LESSON 8 – Thrive With Four Kingdom Values

Welcome to Lessons From the Church Boardroom—The Blog, a 40-week journey through the new book, Lessons From the Church Boardroom: 40 Insights for Exceptional Governance, by Dan Busby and John Pearson. Each Wednesday, we'll feature a guest blogger’s favorite snippet from the week's topic. William Vanderbloemen is our guest blogger this week for the first of three lessons in "Part 3: Nominees for the Church Board Member Hall of Fame.”

LESSON 8 OF 40 – Thrive With Four Kingdom Values
Pastor Carlos said he didn’t have the spiritual gift of board meetings! 

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: In Lesson 8, it’s clear that working with a church board can be a frustrating or unproductive experience, but with the right kingdom values, it doesn’t have to be that way.  

MY FAVORITE INSIGHTS from Lesson 8, pages 44-49:
The authors suggest how a church board can function best, based on looking for certain values and characteristics in a board member to maximize spiritual fruit and impact, and minimize dysfunction: 
• The right people are everything: “When the right people—with the right motives and God-honoring character—serve graciously together...board members and pastors will thrive in board meetings as the Holy Spirit deploys their spiritual gifts and their God-designed personalities and strengths.” 
• Once you have the right people, look for things like passion, discernment, deployment, commitment, and enjoyment of serving on a church board. The authors quote Steve Macchia: “Passion is the fuel that keeps the engine of your vision alive.” 
 
MY COLOR COMMENTARY:
When I was reading this chapter, I thought a lot about my own hiring practices (the same practices that I advise clients to embrace—how to do well every day), and the way that I hire internally for my own team. 

Last year, I wrote a book, Culture Wins: The Roadmap to an Irresistible Workplace, and in it, I emphasize that culture trumps competency when it comes to hiring. It doesn’t matter how well someone will do a job, if they aren’t a good culture fit—they’ll ultimately be unhappy in their role. 

I’ve made it my goal to look for potential employees who weren’t just showing up because it was their job, or just for the pay, but because they wanted to be a part of the team. I look for people who want to be doing what we are doing, the way we do it. In return, we’ve built an award-winning culture of people who work great together as a team, consider themselves “framily—friends as family,” work hard, take their work seriously but not themselves, and give their heart to their work because they really want to be doing it, and they are inspired and motivated by the way we do things at Vanderbloemen. 

In some ways, I think this concept can be applied to church boards, too. When you’re selecting members of a church board and looking for specific characteristics, you’re searching for the kind of people who embody the culture of the organization. 

You want board members to work together, inspire each other, motivate, challenge, and push each other to achieve the greater mission of the church. You’ll maximize fruitful kingdom work and minimize frustration, unproductive meeting time, and get work done faster and better when the board is aligned around the same cultural values. 

I like the closing boardroom lesson that sums up this chapter: “Invite people to serve on your church board who have high passion for your mission and ministry—and who discern board service as a holy calling. Inspire board members to leverage their spiritual gifts and strengths—or their experience will be draining and joyless.” 

Culture wins, every time.  

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY WILLIAM VANDERBLOEMEN:

William Vanderbloemen is an entrepreneur, pastor, speaker, author, and CEO and founder of Vanderbloemen. He is a regular contributor to Forbes and is frequently asked to contribute to many media outlets on staff culture and team building.

As CEO and founder of Vanderbloemen, an executive search firm that helps churches and faith-based organizations find their key staff, William’s passion is helping leaders of faith build, run, and keep great teams. Hiring was William’s number one issue and roadblock as a pastor and is his number one focus as an entrepreneur. 

His third book, Culture Wins: The Roadmap to an Irresistible Workplace, describes how a contagious culture will drive sustainable growth and innovation for any organization. Culture Wins shows forward-thinking leaders how to apply key principles into today’s new job-hopping culture.

The firm serves teams with a greater purpose by aligning their people solutions for growth: hiring, compensation, succession, and culture. Through its retained executive search and consulting services, Vanderbloemen serves churches, schools, nonprofits, family offices, and Christian businesses in all parts of the United States and internationally. 

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Decide and discern what kingdom values are foundational to the church board’s theology and philosophy of governance—in other words—define the culture of your church board.
• Find people that match the culture, not the work you are trying to do. Look for people with calling, passion, the spiritual gifts to serve well in this setting, and those who have true joy for the work of the church board.
• Visit the ECFA Knowledge Center and read and share the short chapter, “Lesson 8 – Thrive With Four Kingdom Values.”

NEXT WEDNESDAY:
On April 17, 2019, watch for the commentary by Ron Edmondson on Lesson 9, "Listen to the Wisdom of Many Counselors. Don’t ask board members to vote against God!”

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