Your Mission Will Multiply Through People

One of the most significant shifts I've experienced as a Founder wasn't learning how to build an organization but learning how to build people. How to care for people over the metrics.

In the early days, I thought growth depended on strategy. I obsessed over operations, refining the offerings, strengthening systems, and solving the next problem in front of me. And like many Founders, I believed the future of the Mission rested squarely on my shoulders. I have found this to be true with other Founders I supported as well.

Then the organization began to grow. New opportunities emerged. More decisions needed to be made than could be carried alone. The work became larger than one person, and the question quietly changed.

It was no longer, "How do I build this?"

It became, "Who will help me carry it?"

I've spent years interviewing candidates, placing leaders, and helping organizations build exceptional teams. Along the way, I met people with remarkable résumés, polished interview skills, and credentials that suggested they would be perfect additions to an organization. They came with receipts. Some were remarkable. Others struggled to collaborate or never truly embraced the Mission they were hired to advance.

Then there were the candidates whose résumés weren't nearly as impressive.

They didn't have the longest list of accomplishments or the most recognizable organizations on their applications. They lacked the receipts. But they carried something different: humility, curiosity and teachability. They deeeeeply cared about people. You could tell they weren't simply looking for their next opportunity but for something meaningful to build.

That's when I realized a résumé can tell me where someone has been, but it cannot tell me who they are.

And when you're building an organization that exists to change lives, who someone is matters far more than how well they've learned to write about themselves.

That realization inspired how we recruit at Good Ground Co. Our interviews don't feel like interrogations. They are conversations.

We've never been interested in catching someone off guard or seeing how well they've memorized the "right" answers. Most candidates have spent weeks preparing for interviews. They've learned the etiquette, rehearsed their responses, and polished the version of themselves they believe employers want to meet. But that isn't the person who shows up six months into the role. The mask comes off and you are faced with the daunting task of rehiring, retraining, reforming relationships.

So we intentionally create space for people to set the mask down. We ask questions that invite stories instead of rehearsed answers. We laugh together. We welcome honesty. We talk about our kids. We create an environment where candidates can stop performing long enough for us to understand what motivates them, how they think, what they value, and how they care for the people around them.

Because we're not simply evaluating whether someone can do the work. We're discerning whether they can faithfully carry a Mission. There's a profound difference. Experience matters. Competency matters. We never ignore them. But experience can be developed. Skills can be refined. Leadership can be coached. Character is different. Let this sit with you for a moment.

Character reveals how someone responds when things don't go according to plan. It shapes how they treat people when no one is watching. It determines whether they'll protect the culture you've worked so hard to build or slowly pull it away from its foundation.

I've come to believe that healthy organizations are rarely built by the most impressive people in the room. They're built by the most aligned. People whose values reflect the values of the organization, who are humble enough to learn, courageous enough to lead, and secure enough to celebrate someone else's success. People who understand that leadership is an opportunity to serve and build leadership within one another, not a position to protect.

Jesus modeled this beautifully.

When He began building His ministry, He didn't search for the most accomplished religious leaders of His day. He called ordinary people whose hearts He was willing to shape. Over years, He developed them, challenged them, corrected them, and entrusted them with increasing responsibility until they were prepared to carry the Mission long after He returned to the Father.

He wasn't simply gathering followers. He was multiplying leaders. “Be fruitful and multiply” carries so much more weight than the original thought of reproduction.

That lesson has become central to the way I think about building organizations.

Every Founder eventually reaches a point where they can no longer carry the Mission alone. Sustainable growth isn't achieved by adding more hands but by developing more leaders who can faithfully steward what has been entrusted to them.

That's why phase four of our work at Good Ground Co. focuses on leadership capacity, governance, and long-term strategy. By this stage, we're no longer asking whether the Mission is clear or whether the organization is operationally healthy. We're asking who should help carry it into its next season.

• Who belongs on your leadership team?

• Who should help govern the organization?

• Who will protect the culture?

• Who has the wisdom to challenge you?

• Who will make decisions that reflect your values when you're no longer in the room?

Those aren't hiring questions. They're stewardship questions. One day your Mission will sound less like you and more like the people you've entrusted to lead it.

So, choose people whose hearts reflect the future you're praying to build.

Choose wisely,

Gwenn M

Related Scriptures:

Genesis 1:28