New beginnings

Every time someone new comes to a staff they bring great expectations. We look at the new person as the catalyst that will get the rest of us excited again. We expect the new person to bring in new ideas and new perspectives that will re-energize us in our work. Many times this is the case, and sometimes it isn't.

I've lived through both situations, and more often than not I was the one who had hired or recommended the person. Sometimes things have turned out mostly like I'd planned, and sometimes they've been even BETTER than I've planned. But I'd say on an average I've made the right decision in personnel about 75 to 80% of the time. That leaves a lot of wiggle room for disappointing decisions though.

In the next two weeks we have two new people starting here at the church. One is a director for our child care program and the other is coming to lead youth ministry. I know how I think they should affect the rest of us. Yet who really knows what will happen? One of them I've known for several years and have even worked with before. The other I just met a week ago. But I've hired people I thought I knew and things didn't turn out as I expected, and I've hired people who I didn't know and things have been better than expected. (And vice versa of course.)

We never really know the details we need to know about a person until we've been put in the same "corral" for a while. This is true in the workplace, in marriage, in any kind of relationship that requires regular interaction. There are always kinks to be worked out, expectations to clarify (on both sides), and just the general "get-to-know-your-work-style" phase. But after we get moving, we tend to let things coast (or at least I do.) And that's not the way to keep any relationship healthy.

So here I am hoping to change that approach this time. I want to be more responsive on a regular basis to both of these people, meeting with them regularly to discuss the joys and challenges they face and we face together. I can't take for granted that they will (or even should) see things the way I do. We need to be intentional about our relationship just as we should be intentional about ALL our relationships.

My prayer is for perseverance, to continue to climb the mountain that is ahead of any good relationship. It's always so easy to coast. I want to keep pedaling!