communicationspodcaststrategy

Helping Teams Leverage, Not Loathe, Personality Differences with Eddie Hastings

Welcome back to this week’s unSeminary podcast. We’re talking with Eddie Hastings, Executive Pastor of Ministries at Chets Creek Church in Florida. Eddie is talking with us about using personality tests to better build and communicate with your staff teams.

  • Know and trust each other. // When a church grows, especially to have multiple campuses, you’re not with the teams at each location often. As a result, you have to work harder with those teams to get to know each other and build trust. Value each team’s input on the strategy in their context at their location. Provide opportunities for the people on different teams to come together in meetings to talk with each other.
  • Understand your team. // It’s important for us to understand ourselves as well as the people on our team – who they are, what they’re like, how they think. Just because you all work for the same church doesn’t mean you view and process things the same way. Eddie’s staff uses the DISC personality profile to bring together individuals that are all very different into a community which God has called together to accomplish a mission.
  • Differences between us. // Rather than pigeon-holing people, understanding different personalities helps us ask, “What does this person need from me as I lead them? How do I talk to them, give them feedback, and help them develop?” We often communicate with others the way we want to be communicated with and that doesn’t always work to reach those who are wired differently from us.
  • Balance the personalities on each team. // Eddie uses the DISC profile to explore how a potential hire might fit into the team they would be part of. In this way he can balance out the personalities within teams and distribute strengths where they are needed across the staff.
  • Talk and understand each other. // Eddie’s team does one staff retreat a year. They do the DISC profile tests every other year and then talk about them together as a team. As they discuss the results, they review what fits them and what doesn’t. These moments help people to better understand each other.
  • Know what works for each member. // When it comes to coaching conversations, personality tests can help you better understand how to approach a team member. The goal here is to help them understand where their performance needs improvement so they can receive it and act on it, rather than seeing it as an attack and becoming defensive. For more task-oriented people, a direct approach that is clear on the specific changes they need to make is important. For more relationally-oriented people, they will take feedback to heart, so focus on the action that needs changing, not their personality.
  • Find what each staff needs. // Personality assessments can help you find what each campus staff needs. Take a look at who is already on the team at a location and see what may still be needed in gifting and strengths. When hiring for a leadership position, look for a personality that the other team members will work well with and want to follow.
  • Have multiple interviews when hiring. // When interviewing someone new for a position, have as many interviews with them as you can, and more than you think you need. Bring other people into the interview who may have nothing to do with the position, but are trusted and know the church culture well, so that you can get a better feel for the potential hire and how they might fit in with the church staff. Remember that ultimately hiring is a spiritual decision.

You can learn more about Chets Creek Church at www.chetscreek.com.

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!


Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: FiveTwo

It’s hard to know how to grow your church. Especially as you come out of a pandemic in a changing culture. But you desperately want to. You believe the church can still grow. The good news? You don’t have to do it all yourself. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to find the right group of people who will help carry the load and bring growth to your ministry. You’ll be relieved. People will be helped. Your church will grow.

Download this guide TODAY for an easy 5-step plan to get the right leaders on board. We’ll give you 5 surprisingly easy steps to activate your congregation.

1 Comment

  1. Don’t bring anyone in for “multiple interviews” unless you are VERY serious about them as a candidate. Each interview costs the interviewee at least 1/2 day of their life, probably a lot more. Be efficient and respectful in your use of the candidate’s time. Remember the candidate is interviewing YOU as well.

Leave a Response

Rich Birch
Rich Birch is one of the early multi-site church pioneers in North America. He led the charge in helping The Meeting House in Toronto to become the leading multi-site church in Canada with over 5,000+ people in 18 locations. In addition, he served on the leadership team of Connexus Church in Ontario, a North Point Community Church Strategic Partner. He has also been a part of the lead team at Liquid Church - a 5 location multisite church serving the Manhattan facing suburbs of New Jersey. Liquid is known for it’s innovative approach to outreach and community impact. Rich is passionate about helping churches reach more people, more quickly through excellent execution.His latest book Church Growth Flywheel: 5 Practical Systems to Drive Growth at Your Church is an Amazon bestseller and is design to help your church reach more people in your community.