5 Lessons On Top Talent And Their Impact On Church Growth

5 Lessons On Top Talent And Their Impact On Church Growth

I have daily conversations with pastors and church leaders about how churches grow.  We discuss facilities, staff alignment, relevancy, the next generation, tough decisions, geographic location, systems, preaching, volunteers, giving, multi-site, plants, etc…
Therefore, I found an article in the March 2014 edition of Inc magazine quite interesting.  In a study sponsored by the Principal Financial Group, Inc economist Gary Kunkle studied 100,ooo U.S. mid-sized businesses (85-999 employees) from the recession years of 2007-2012.
Less than 1.5% of companies grew annually during those five years.  100 of these prevailing companies (known as Inc Build 100) agreed to allow Kunkle to study their managerial DNA.  The results were fascinating and have significant implications for churches wishing to have sustained growth.

1. Value Top Talent and Customer Service – Pastor, do you have the talent you want at your church? More than 50% of the companies studied said people/talent and customer service were the only competitive advantage they had.  The same is true with churches.  The answer to every problem is a person.
2. Upgrade Your Talent – Pastors, are you willing to make the hard decisions necessary for growth?  Kunkle says changes in senior leadership provided “growth breakouts”.  Perhaps replacing a key staff person with a more committed or talented one will cause a growth breakout for your church as well.
3. Invest In Future Top Talent – Two of the top three obstacles to organizational growth were attracting top talent and training future leaders.  Attracting top talent speaks to the current health and future potential of your church.  Why would top talent work for you?  The training of future leaders keeps a church young and relevant while creating a healthy leadership pipeline.  Growing churches prioritize and speak to the next generation of Christian leaders.
4. Compensate Top Talent – Pastors, would your staff say you are generous?  I know you would but would they?  82% of businesses studied said that sharing financial success with employees is a catalyst for growth.  Pastors, are you willing to be extravagantly generous with your top talent?  If not, another church surely will.
5. Retain Top Talent – 81% of businesses studied said, a “sudden loss of a key employee” was extremely detrimental to an organization’s growth.  Churches, you must keep your top talent.  The loss of talented people causes insecurity with other leaders and in the congregation.  There is also usually a significant drop in customer service and your ability to deliver ministry as effectively.

Kunkle concludes all growth “is not created equally.”  He says, “It’s akin to Aesop’s tortoise and hare story.  Slow and steady wins the race.  Incremental advancement, repeated over time, achieves greater results.  That said, Build 100 companies grew, on average, 35% annually during the five years studied.”
For churches, the five lessons listed above are only a fraction of all that is involved in church growth.  However, my prayer for this post is it will encourage you to have healthy conversations which lead to annual growth as well.  Your thoughts?