The most important decision a church or any organization for that matter will ever make is who they choose as their senior leader. Perhaps the most vulnerable time in an organization’s life is when transitioning away from its current leader and searching for its next one.

So much is at stake: people . . . momentum . . . money . . . credibility. Even a flawless handing off of the baton in the church world will still likely result in at least ten percent attrition. Some people see the transition of the senior leader as their off-ramp to go elsewhere. Ten percent attrition isn’t the end of the world.

A flawed handling of transition can result in a forty to fifty percent exodus of people; a fifty percent loss of income; a loss of influence in the communities we serve, and a loss of leadership credibility. This level of loss is often catastrophic. Some people get caught in the shuffle, and never return to church.

The stakes are high when it comes to handing off the leadership baton. And unfortunately, more than a few churches drop the baton. Their process—if they even have one—is deeply flawed. It depends almost exclusively on intuition. It lacks objectivity. The truth is, it’s easier to move intuitively when you have accurate and objective data.

I’ve seen this movie so many times, and it’s deeply frustrating to me . . . because it’s entirely avoidable.

How can a church do a better job when it comes to senior leadership transition? Here are several pointers:

Get outside help

These kinds of organizational decisions are so critical it’s foolish to go it alone. Secure an outside, objective, and trusted voice who will walk with you and your search team throughout the entire process. Reject the temptation to be cheap, avoid the tendency to give way to hubris, and secure outside help. Search committees who go it alone almost always lose their way somewhere along the line, and the results are usually less than stellar.

Create a search committee representative of your church’s demographic

in most churches, the board of deacons serves as the search committee. We advise churches to expand that committee to reflect its current demographic. If you’re a multi-ethnic church, make sure the search team reflects that. If you are a multi-generational church, make sure your committee reflects that. The team should be comprised of both men and women.

Get in touch with your organization’s culture

Ask yourselves. “What are we like when we’re at our best? What behaviors represent hills we will die on?” Again, an outside, objective entity can help you discover the answers to these questions. We are looking for a good cultural fit in the next leader, because the impact of a cultural misfit affects the entire organization.

Create a candidate profile

What are the non-negotiable character and leadership traits the next leader must have? What are some nice to haves? The profile can’t have 50 non-negotiables . . . 5-7 is a more reasonable number. But work hard to create the profile, and don’t settle for anything less than all the boxes being checked off. Using the skill of behavioral-based interviewing, interview around these profile characteristics.

Harness the power of your intercessors

If handing off the senior leadership baton is the most important decision a church will ever make, the entire church needs to understand the seriousness of the matter. Call them to pray and fast. Hold public prayer gatherings centered around the transition

Communicate, communicate, communicate

Keep people in the congregation apprised of your progress. Where there is an informational vacuum, people’s imaginations run wild. Make plenty of space for as many people as possible to meet the candidate long before the vote happens.

Be patient with the process

Most senior leadership transitions take about approximately 6-9 months to complete. Larger churches—500 or more—usually take even longer. While that can become frustrating to a search committee and the church, it’s better to have an empty seat than a seat filled by a miscast leader.

We are so passionate about a flawless handing off of the leadership baton that we’ve collaborated with our Converge Coaching team to create a data-driven, objective, assessment-based hiring system that will inform a search committee’s intuition, and significantly increase their chances of making a home-run hire for the next senior leader of their organization. You can learn more by reaching out to us here.

Rooting and praying for you,

John