S6E40: Finding and Retaining the Best Talent for Your Organization

Many Christian organizations are working to build their workplace culture to keep our best talent from leaving. Part of the challenge has to do with employees working remotely. Craig Springer, Executive Director of Alpha USA shares how they have built a flourishing workplace culture while having a one hundred percent remote staff. 

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In this episode:

• The focus of Alpha and how this organization serves the kingdom. A story of transformation listeners might like to hear (02:09)
• Alpha USA equips and serves the church to lead people to Jesus (02:16)
• A man named Chris was walking by a church, saw an alpha group, and gave his life to Jesus (02:53)
• When you first started at Alpha USA several years ago, you engaged the Best Christian Workplaces Institute to do an employee engagement survey, so you could have a snapshot of employee engagement. Why was that important to you? (03:58)
• Facts are our friends.  (04:17)
• "I have not found, Al, a tool easier and more accurate to get a window into employee engagement, in a Christian setting, than Best Christian Workplaces Institute. I thank you for that. It helped me understand not just the strategic or operational needs of the organization but the morale, the spiritual temperature, the trust, the ability for healthy communication, conflict resolution to be happening on our team. It really gave me that window into the reality that I needed." (04:25)
• From your own experience at Alpha USA, what are a few key practices you have used to build your team? How are you recruiting great people to be part of your organization even in a tight labor market? (05:15)
• The primary source for us comes from churches we serve who love the Alpha experience (05:32)
• Alpha hasn't hesitated to ask around, ask for referrals, use recruiters or outsourced remote admin or design work (6:30)
  
• What really seals the deal in any hiring situation is the culture. We try to expose people to the culture by doing a large number of interviews (07:27)
• Some of Alpha's staff operating values: spiritual vitality, trust and trustworthiness, holy ambition (08:21)
• One of the trends we are hearing about in the workplace is called the “Great Resignation.” Nearly half of all employees are actively seeking a new employment opportunity, according to Gallup's research. Of course, employee engagement is key to keeping the people you already have in your organization. How are you and your team at Alpha addressing employee retention? (09:22)
• Team prayer time and daily prayer time (10:28)
• one-one-meetings with managers and their staff (10:35)
• Because we are remote, we invest annually in a one-week retreat (10:55)
• Has your team made any changes in the past few years in your performance management or feedback processes to invest in people and coach them along growth paths?  (11:41)
•  Of course, one thing the pandemic taught us is that work doesn’t have to be limited to one geographic area. How has the availability of remote work impacted the ability to attract talent? Was Alpha USA already a dispersed workforce, or have you expanded your geographic reach in recruiting more recently? (15:10)
• What are some ways that you and your team have invested in growth from within? How are you raising up the next generation of leaders for your ministry? (17:45)
•  At the grassroots level, the Alpha Ministry uses many volunteers to run local outreach. You also have experience in church leadership. I know that some ministries are struggling to get their volunteers active again since the pandemic. What are some best practices on volunteer recruitment and retention that you have learned over the years? (21:17)
• The role is clearly defined. The training is available and simple. The commitment has boundaries. (21:57)

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