When I select people to serve with me on various teams, whether they are reporting directly or indirectly to me, I always follow the rule of “The Three C’s of Team Selection”. The Three C’s are: character, chemistry, and competence.
Character
Character is who you are when no one is looking. And character is who you are when everyone is looking, or anyone is looking, or just one person is looking, or just your enemies are looking, or just your spouse and kids are looking. Character is who you really are.
Character is choosing to do the right thing all the time, every time. Those are the kinds of people that I want to work with, towing the line with me, serving alongside of me, and yes, taking directions and carrying out the vision.
“A big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him” – John Maxwell.
I like that quote. While it doesn’t encapsulate everything about character, you can feel what he means. People with character are genuine, and their genuineness spills over into their steadfastness, their demeanor, and their integrity.
Chemistry
Chemistry is that innate ability to get along with others; to play nicely; to have emotional intelligence. Chemistry is crucial, because we must get along before we can get moving.
In my experience, chemistry is something that you experience with others. It is the integration between two or more people of the combination of words, body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, and attitude. But we don’t consciously calculate all of those things and add them up like a math problem. We experience them with other people. We feel chemistry.
When I interview people to join my team, at some point in the process I normally invite them to dinner with their spouse and my wife. I learned this interview technique from Dave Ramsey in his wonderful book EntreLeadership. I apply it for two reasons: one, I want to see their interaction with other people in a social environment, and two, I want my wife to get a “feel” for the chemistry between all of us. There are decisions that have gone the other way, deals that have not been made, and paths that were not taken, all because my wife had a strange feelingabout the chemistry with the other person.
There are people that I have not offered jobs too who were well qualified and honest, upstanding individuals. The reason I did not offer the job is because there was something in the chemistry that was not right. I literally imagined having to come to work and see this person every single day, and I knew that it would be a bad decision for them and for me. While it may seem “touchy feely” to some, I hope that I’ve at least made you think about what an important factor chemistry is when choosing team members.
Having the right chemistry helps in stressful situations that come up in any organization. If everyone relates on basically the same wavelength, difficult problems can be handled efficiently, and everyone can move on. Without chemistry, the slightest storm can rock the whole organizational boat.
Competence
The hard truth is that some people are just not made to be leaders. Some people are not comfortable making decisions, moving things forward, and taking risks. You must be sure that the people you delegate to are, as Jethro advised, able to do the job.
We must remember that people are gifted to perform specific tasks, not EVERY task! A person may have great character and really good chemistry with everyone in the office, but if they are not competent administratively, don’t hire them to be the administrator! And yet, these sorts of hires happen all the time.
As believers, particularly when hiring in a ministry setting, we need to keep in mind spiritual gifts as taught in 1 Corinthians 12. While it is true that we can work to improve ourselves (2 Tim 2:15), in my estimation, we cannot improve what is not already there.
The main thing to remember with the “The Three C’s of Team Selection” is that they must all be present in a person in order for you to confidently delegate to them. If one of the three is missing, disaster awaits. We must select the right people as stewards of the vision.
This post is a part of a series of posts that are excerpts from my book “Finding Your Midpoint: Locating the Balanced Positions for Your Life and Ministry” – available on Amazon or wherever books are sold.