The A Player Series: Competence

When you are looking for a team player, begin looking for these 3 things: If they fit your culture, if they have character, and if they have competency. And always look in this order. Even when it’s within a ministry, it is naive to think everyone has the same set of values. Now, this doesn’t mean we compare one’s values to another, but when you’re looking for someone to join your team, they must carry the same culture and heartbeat of the organization. Culture is not teachable. Either someone fits or they don’t, but you typically cannot train it.

How to know if someone is a good fit:

You can usually tell right off the bat! You can tell by the questions they ask, the way they carry themselves, and by what is valuable to them. Every person has a unique gift to bring to the table, and we need people with all different backgrounds and gifts. But it is almost impossible to train culture. Someone could have all of the skill sets you are looking for, but if the culture piece isn’t there, it won’t be a good fit for you, your team, or for them! No matter how amazing they are, we have to look for people who carry culture. And secondly, we look for people with Godly character. Someone whom you can trust. You can train many other skills, but culture and character are two important things you need to pay attention to when building a team.

Now what you can train, is competency. Competence is the ability to do something successfully or efficiently. An A player is competent in what he does and is always growing into it. Every day they are looking to be more competent than they were the day before. Competence leads to improved performance and encourages a growth mindset. It’s an essential skill to both invest in, and look for in others:

4 ways to grow in competence:

1. Identify areas you want to develop and commit to a growth plan
2. Ask for feedback often – from friends, mentors, coaches, and pastors in your life
3. Spend more time doing than talking about it – The more you practice something, the better you will be.
4. Leverage knowledge from others by surrounding yourself with groups/coaching programs with people who are more skilled than you

I hope this excites you to not only look for A – PLAYERS to join your team, but to be an A PLAYER who is competent and never stops growing!