a neurologist or something like that. Natural remedies..maybe? I don ‘t know..
Medical Concerns